Here are some comments from my blog about another early
Lawrence Block novel, although I'm not sure how much of it he
actually wrote:
This is the third book in the Lou Largo series. Some sources
say that William Ard started it and that it was finished by
Lawrence Block after Ard's death. Other sources give sole
credit for it to Block. The copyright is by the Scott
Meredith Literary Agency, so it's not surprising that Block
would be involved, even if the extent of his involvement
isn't known for sure.
Lou Largo is a New York private eye with all the usual
attributes. He's big, tough, ruggedly handsome, and
irresistible to the ladies. In this book he gets mixed up
with a pair of beautiful Hungarian sisters, LiLi and LuLu
Kovar, who are pretty blatantly based on the Gabor sisters.
Famous actress LiLi Kovar is in some sort of trouble, and
Largo is hired to accompany her on a trip to Germany, where
she's supposed to make a movie, so that he can protect her
and find out what's wrong. There's not much mystery here, as
the plot is revealed to the reader very early on: LiLi is
being blackmailed by Soviet agents who are threatening the
life of her father, Hungarian resistance leader Stephen
Kovar, who has been in a Budapest prison for the past five
years.
Most of the book takes place on board a ship crossing the
Atlantic, bound for Germany. There are several murders, a
couple of attempts on Largo's life, and numerous beautiful
women trying to get into his bed. Eventually everybody winds
up in East Berlin, where a shootout finally resolves
everything.
Sometimes I think that I'm too caught up in nostalgia, too
willing to overlook the flaws in older books and too quick to
criticize current ones. But then a book like this comes along
to prove that's not true all the time. This is not a very
good book at all, and if I hadn't known that Lawrence Block
had something to do with it, I never would have guessed at
his involvement. Other than a few nice turns of phrase, this
is thoroughly undistinguished stuff, and I had to struggle to
finish it. Decent imitation McGinnis cover, though. At least
I think it's an imitation and not the real thing, but I'm not
enough of an expert on cover art to be sure. Some of the
other Lou Largo books may be better, but I didn't care for
this one.
James Reasoner
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