Me Tanner, You Jane [Import] [Paperback]

Lawrence Block (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 180 pages
• Publisher: No Exit Press (August 10, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1901982211
• ISBN-13: 978-1901982213
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.2 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #10,171,122 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Lawrence Block (b. 1938) is the recipient of a Grand Master Award from the Mystery Writers of America and an internationally renowned bestselling author. His prolific career spans over one hundred books, including four bestselling series as well as dozens of short stories, articles, and books on writing. He has won four Edgar and Shamus Awards, two Falcon Awards from the Maltese Falcon Society of Japan, the Nero and Philip Marlowe Awards, a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Private Eye Writers of America, and the Cartier Diamond Dagger from the Crime Writers Association of the United Kingdom. In France, he has been awarded the title Grand Maitre du Roman Noir and has twice received the Societe 813 trophy.

Born in Buffalo, New York, Block attended Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio. Leaving school before graduation, he moved to New York City, a locale that features prominently in most of his works. His earliest published writing appeared in the 1950s, frequently under pseudonyms, and many of these novels are now considered classics of the pulp fiction genre. During his early writing years, Block also worked in the mailroom of a publishing house and reviewed the submission slush pile for a literary agency. He has cited the latter experience as a valuable lesson for a beginning writer.

Block's first short story, "You Can't Lose," was published in 1957 in Manhunt, the first of dozens of short stories and articles that he would publish over the years in publications including American Heritage, Redbook, Playboy, Cosmopolitan, GQ, and the New York Times. His short fiction has been featured and reprinted in over eleven collections including Enough Rope (2002), which is comprised of eighty-four of his short stories.

In 1966, Block introduced the insomniac protagonist Evan Tanner in the novel The Thief Who Couldn't Sleep. Block's diverse heroes also include the urbane and witty bookseller--and thief-on-the-side--Bernie Rhodenbarr; the gritty recovering alcoholic and private investigator Matthew Scudder; and Chip Harrison, the comical assistant to a private investigator with a Nero Wolfe fixation who appears in No Score, Chip Harrison Scores Again, Make Out with Murder, and The Topless Tulip Caper. Block has also written several short stories and novels featuring Keller, a professional hit man. Block's work is praised for his richly imagined and varied characters and frequent use of humor.

A father of three daughters, Block lives in New York City with his second wife, Lynne. When he isn't touring or attending mystery conventions, he and Lynne are frequent travelers, as members of the Travelers' Century Club for nearly a decade now, and have visited about 150 countries.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Lots of tongue-in-cheek in this story, October 30, 2007

By 

Armchair Interviews (Minneapolis, MN) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Me Tanner, You Jane (Hardcover)

Evan Tanner is the spy who never sleeps. His sleep center was destroyed by shrapnel during the Korean War, and he has been productively awake ever since - except for the twenty-five years he was frozen by a jealous coworker. This novel finds him searching for the missing ruler of a new African nation. He has escaped into a remote part of his nation with millions from the treasury and is accompanied by an undercover agent from Tanner's covert group.

The part of the country he must go to is controlled by a rebel group led by a white woman known as Sheena the Jungle Girl. Her origins are unknown, but what is known is that she is ruthless and that no one returns from the area she controls.

On this adventure Tanner picks up a 15-year-old native girl who either accompanies him or dies. She is constantly attempting to seduce him, since she is considered old by her tribe. The number of dysfunctional elements in this novel will keep the reader reeling. You'll uncover missionaries who are not as virtuous as they should have been. A young girl misinterprets what she sees as love in action - and uses love and power to conquer and kill for no other reason than to temporarily quiet her demons. Tanner also discovers allies who are not quite whom they seem to be - and who turn out at various stages to really be enemies.

Armchair Interviews says: You will be thoroughly entertained by this book-as long as you can take it for the tongue-in-cheek novel it was meant to be.

1.0 out of 5 stars It's a poor job by Lawrence Block, July 5, 2011

By 

Robert A. Cox "Mississippi expatriot" (St Louis, MO USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Me Tanner, You Jane (Evan Tanner Suspense Thrillers) (Mass Market Paperback)

This particular book is just offensive. The main character, Evan Turner, gets an assignment to go to a fictional African nation. In his adventures, he, of course, beds another nymphomanic, hot for his secret agent body. The only problem: Turner enjoys a little pedophilia in that part. Part of his work is to eliminate a beautiful white terrorist nymphomaniac running around the jungles in Africa. Right.

Too many of the passages in the book, through the eyes of any person today, forty years later, would be seen as just plain racist, homophobic, pedophilic and misogynistic. This book just isn't funny, like the other Evan Tanner novels. It does not hold together, and it doesn't make any sense. Sometimes, Block's books can sag a little and then pick up. This one goes for the cellar and never comes up.

I love almost all the books by Lawrence Block. This one should stay unbought.