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A review by usbsticky
The Burglar on the Prowl by Lawrence Block
3.0
Once again I enjoy the characters but not the plot formula.
1) Bernie goes burglarizing. Bernie gets framed for dead bodies.
2) Bernie goes investigating.
3) Bernie gathers everyone for a very complex reveal with twists.
Spoiler/Summary:
Someone calls to order a book. The customer pays him $1300 instead of $13. Bernie rushes out the door to tell him it's too much only to see him gunned down by automatic gunfire and the book taken away.
Bernie's friend Marty gives him a tip. There's a plastic surgeon who keeps a lot of money in his
safe who Marty wants him to burgle. Meanwhile two Latvians and their doorman are killed in a home invasion burglary and NYPD arrests Bernie because CCTV shows Bernie wandering around the neighborhood and the safe is one that only a good safecracker such as Bernie can open. Bernie is tied to the crime by the media and his own apartment is turned inside out. Also, Bernie breaks into an apartment where the female owner has been roofied and is raped while Bernie is hiding under the bed.
The plot is complex because Bernie has to figure out why someone is being killed for a simple book, who killed those Latvians and burgled his house and who raped the woman (who subsequently became Bernie's love interest). There isn't really a coherent investigative protocol but too soon Bernie gathers everyone for his reveal.
The long and short of it is that an ex-KGB agent illegally immigrated to the US after the dissolution of the USSR. His job was mainly to capture and kill Latvian patriots who agitated for independence. He is worried that the large Latvian community in the US would recognize him so he used the plastic surgeon to change his appearance. Unfortunately the plastic surgeon kept before and after photos which would reveal his new face. After that, I'm not too sure of the story because it got real complex. As I have said before, I don't really care about an extremely complex plot, I only care about the characters their interactions with each other - that's what makes good reading.
Anyway the baddies get their comeuppance and I'm ready for the next book and looking forward to the end of this series.
1) Bernie goes burglarizing. Bernie gets framed for dead bodies.
2) Bernie goes investigating.
3) Bernie gathers everyone for a very complex reveal with twists.
Spoiler/Summary:
Someone calls to order a book. The customer pays him $1300 instead of $13. Bernie rushes out the door to tell him it's too much only to see him gunned down by automatic gunfire and the book taken away.
Bernie's friend Marty gives him a tip. There's a plastic surgeon who keeps a lot of money in his
safe who Marty wants him to burgle. Meanwhile two Latvians and their doorman are killed in a home invasion burglary and NYPD arrests Bernie because CCTV shows Bernie wandering around the neighborhood and the safe is one that only a good safecracker such as Bernie can open. Bernie is tied to the crime by the media and his own apartment is turned inside out. Also, Bernie breaks into an apartment where the female owner has been roofied and is raped while Bernie is hiding under the bed.
The plot is complex because Bernie has to figure out why someone is being killed for a simple book, who killed those Latvians and burgled his house and who raped the woman (who subsequently became Bernie's love interest). There isn't really a coherent investigative protocol but too soon Bernie gathers everyone for his reveal.
The long and short of it is that an ex-KGB agent illegally immigrated to the US after the dissolution of the USSR. His job was mainly to capture and kill Latvian patriots who agitated for independence. He is worried that the large Latvian community in the US would recognize him so he used the plastic surgeon to change his appearance. Unfortunately the plastic surgeon kept before and after photos which would reveal his new face. After that, I'm not too sure of the story because it got real complex. As I have said before, I don't really care about an extremely complex plot, I only care about the characters their interactions with each other - that's what makes good reading.
Anyway the baddies get their comeuppance and I'm ready for the next book and looking forward to the end of this series.