Title: THE BURGLAR WHO COUNTED THE SPOONS (Bernie Rhodenbarr #11)
Author: Lawrence Block
Obtained: Bought (for Kindle)
Genre: Adult crime
Very highly recommended
The
return of Lawrence Block's wonderful burglar,Bernie Rhodenbarr, 9 years after
the tenth novel in the series, was my most-anticipated book release for an
awfully long time. It is an absolute pleasure to report that the character has
lost none of his charm, Block's writing is as superb as ever, and the plot is
as ingenious as in any of the previous 10.
I say that having reread them all this year - the last five over the previous few months.
This is up there along with The Burglar Who Thought He Was Bogart as my
favourite in the series.
Block mentioned in an interview recently that there was a
lot here that fans would find familiar - Bernie and Carolyn meeting up at the
Bum Rap, Bernie getting involved with lovely young women, and of course the
traditional scene in which he draws all of the suspects involved with several
crimes - and possible crimes - and utters the immortal words "I suppose
you're wondering why I summoned you all here."
Stating it like that makes it seem like a formulaic series,
and in some ways it perhaps is. But who cares if Block's writing to a formula
when the formula is this consistently entertaining? Bernie, his best friend
Carolyn, and Detective Ray Kirschmann are a wonderful trio, Bernie's voice is
so strong that he's one of my all-time favourite narrators, and I always enjoy
trying to guess whodunnit even if I'm nowhere near good enough to get the
solution before Bernie reveals it.
Anyway, while they're all similar in many ways, it would be
wrong to suggest they were all that similar. I think one of the most
interesting things about the series is the way the relationship between Bernie
and Ray - the best cop money can buy - has developed. After the early books in
which Bernie generally ended up needing to solve the case to avoid Ray
arresting him, the last few novels have seen them as far more of a friendly
duo, with Ray barely even pretending Bernie's a serious suspect any more and
instead working with him as more of a partner.
Another interesting thing here is that the changes in the
bookselling world since 2004 are addressed - there's a delightful scene early
on when a young woman browses in Bernie's bookshop to find a novel she couldn't
remember, then happily informs him that she's now bought it on Kindle for her phone.
Meanwhile, Bernie's former book supplier Mowgli is now buying books from him
and selling them over the internet. Ray refers to "Mrs Rhodenbarr's boy"
as the "last of the gentleman burglars," but it's clear from Bernie's
business dealings that the future of booksellers could be even more bleak than
that of this class of criminal. Considering it's a book that many people will
be reading on e-readers, it's one that will hopefully remind people just how
important it is to frequent your local bookshops every now and then.
So, will Bernie's bookstore survive these changes, and will
he continue to burgle and solve crimes? A few years ago, I wasn't expecting to
ever read another Rhodenbarr book - at least not for the first time - but I
really hope that this won't be the final time that he utters that classic line
of his.
Hugely recommended.
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