Finally had a chance to read this one -- read it rapturously
over just a couple nights, in fact -- and agree
wholeheartedly with Bill that this one was "prime
stuff."
http://billcrider.blogspot.com/2006/10/crimes-of-jordan-wise-bill-pronzini_2
4.html
Can't think of a book of recent publication that so closely
identifies with the style and vibe of the best of the Gold
Medals classics. I really enjoyed this one.
Ron C.
-------------------- Haven't read that one, but I do have his
newest one, THE CRIMES OF JORDAN WISE, on hold at my local
library -- it sounds like a wonderful throwback to the Gold
Medal caper classics:
From Booklist Three perfect crimes, each with its own special
savor, but each ruled by the cool calculation of a cautious,
bespectacled numbers cruncher whose brush with a femme fatale
awakens his heart and his dark side. Set largely in the
sultry Virgin Islands, where our embezzler and his girl
abscond after the first perfect crime, Pronzini's latest
deftly plotted thriller unfolds with the methodical poise of
his antihero and with the mesmerizing inevitability of Greek
tragedy. Like Domenic Stansberry's -Edgar-winning vThe
Confession
(2004), Pronzini's many stand-alones (including In an Evil
Time, 2001, and Step to the Graveyard Easy, 2002) recall the
lean, classic noir of Cornell Woolrich and David Goodis, and
their relative dearth of grit, grime, and profanity makes
them a great recommendation for a wide range of suspense
readers. Pronzini's Nameless Detective series gets more
attention, but his stand-alones are every bit as essential to
most library crime-fiction collections. David Wright
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights
reserved
Book Description
Jordan Wise is a mild-mannered accountant with a large San
Francisco engineering firm in the late 1970s. By his own
admission, the first thirty-four years of his life were dull,
empty. But that all changes when he meets and falls in love
with Annalise Bonner, an ambitious young woman who craves
excitement, a life on the edge.
With her as the catalyst, Wise concocts and executes a
meticulous plan to steal more than half a million dollars
from his firm. They escape to the Virgin Islands, but their
plans to live a life of quiet luxury are beset by unexpected
pitfalls -- and Wise is forced to carry out two more
ingenious schemes as a result. All three of his crimes are
perfect -- or are they?
THE CRIMES OF JORDAN WISE is a classic tale of love, greed,
betrayal, and violence told with Bill Pronzini's
characteristic twists and turns and his special brand of
suspense. It is also a powerful psychological examination of
a man, a woman, and the wages of sin.
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