Maxim Jakubowski November 2016 Highly Recommended.
Leading US mystery writer Block wrote this as his first crime novel in the 1960s and although the book had sold had assumed it was never published as publishing houses changed hands and faded away, until someone located it recently under another title and pseudonym. Reading this tale of Americana noir, you would never believe it was penned almost half a century ago, as it proves modern and almost contemporary. A classic tale of a man who has accidentally killed his wife and gone on the run, and then reinvented himself in another city as a gun for hire but cannot shake off his guilt and the stain of evil that follows him, this is gripping, impeccable hardboiled prose with sharp as a razor dialogue, femmes fatales in perfect deshabille, villains galore, gang wars and a chilling lesson in how to disappear and evade justice. That is, until fate, coincidence and the foibles of human nature inevitable catch up with you. First rate. ~ Maxim Jakubowski
To escape punishment for a murder he didn't mean to commit, insurance man Don Barshter has to take on a new identity: Nathaniel Crowley, ferocious up-and-comer in the New York mob. But can he find safety in the skin of another man...a worse man...a sinner man...?Long before he became the award-winning creator of Matthew Scudder (A WALK AMONG THE TOMBSTONES) and an MWA Grand Master, Lawrence Block penned this tough, unforgettable crime novel, his very first. But as he describes in a new afterword, the book wound up published only eight years later, under a different title and a fake name -- and was then lost for half a century. Now appearing for the first time under Block's real name, with revisions by the author, SINNER MAN is revealed as a powerful work by a young novelist destined to become one of the giants of the mystery genre.
'...a guilty pleasure packed into a time capsule from 1960.' - Kirkus
Author
About Lawrence Block
Lawrence Block was awarded the CWA Cartier Diamond Dagger in 2004. He is also a Grand Master of the Mystery Writers of America. He is the author of many novels and short stories and has won numerous awards for his mystery writing. He lives and works in New York City.
