Product Description: Even before he invented Matthew Scudder and Bernie Rhodenbarr, Block was writing terrific thrillers such as this. Johnny Hayden and his partner had the perfect scam selling worthless Canadian land to marks. The scam just has to work, because at stake is Evvie--the girl with the long green heart.
Kindle Version Bad Text Conversion ^ Beware: the Kindle version has apostrophes and quotes that have been replaced by rubbish characters. And line breaks happen at bad points.
Good book. Bad for Kindle.
Fun Noir ^ I had read a short story by Block, was favorably impressed, and decided to check out something longer from him. This was my first Block novel, but it won't be the last.
It started a little slow, but then it picked up pace. Oh boy, did it! I haven't had this much fun reading a crime novel in a long time. Yeah, sometimes the prose is overblown, and, yep, it's sexist and homophobic. But it's true to its time period, and the characters are believable and memorable.
This writer is a great crime fiction writer!
The Real Deal... ^ I came late to being a fan of Lawrence Block, but when I found him, I read him voraciously for a while. Scudder, Rhodenbarr, and Keller have kept me interested, as have some of his older books. So when I found THE GIRL WITH THE LONG GREEN HEART on the Hard Case Crime imprint, I bought it.
And then I sort of forgot about it. It sat in a stack of paperbacks, unread, and then finally, about two days ago, I pulled it out after finishing a Preston/Child book. Man, am I glad I did.
It's a great story about a long con set up by two grifters, which of course doesn't go down the way it's supposed to. It brings you back to days gone by when crime fiction was truly hardboiled, and the crooks were tough guys in words and action. Johnny Hayden is a classic noir character, and everyone else in the book follows suit.
The dialogue crackles, as it does in most of Block's work. You really feel like you're a fly on the wall, listening to real people talk. You hear them, you see the settings, and you feel their moods and passions, even when these are understated.
The end worked really well, in my opinion, and fit the feel of the story perfectly. The blow-off was almost as neat to see develop as the con itself was.
I'd recommend this book without reservation to any hard-boiled crime fiction afficianado.
Classic Noir Thriller ^ The Girl With the Long Green Heart (1965) is the story of a long-term con. Evvie Stone is millionaire Wallace J. Gunderman's secretary and mistress. When Gunderman's wife finally dies and he refuses to make good on his promise to marry her, Evvie connects with Doug Rance and John Hayden, experienced con-artists. Doug's charm is balanced by John's sincerity, making them the perfect team to help Evvie get her revenge along with a pile of money. Written from John's point of view, the con starts slowly and then begins to snowball toward the unexpected conclusion. Block is a mesmerizing storyteller and this book is a real page-turner. http://www.stopyourekillingme.com/B_Authors/Block_Lawrence.html
Oly-Ann, not Ole-n ^ Though in general, I enjoyed the writing and the story, one flaw annoyed me throughout. The town central to the plot is pronounced oly-ann, not oly-n. I once lived on Olean (oly-ann) Road, somewhat north of Olean (Oly-ann), in western New York state. A bit of research would have revealed the correct pronunciation.
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