Customer Reviews

After the First Death (Mystery)

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This is not a bad short thriller, originally published in 1969 references throughout do definitely constantly highlight this is not a modern tale. A pack of cigarettes is purchased for 4c, you can get a taxi from one side of Manhattan to the other for just over $2 and chocolate bars cost 10c are factors in the first few chapters that keep reminding you of this fact. Still After the First Death is a pleasant light quick easy read and is definitely ideal for the commute to work or to read somewhere like on a plane.

In After the First Death Alex awakes with a killer hangover and has suffered another severe blackout where he cannot remember a thing from the time he started drinking. As he tries to work out where he is and gather his clothing he is shocked to see they are covered in red wine. Closer inspection reveals they are in fact covered in blood and the girl with the slit throat next to the knife covered in blood seems to be the source. Alex has been in this situation before and was recently let out of jail on a technicality after four years for that murder. Like now he blacked out after a heavy drinking session. He was sure he was innocent then, but knows no one will believe him this time round. He isn't even sure of his innocence himself.

This story is definitely dated, and that's a compliment. I love it when a novel can transplant me, and have me inhabit the world of another time. Especially when that time is as gritty and hard as the New York of the 1960's that Block gives us here. I found the surroundings to be as much a draw as anything else.

Very solid story, with characters that any fan of the genre would not want to miss. Novels like this make me glad that Block has gotten so solidly behind ePublishing, especially with his backlist titles that would be hard to come by otherwise. Money well spent.