The Tormentor [Paperback]

Bill Pronzini (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Leisure (2000)
• ISBN-10: 0843948086
• ISBN-13: 978-0843948080
• ASIN: B001GS0NBG
• Average Customer Review: 2.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Actually better than expected, November 30, 2004

By 

coachtim (Indiana, United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Tormentor (Mass Market Paperback)

I bought this book (prior to reading any of the reviews posted here) because I knew that Bill Pronzini had a pretty good reputation as a thriller novelist. After reading some of the reviews here, I almost put the book in the back of my "to be read" collection of paperbacks. I'm glad that I didn't because this book is actually more entertaining than these reviewers would lead one to believe.

The plot revolves around a central character named Dixon "Dix" Mallory who is trying to get his life back together after losing his wife in a terrible car accident. Just as he begins to come to grips with his grief, he begins receiving anonymous phone calls from a man purporting to be his wife Katy's former lover.

Dix soon finds out that one of his wife's closest friends, Francesca "Cecca" Bellini, is also receiving prank calls involving the noctural activities of her daughter, Amy. Cecca and Dix soon begin to collaborate on a plan to find if the calls are connected in any way and what they can do to stop them.

Pronzini weaves a pretty good plot from this point as both of the protagonists begin to confront some of their friends regarding the mysterious calls and their subject matter. The author creates some good characters and throws in quite a few plot twists as the reader tries to unravel who "The Tormentor" is.

This is a "quick and painless" read for those who enjoy a light "who-dun-it" of sorts. While the ending is less satisfying (in this reviewer's humble opinion) it does bring the book to closure while even keeping the door open for a sequel.

Even though he's not in the league of King, Koontz, or Laymon, Pronzini does write in a lively fashion that's easy to get into.

RECOMMENDED FOR MYSTERY FANS

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Horror???, March 14, 2001

By 

P. Craig "[e-mail]" (New York, NY United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Tormentor (Mass Market Paperback)

Why are Bill Pronzini's books under the category of Horror? As a fan of the genre, I am fed up with mystery authors being thrown into this category. While we're at it can we eliminate V.C Andrews as well? And anything written in the last 3 years by Dean Koontz and/or Stephen King. (Ah but when they wrote to scare, no one can compare!) Lastly on this topic, I received a book the other day from the "Leisure Horror Book Club" that was touted as "Tales of the Dark." Sure, it was more like "Tales of Irony," and the first short was a romance!! Don't get me wrong I read a lot of different genres, but when I'm looking for a good spooky story don't give me crank phone calls. Speaking of which, I stopped reading "Tormentor" midway, I passed it on to a friend and realized I had gotten to Chapter 17 and didn't really care about the story or the characters! I was again duped into reading Pronzini's "Masques" and that at least held my interest towards its conclusion.

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Waste of time, February 19, 2001

By 

Monique (CHICAGO, IL USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Tormentor (Mass Market Paperback)

What a dull book. I can't believe Bill Pronzini has published more than 40 novels. This is the first I've read by him, and probably the last. Dix Mallory's wife, Katy, has been killed in a fiery car accident. After her death Dix starts getting harassing phone calls from a man he nicknames the Tormentor.The Tormentor,finally after numerous"breathing"calls, tells Dix his wife was having an affair with him. Unknown to Dix,Cecca, Katy's best friend is also receiving calls from the Tormentor. (So, what happen to caller ID and *69?) One phone number gets changed, another goes unanswered. The Tormentor starts to leave packages since the calls go unanswered.( I'm already bored.) There's a couple of fires( this guy's a pyro) and few casualities. Most of this book is spend with Dix and Cecca trying to guess which of their friends or colleagues is the Tormentor. The end of the book we have the "Where are they now?" two years later. I was very surprised that the author left out the person closest to the Tormentor.