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Book Review By David Gordon
Small Town by Lawrence Block

The link to three murderous incidents, in which dozens of people are killed, is Jerry Pankow. Jerry cleans up other people's messes for a living. He likes to say he visits three bars and a whorehouse before breakfast every day. Then a private client, Marilyn Fairchild is strangled. The prostitutes and madam in the whorehouse are brutally murdered. The three bars are firebombed.

John Blair Creighton, a modestly successful writer, is arrested for Fairchild's murder. Amazingly, the publicity surrounding his arrest turns his ho-hum career around Major publishers bid madly for the rights to his next book – one he has not yet even started.

The setting for “Small Town” is New York City, shortly after the World Trade Tower bombings of Sept. 11, 2001. The attack, while not central to the story, is a backdrop for the events and characters.

Like the people of small towns everywhere, New Yorkers are interconnected in a web of relationships and coincidences. There's former Police Chief Francis Buckram, for whom catching the serial killer becomes an obsession.
There's Susan Pomerance, an art dealer who discovers that kinky sex is possibly the only thing that can keep her sane. Her circle of lovers widens to include many of the other characters.

There's Maury Winters, the attorney who represents Creighton and gives his sexual partner Susan free legal advice. Working with Maury is private investigator Jim Galvin, whose drinking almost destroys his career until he comes up with the insight that get Creighton off the hook for murder.

There's also the mysterious “Carpenter,” so named by the New York press because the weapons he used to murder several prostitutes and their madam were a hammer and a chisel.



Plot & Themes
Tone of story - suspenseful (sophisticated fear)
How difficult to spot villain? - Very difficult--no foreshadowing/clues
Time/era of story:
What % of story relates directly to the mystery, not the subplot? - 70%
Misc. Murder Plotlets - Proving innocence of very obvious suspect
Kind of investigator
Kid or adult book? - Adult or Young Adult Book
Any non-mystery subplot?
descript. of violence and chases - 10 %
Planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 60 %
Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 20 %
How society works & physical descript. (people, objects, places) - 10 %
Crime Thriller Yes
Murder Mystery (killer unknown) Yes

Main Character
Gender - Male
Profession/status:
Ethnicity/Race

Main Adversary
Identity: - Male
Age: - 40's-50's
Motive of antagonist - money/treasure
How sensitive is this character?
Sense of humor - Cynical sense of humor
Intelligence - Smarter than most other characters

Setting
United States Yes
The US: - Mid-Atlantic states
City? Yes
City: - New York

Writing Style
Accounts of torture and death? - moderately detailed references to deaths
Amount of dialog - significantly more descript than dialog
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