"Undiluted noir." - Booklist
"...pulpy, ritualistic, and satisfying—a guilty pleasure packed into a time capsule from 1960." - Kirkus
"...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
"Sinner Man is a splendid example of the form, and is highly recommended for both fans of and newcomers to the genre." - Sequart
"It was well worth the effort. SINNER MAN is essential reading for the multitude of Block fans. It is also recommended as a finer example of the kind of stories that flooded the market in the heady, early days of the paperback publishing industry." - Bookgasm
"A damn fine crime novel..." - Criminal Element
"Sinner Man is classic pulp from a master." - Crime Fiction Lover
"It's an excellent book, too, much too good to have been lost for decades. But we can be glad that it's been found and reprinted." - James Reasoner
"Block's terse, hardboiled and sardonic prose complements his fast-paced story. He cleverly makes readers root for his unsympathetic narrator. Sinner Man is grade-A, retro pulp fiction that will not disappoint fans of Block, Dorothy B. Hughes or Mickey Spillane." - Shelf Awareness
"Sinner Man is one of crime fiction’s most exhilarating rediscoveries. Half a century in the making, the icing on this intoxicating cake is the wonderfully pulp hand-drawn illustration on the cover – the kind that drew me to Hard Case Crime in the first place. Be sure to pick up this great novel. It’s been worth the wait." - Hits The Fan
"Gripping, well crafted and the book is certainly a page turner." - Nudge Book
'I tore through this one and it was worth giving up "gotta do" chores for this "gotta finish reading" page turner. Block was very good very early in his career and he's only gotten better over the decades. Highly recommended. '
"Fast, tough, hard boiled and stripped to the bone. The narrative is swift and sure, the sex and violence brutal. It's a portrait of a man discovering his true, inner self through a vicious masquerade....I tore through this one and it was worth giving up "gotta do" chores for this "gotta finish reading" page turner. Block was very good very early in his career and he's only gotten better over the decades. Highly recommended." -Blogger Frank Campbell
2016-08-16
Fans impatient for the latest from prolific Block (The Girl with the Deep Blue Eyes, 2015, etc.) will rejoice at the rediscovery of his very first novel, first published in 1968, eight years after he finished writing it, as Savage Lover.Both titles fit the story as snugly as the shell of a hard-boiled egg. Danbury, Connecticut, insurance salesman Donald Barshter slugs his wife, Ellen, the wrong way during one of their periodic domestic tiffs, and she doesn’t get up. After briefly entertaining the idea of phoning the police, Don decides instead to stuff the body into a closet all weekend till he can tap his bank account Monday morning and then head for Buffalo—big enough to get lost in, small enough to keep from running into anyone likely to recognize him. Once ensconced in the Malmsly Hotel, he studiously adopts the role of Nathaniel Crowley, the new tough guy in town, picking a fight with a hapless local, paying an available chambermaid for sex, and cultivating the friendship of Tony Quince, a barfly whose interest in him sends him to Lou Baron, who pretty much runs things in Buffalo. Baron offers Crowley a job tending bar at Round Seven, where it’s understood that half his earnings will come from robbing the till. So far, so peaceful, but hardly has Crowley settled into his sinecure, following evenings at Round Seven with nights under the covers with game blonde Anne Bishop as he gradually becomes the hard case he pretended to be, than an unwelcome complication arises. Baron, Quince informs Crowley, is on his way out, and Crowley must pick whose side to take in the coming blood bath: the old boss who got him started or the competitor who’s tipped him off. Block telegraphs every single plot twist shortly before it arrives, and the results are pulpy, ritualistic, and satisfying—a guilty pleasure packed into a time capsule from 1960.
