Dead Girl Blues

by Lawrence Block

Overview

You might as well know this going in: Lawrence Block's new novel is not for everyone. It's recounted in journal form by its protagonist, and begins when he walks into a roadhouse outside of Bakersfield, California, and walks out with a woman.

And rapes and murders her.

But, um, not in that order.

Right. But it's what he does with the rest of his life that's really interesting...

Lawrence Block has been writing and publishing crime fiction for sixty years. He's received recognition for lifetime achievement in the US and the UK. His books have won awards and occasionally show up on bestseller lists. Several of them have been fimed.

Here's what he's said about DEAD GIRL BLUES:

"I don't think it's terribly commercial. And there are elements that will put off a lot of readers.

"But, see, Dead Girl Blues doesn't owe me a thing. I hadn't planned to write it, so it doesn't have to bring in money to justify the time I spent on it. The book is its own justification. I'll publish it myself, on my 82nd birthday, and all of y'all can buy it or not buy it, read it or not read it, and like it or not like it.

"I've shown it to some friends whose opinions I trust, and they told me that Dead Girl Blues is one of the very best things I've ever written. And then they added that they could see where it might have problems.

"So I read it again last week, and I realized DGB was exactly the book I wanted it to be. And how often does that happen? And what more could an old man possibly ask for?"

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781951939649
Publisher:	LB Productions
Publication date:	06/24/2020
Pages:	218
Sales rank:	547,753
Product dimensions:	5.00(w) x 8.00(h) x 0.46(d)

About the Author

The winner of multiple Edgar, Shamus, and Maltese Falcon Awards, Lawrence Block (b. 1938) is one of the most acclaimed mystery authors writing today. Best known for his Matthew Scudder and Bernie Rhodenbarr series, Block has published more than 100 books and numerous short stories. His novel A Drop of the Hard Stuff was adapted into the Liam Neeson film A Walk Among The Tombstones. He lives in New York.

Editorial Reviews

07/27/2020

This unnerving narrative from MWA Grand Master Block (The Girl with the Deep Blue Eyes) opens in 1968 at a honky-tonk bar in Bakersfield, Calif., where Roger Edward Borden, a gas station attendant in his mid-20s, charms a drunken woman into accompanying him home. He later murders the woman, defiles the corpse, and dumps the body. Borden then flees the state, assumes a new identity, and settles in Lima, Ohio. Haunted by his past, and in perpetual fear of arrest, the sociopath works determinedly to establish himself as a successful businessman, family man, and pillar of society, all the while fighting to suppress his dark impulses and atone for his sins. The thin plot, which takes the form of journal entries, includes tepid familial scenes in which Borden’s wife and son appear untroubled by his revelations. This distasteful tale necessarily has limited appeal, but fans of dark noir will appreciate Block’s hard-hitting prose and his character’s despicable, emotively perverse meditations. (Self-published)

Publishers Weekly

"It's been a long time since I read anything this hard-hitting and thought-provoking. DEAD GIRL BLUES is daringly original, both shocking and brilliantly told. At a time when many crime novels blend together, Grandmaster Lawrence Block again shows he's a one-of-a-kind author. "
~ David Morrell, New York Times bestselling author of Murder As a Fine Art

"Dark and cold as the far side of the moon, but with prose as lean as a starving model, DEAD GIRL BLUES is like the dead body you can't help but look at. Sharp writing, characterization that comes right out of the reptilian brain, creepy crawly identification with the narrator that makes you squirm. I couldn't quit reading, and damn sure didn't want to. An honest look at the mind of someone of a cheerfully anti-social mindset, who just might frighteningly remind us of humanity's flip-side and our universal connection to it. A grim masterpiece of storytelling."
~ Joe R. Lansdale

"DEAD GIRL BLUES still claws at me. It's a time-release dread capsule that locked me in someone's shoes and made my gut twist all along the ride. Those of us who enjoy his work have seen him pull that off and marvel at how he manages it with seeming effortlessness. But this one. Maybe his best book, and that's saying something."
~Tom Straw

"DEAD GIRL BLUES will surely offend some readers, but I loved it. It's wonderfully written and the voice is pitch-perfect, comfortable and unsettling at the same time. The book reminded me, in a very good way, of Charles Willeford's early work (and, in particular, of his unpublished MIAMI BLUES sequel GRIMHAVEN). If you are into dark noir, this book is for you."
~Lee Goldberg

"Not so much a crime novel as a ballsy and important novel about the very nature of crime, Dead Girl Blues prods troubling questions about justice and mercy and morality and family, the worth of a life, and the whole existential soup. Put this up on your shelf, right next to Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment. I think it belongs there." ~Kevin Burton Smith, Favorite Crime Fiction of 2020

From the Publisher