| Plot Summary of Small Town |
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"
Morrow, Jan 2003, 24.95, 448 pp.
ISBN: 0060011904
New York, New York is a wonderful town even after 9/11 though the locals react differently to the devastation, but for the most part try to get on with life. However, while many still mourn, someone responds quite differently to the mass deaths. This unknown assailant may have snapped, but the first victim of his wrath is East Village realtor Marilyn Fairchild. The cops quickly arrest author John Blair Creighton, who was in her home the night she was strangled, but his lawyer, stricken Maury Winters, makes a case for a link to the murders of two prostitutes and their madam. John has an alibi that proves he could not have killed that trio.
Alcoholic cleaner Jerry Pankow discovered the corpses of the hookers, but soon the police look at him as the possible culprit as the killer blows up three of his customers and bars. As the death toll mounts, the city still reeling from 9/11 cannot cope with the Carpenter, a craftsman who leaves quite a deadly calling card.
SMALL TOWN is a powerful suspense thriller in which Lawrence Block takes his audience around the blocks of the five boroughs of New York in a post 9/11 homage to the great international city. The story line is fast-paced as the Carpenter performs his craft while others are pulled inside his sphere whether they choose to be or not. The key characters are all fully developed including the Big Apple that seems as much a protagonist as the cast. Mr. Block provides what might be his best novel to date with this intelligent taut thriller.
Harriet Klausner
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Harriet Klausner, Resident Scholar
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"The link to three murderous incidents, in which dozens of people are killed, is Jerry Pankow. Jerry cleans up other people's messes for a living. He likes to say he visits three bars and a whorehouse before breakfast every day. Then a private client, Marilyn Fairchild is strangled. The prostitutes and madam in the whorehouse are brutally murdered. The three bars are firebombed.
John Blair Creighton, a modestly successful writer, is arrested for Fairchild's murder. Amazingly, the publicity surrounding his arrest turns his ho-hum career around Major publishers bid madly for the rights to his next book – one he has not yet even started.
The setting for “Small Town” is New York City, shortly after the World Trade Tower bombings of Sept. 11, 2001. The attack, while not central to the story, is a backdrop for the events and characters.
Like the people of small towns everywhere, New Yorkers are interconnected in a web of relationships and coincidences. There's former Police Chief Francis Buckram, for whom catching the serial killer becomes an obsession.
There's Susan Pomerance, an art dealer who discovers that kinky sex is possibly the only thing that can keep her sane. Her circle of lovers widens to include many of the other characters.
There's Maury Winters, the attorney who represents Creighton and gives his sexual partner Susan free legal advice. Working with Maury is private investigator Jim Galvin, whose drinking almost destroys his career until he comes up with the insight that get Creighton off the hook for murder.
There's also the mysterious “Carpenter,” so named by the New York press because the weapons he used to murder several prostitutes and their madam were a hammer and a chisel.
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David Gordon, Resident Scholar
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| Review Analysis of Small Town |
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Our unique search engine provides a wealth of detail about books by breaking them down into many different literary elements, all of which are searchable (click here).
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Composition of Book
descript. of violence and chases - 10%
Planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 60%
Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 20%
How society works & physical descript. (people, objects, places) - 10%
Tone of story
- suspenseful (sophisticated fear)
How difficult to spot villain?
- Very difficult--no foreshadowing/clues
Time/era of story:
- present (2000-2010)
What % of story relates directly
to the mystery, not the subplot?
- 70%
Misc. Murder Plotlets
- Proving innocence of very obvious suspect
Kind of investigator
- police procedural, American
Kid or adult book?
- Adult or Young Adult Book
Any non-mystery subplot?
- life in that culture
Crime Thriller
Yes
Murder Mystery (killer unknown)
Yes
Main Character
Gender
- Male
Profession/status:
- private investigator
- small businessman
Age:
- 40's-50's
How much violence does he/she use?
- just the right amount
Ethnicity/Race
- White/American
How sensitive is this character?
- sensitive to others' feelings
- hard edged
Sense of humor
- Cynical sense of humor
- Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence
- Smarter than most other characters
Physique
- average physique
Main Adversary
Identity:
- Male
Age:
- 40's-50's
Profession/status:
- mastermind
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in:
- a moderate amount
- a substantial amount
Motive of antagonist
- money/treasure
- insanity
How sensitive is this character?
- mean, arrogant
Sense of humor
- Cynical sense of humor
- Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence
- Smarter than most other characters
Physique
- average physique
Setting
United States
Yes
The US:
- Northeast
- Mid-Atlantic states
City?
Yes
City:
- New York
Style
Person
- mostly 3rd
- rotating 1st
Accounts of torture and death?
- generic/vague references to death/punishment
- moderately detailed references to deaths
How many deaths?
- 5-7
- 8 or more
Amount of dialog
- significantly more dialog than descript
- significantly more descript than dialog
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