This is certainly not your typical Lawrence Block, but I loved it! A fascinating study of the "6 degrees of separation" theory and a year in New York following 9/11 when NYC truly did become a "small town."

And you never DO know for sure who killed Marilyn!

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I LOVE Lawrence Block. Excellent book.

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This is a standalone, not a Matthew Scudder series. It is a good story that holds your interst but: if you are upset by pornography it is not the book for you.

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A killer attemts to paralize New York City. "Lawrence Block's electrifying new novel reveals the small town at the heart of the Big Apple..." I couldn't put it down, but that goes for anything the man writes.

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I am a long time reader of all of Lawrence Block's stories. But this one rises above all of his wonderful books. SMALL TOWN grabbed me from the first page and carried me along the story of the people of New York City in post-9/11 world. Block feels that a city of such magnitude, NYC, is really just a small town, that people know other people. There's connections within connections. Block changes voices and points of view seamlessly. A great read. A hard read but worth the effort.

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Surprising and provocative thriller read by one of my favorite readers, George Guidall. Very long and worth the time.

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Takes place in New York City. A killer who wages a one-man war in New York City. I enjoyed this book.

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I am a long-time fan of Lawerence Block. Have read all the Matt Scudder and the "Hitman" books through 2003, and several of "The Burglar who..." books. "Small Town" is different from any of his other books that I've read.

First, it's a stand-alone novel(no reference to any of his several series).

Second. it's longer (541 pages)and it's clear that he put more thought and work into it than into any of his series offerings.

Third, it's a lot closer to being R rated than any of his other work - almost pornographic in places. Most of the people in the book spend an inordinate amount of time either involved in or thinking about sex, and some of it is way beyond normal sex.

You get the feeling that Block has put more of himself into the book than into any of his other work - and I'm not so sure I admire what he's told us about himself. I am not a prude (I spent 21 years plus as an enlisted man in the Air Force, the first ten as a bachelor, and more than five years overseas, during which I had a pretty active sex life), but most of the characters in the book seem focused on sex most of the time.

Block is a lover of New York, and spends a lot of time tallking about various Manhattan streets and locales, sometimes almost to the point of obsession. This is probably a big draw if you're an NYC resident, but I suspect the other 289 million residents of the USA might find it a little tedious. I've been to NYC several times, but I've also seen quite a bit of the rest of the world, and it does not begin and end at the NYC city limit sign.

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Bold and flashy----a wily villain---use of multiple viewpoints to advance
the plot--a storyteller who chronicles the darker side of the human psyche.

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Stories of some of the New York types (as imagined by Blocvk)who were effected by the events of 11/11/01. To Block, they were like residents of a small town. Good characterization, but not what one would expect of Lawrence Block- especially if you are looking for Mathew Scudder.

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