Zig Zag Man [Mass Market Paperback]

Marvin H. Albert (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In the latest in the Stone Angel series, Paris-based investigator Pete Sawyer's attempt to track down the perpetrator of an eight-year-old kidnapping leads him into a web of Nazi war crimes, neo-Nazi activities and international drug trafficking. Helen Marsh was snatched from her German boarding school when she was 10, and two of her fingers were sent to her physically and emotionally remote father, who was reluctant to pay the ransom. Now, eight years later, Helen recognizes the voice of one of her kidnappers in the lobby of the Ritz and hires Pete to find him. His search takes him around Europe, assisted by his able partner Fritz Donhoff. As the two discover that the man who appears to be Benjamin Hulvane is an imposter, witnesses to the abductor's identity are being methodically murdered. But Pete knows everyone in the crime-solving business, from the French secret service to the Genoa police, and they all help him out. Albert's story is taut, with not one extra bit of dialogue or action, and readers will especially savor the last chapter.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback
• Publisher: Fawcett (June 2, 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0449146243
• ISBN-13: 978-0449146248
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,942,773 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Pete Sawyer was more fun than he was given credit for, December 10, 2006

By 

David W. Nicholas (Van Nuys, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Zig Zag Man (Mass Market Paperback)

I always thought that Marvin H. Albert was one of the better detective novelists who wrote during the 80s and 90s, and this, his last-but-one Stone Angel novel, is a very very good book. It's not over-long (230 pages) and the author keeps the premise and the plot on track. There's no extraneous events occurring during the course of the book: instead, it's fun and entertaining detective novel stuff from page one on.

Sawyer, Albert's main character here, is a rough-and-tumble private eye in France. He lives on the Riviera, but works also in Paris. He's half-French and half-American, and has a German partner. In this book, his girlfriend, a French lawyer, brings him a client. The young woman was kidnapped 8 years ago, and though she was ransomed back to her parents, it took the kidnappers cutting off two of her fingers before her father saw reason and actually paid the ransom. Now an adult, almost, the young woman who was once kidnapped saw and heard a man in a Paris hotel lobby who she swears is one of the kidnappers. She wants Sawyer to find the man, and make him pay for what he did to her.

The rest of the plot is complex, involved, and absorbing. I would be doing you a disservice if I repeated any portion of it. Suffice to say it's entertaining and suspenseful, and the ending is amusing. I highly recommend this book. Frankly, as I said to start: I don't think Albert got the respect he deserved.