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Cargando... The Burglar Who Met Fredric Brown (13) (Bernie Rhodenbarr)por Lawrence Block
Books Read in 2022 (1,157) Cargando...
Inscríbete en LibraryThing para averiguar si este libro te gustará. Actualmente no hay Conversaciones sobre este libro. Bernie and Carolyn extend their friendship in this fanciful frolic by Lawrence Block. Lots of puzzling mysteries, some solved and some not, as burglary moves to another dimension. Good to see that they are still up to the challenges of Manhattan even the vicissitudes of many "Two Men" from around the world cooking in the same location. ( ) Gentleman burglar and bookseller Bernie Rhodenbarr is back in the 12th installment of this superb mystery series by Lawrence Block. It’s a book I never expected to read, because Block (who turned 84 earlier this year) has said for a while that he was done with the series. So when this book was announced, it was like a little gift to everyone who loves spending time with Bernie; his best friend Carolyn, a dog groomer; and his nemesis, police detective Ray Kirschmann. For the uninitiated: Bernie’s MO has always been stealing luxury items like coin collections, jewelry and the like from rich people. He prefers to work in empty apartments, not being a fan of confronting an angry homeowner with a weapon, and yet in the cases Block chronicles he nonetheless manages to end up entangled in a murder and needs to solve the crime in order to remove suspicion from himself. Early in this latest book, we learn that Bernie has gone straight, but not willingly: The modern surveillance state, with its CCTV cameras at every door and the increasing use of digital lock technology, means his considerable skill at lockpicking and charming/fooling doormen no longer work. Things aren’t much better on the antiquarian bookselling front, as increasingly his customers browse the shelves in his store before going online and ordering the books at a lower price from Amazon. His best customer, in fact, is a young man who used to sell bags of used books to Bernie, but now buys books from Bernie to sell online at a profit. Bernie and Carolyn are lamenting these developments one night over drinks in a neat bit of exposition and setup that Block’s skillful dialogue and characterization saves from being kludgy. Bernie goes home to finish the book he’s currently reading, Fredric Brown’s What Mad Universe, which involves a character who is transported to a parallel universe. The next morning Bernie slowly comes to the realization that somehow he himself (and Carolyn, thankfully) have been transported to a parallel universe, where most things in his beloved New York City are the same but other things are different. He realizes that the things that have changed are the very things he was complaining about the night before — there are no more surveillance cameras or massive online bookstores, and the Bowl-Mor has been restored to its rightful place in the neighborhood. Indeed, the stage is set for a return to Bernie’s former occupations, except for one thing: The Bernie Rhodenbarr who existed in this universe before our Bernie and Carolyn arrived has already pulled a job that resulted in murder, and this universe’s Ray Kirschmann is determined to finally tie Bernie to a crime. The addition of a science-fiction element to the familiar Bernie mystery might seem a bit odd, but I was impressed at how Block seamlessly integrated the two genres. And it was a brilliant stroke of genius, because transporting beloved characters into a world that rolled back technological advances to a time when Bernie’s particular skillset could thrive might be the only way that readers could enjoy one more romp with Bernie & Co. (I suppose Block could have done something similar to what he did in his also superb but very different Matthew Scudder series, and have present-day Bernie telling a story from the past, but why repeat oneself when one has a chance to create something wholly original?) I also appreciated that the parallel universe wasn’t just a gimmick to let Bernie once again do his thing; the over-arching plot is one that could only exist in a parallel universe where our Bernie finds himself on the hook for a crime committed by another version of himself. Neat! Is the ending perhaps a little too pat, and are some thorny plot points somewhat glossed over in the wrap-up? I’d have to say that’s a fair observation, but at the same time (in a parallel universe?) it just didn’t matter at all. Bernie was back, perhaps for the last time (I’ve learned not to count out Block’s amazing productivity) and this longtime reader was just happy to see him. No gun in my pocket, I swear. sin reseñas | añadir una reseña
Pertenece a las seriesBernie Rhodenbarr (12)
You've got a dream job, running your own cozy secondhand bookstore, complete with Raffles, your caudally challenged cat. And you've got another way to make a buck: every once in a while you put your conscience on the shelf and let yourself into someone else's residence, and you leave with more than you came with. You're a burglar, and you know it's wrong, but you love it-until the 21st Century pulls the rug out from under you. All of a sudden the streets of your city are so overpopulated with security cameras and closed-circuit TV that you have to lock yourself in the bathroom to have an undocumented moment. And locks, which used to provide the recreational pleasure of a moderately challenging crossword puzzle, have become genuinely pick-proof. Meanwhile, Internet booksellers have muscled your legit enterprise into obsolescence; the new breed of customers browse your bookshop, find what they're looking for, then whip out their phones and order their books online. But suppose you wake up one morning in a world just like the one in which you fell asleep--with a couple differences. The Metrocard in your wallet has somehow changed color and morphed into what's called a SubwayCard. Puzzling, but you swipe it at the turnstile same as always, and it gets you on the subway, so what difference does it make? That's not the only thing that's changed-the Internet's as robust as ever, but nobody seems to be using it to sell books. Doors are secured not with pick-proof electronic gizmos, but with good old reliable Rabson locks, the kind you can open with your eyes closed. And where did all those security cameras go? All of a sudden you've got your life back, your bookshop's packed with eager customers, and how are you gonna find time to steal something? Well, just suppose one of the world's worst human beings has recently acquired one of the world's most glamorous gems. When the legendary Kloppmann Diamond is up for grabs, what can you possibly do but grab it? And what could possibly go wrong?-- No se han encontrado descripciones de biblioteca. |
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Google Books — Cargando... GénerosSistema Decimal Melvil (DDC)813.54Literature English (North America) American fiction 20th Century 1945-1999Clasificación de la Biblioteca del CongresoValoraciónPromedio:
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