Σχεδόν δύο μήνες πέρασαν από την τελευταία φορά που διάβασα βιβλίο του Εντ Μακμπέιν για το 87ο Αστυνομικό Τμήμα και σίγουρα μου έλειψε η γραφή του και ο κόσμος του. Αυτό που μόλις τελείωσα είναι το τέταρτο της σειράς και τόσο ο αγγλικός τίτλος (The Con Man) όσο και ο ελληνικός, τα λένε όλα. Ουσιαστικά έχουμε να κάνουμε με δυο υποθέσεις που τρέχουν ταυτόχρονα, της αναζήτησης ενός απατεώνα που χρησιμοποιεί συνεχώς διαφορετικά κόλπα για να παίρνει χρήματα από κορόιδα καθώς και της αναζήτησης ενός δολοφόνου που "μαρκάρει" κοπέλες μ'ένα τατουάζ αγάπης και έπειτα τις πετά στο ποτάμι, αφού τις έχει ποτίσει με δηλητήριο. Η αλήθεια είναι ότι δεν είχε και πολλές εκπλήξεις η πλοκή, όπως π.χ. στο προηγούμενο βιβλίο της σειράς που διάβασα, αλλά πραγματικά μου άρεσε έτσι όπως κύλησε η ιστορία. Όπως μου άρεσε η, για μια ακόμα φορά, καταπληκτική γραφή του Μακμπέιν, με το γνωστό του χιούμορ, τα σχόλιά του για την ανθρώπινη κοινωνία και φυσικά τους ρεαλιστικούς διαλόγους και τις ωραίες περιγραφές. Και οι χαρακτήρες ιδιαίτερα ανθρώπινοι και με λίγες αναφορές καταλαβαίνεις την ψυχοσύνθεση του καθενός. Δεν έχω να πω και πολλά άλλα, ουσιαστικά ό,τι ισχύει για το ένα βιβλίο της σειρά ισχύει και για όλα, μιας και λίγο-πολύ όλα τους είναι στο ίδιο επίπεδο από άποψη ποιότητας. Σίγουρα δεν προτείνεται γι'αυτούς που θέλουν αμείωτο σασπένς, έντονη δράση και τρομερές ανατροπές, προτείνεται όμως γι'αυτούς που θέλουν μια καλογραμμένη και ρεαλιστική αστυνομική ιστορία που να διαβάζεται γρήγορα και εύκολα σ'ένα τρίωρο και κάτι ψιλά."Η υπογραφή του δολοφόνου", εκδόσεις Bell.
this will be the....3rd? 4th? mcbain story i've read....kindle....apparently it is the 5th....and all of them w/i the last year or two.starts out:everybody has a right to earn a living.that's the american way. you get out there and sweat, and you make a buck. and you invest that buck in lemons and sugar. the water and ice, you get free. you've got yourself a little lemonade stand by the side of the road, and pretty soon, you're pulling in five bucks a week.hoorah!and then the gov't comes and messes w/your business plan (as they did w/the little girl in...where was it? st. louis? kansas city?...sent in the epa swat team and waddled her)onward and upward.update at the 32% mark:mcbain does some interesting things w/this one, not in any order:1. he includes a missing person report...an actual form, looks like, two pages worth2. there is a chapter or two, or two partial chapters' worth of the worldly view of a con man...sort-of...using the second-person "you"...almost like an advice column, cynical advice--it is from a con man 2a. or...something....this one lengthier section includes a pitch from a soap salesman, another introducing "the most compelling novel since gone w/the wind called, all in caps: the tattered piccolo. heh!3. there is a 7-numbered list by sam grossman, a police lieutenant who is also a skilled lab tech...his lab, divided into 7-sections.4. there is a lengthy letter from a girl who is/turns out to be a missing person, likely victim of murder5. there is a "man seeking woman" add at the end of one section, and in the next section, a woman is answering it...her letter is included...both letters are like the story-in-a-story6. there's also some sort of...report on a bad guy, two page, front/back...7. as well as several hearts drawn out, printed out that way...i wonder how common that was in the late-50s when this was 1st published? vonnegut did that a lot in a few of his, others, stephen king, the narrative does not follow one cop, one con man, one victim, though it has so far followed many cops, many victims of either a con, or more.there's a nice "afterword" in which mcbain includes a mistake from a previous version of the story, scene where teddy (the wife of one of the cops) hears things....she's a "deaf-mute" in an earlier incarnation, though no longer referred to as such...mcbain says in the afterword that a reader said the term is derogatory...etc.there's some nice scenes here...charlie chen, the tattoo artist is a hoot. chinese. although who knows...there's probably some that see some sort of defamation in his character, too. wonder when animal-rapists will march on washington? good read...narrative follows several detectives as they try to solve cases...intense chase scene at the end there, teddy, deaf and mute, cop-wife....following...etc etc...
What do You think about The Con Man (2003)?
I'm really getting into these 87th Precinct books, particularly as the cast of characters keep on returning and start to take on a strong presence in my mind. This time, there's a con man on the loose as well as a killer, keeping the police department very busy. There's a good mix of the crime stories and the personal lives of the police in this book, helping to cement the personalities of what have so far just been names.It's also good to see Teddy Carella getting a more active role, she's such an interesting character. It's nice that she doesn't just have to be the stay-at-home wife, even if some of the situations seem slightly unbelievable - would the cab driver really have understood quite so quickly, is this a position he finds himself in a lot?Either way, a good read, quick and easy to digest, and I'm ready for the fifth!
—Christine Blachford
He snapped his fingers for the waiter, and while they waited for him to come to their table, she leaned over and whispered the three most expensive words in the English language."I love you."And he looked at her with tender guile and answered with the three cheapest words in the English language."I love you."Anyone can be a con man. Some do it for cash.You can remain a gentleman, pursue a life of romantic criminal adventure, see the world, meet a lot of nice people and drink a lot of cool drinks, and still make a lot of money - all by fooling people.Others are a little more subtle.The lobby bustled with activity. A beer company was holding eliminations for its yearly glamour girl contest, and models swarmed over the thick rugs, accompanied by press agents and photographers. All of the models looked the same. The hair-coloring varied, but otherwise they all looked the same. They were, in essence, symbols created by con men. They were too, in essence, con men themselves.And then there are the romance writers who con lonely women into believing romantic fantasies, making them vulnerable to being conned by predators...There is a con man on the loose, bilking the citizens, using cons both simple and elaborate. The men of the 87th Precinct are on the case, while at the same time, trying to catch a killer who's been dumping dead women into the river.The combination of some classic con games and a genuinely thrilling ending made this book a very enjoyable entry in the series.
—Melki
