Told in the first person, the escapades and sometimes misfortunes of Bernie Rhodenbarr, the charming gentleman burglar who is befriended by a police detective, is a delight to read, even after so many years since the first publication of this novel. The setup begins with Bernie burglarizing the apartment of a theater agent, which someone else put him up to. Then, with the untimely entrance of the police into the apartment and the existence of a dead body there, Bernie has to hide in another apartment belonging to a person who is away from the country.

I found the characterization to be superb and the twists to be amazing. In fact, just about every character in the book seems to hide something and has an ulterior motive. This makes the wittily quipping Bernie the most innocent character, well…almost. And this is where the sense of humor of the book’s author lies.

I don’t know if a coincidence or two would take away from the enjoyment of this novel, but the reading is easy although it doesn’t necessarily pull a reader into it as it doesn’t sustain the suspense or tension non-stop like a thriller would. Then, the resolution was a little too intricate to be believable, too.

Still, I enjoyed reading the book maybe because it doesn’t ask a lot from a reader.

relaxing with.

is Lawrence Block who writes series of detective fiction.

It is fun to read and also the twists are good.

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Created Feb 15, 2018 at 10:33pm • Submit your own review...