Customer Reviews

One Night Stands and Lost Weekends

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

25 short stories written by Lawrence Block when he was around 20 years old are the backbone of this book, they were written in one sitting so are referred to by the author as "one night stands." Most of these have an almost high school feel to them an are less than entertaining. Three approximate 50 page stories are included, one is good, one is fair and one is not so good. Block developed into a powerhouse however this should be for his most hard core fans only, seek out "The Mammoth Book of Private Eye Stories" instead.

Great example of vintage pulp writing. The shorts get repetitive if you read them one after another, but they were never intended to be read that way. The Lost Cases of Ed London really stand out as classic hard-boiled detective writing. This is a character I would love to see Block revive.

Quick short stories. His writing style is similar to the National Enquirer the stories resembling a True Crime tale. All of the stories were pretty much the same; guy kills his wife, wife kills husband, two bit hood pulls a fast one...all awful. The two long stories at the end were OK or I would not have given it any stars at all. I guess the book is a male version of chick lit.