jjares reviewed on 6/26/2020 + 3562 more book reviews

For the second time in Alex Penn's life, he wakes up in a cheap hotel with a dead body. The dead woman (Robin, a call-girl) was savagely mutilated; blood was everywhere. Then the story tells Alex's backstory. He was convicted of murder (same MO) and after about four years, was released on a technicality. However, the damage was done. He'd lost his job as a college professor and his wife. She moved to California and married someone new.

This story is the first book in Lawrence Block's Classic Crime Library. I didn't really like this book. It's told in the first person. At the end, the police believe Alex (and the clues he's found) and I found that hard to believe. Why would they take his word for anything? He'd already killed Evangeline years ago (according to the police and courts).

Classic Crime Library
*** 1. After the First Death (1969)
2. Deadly Honeymoon (1967)

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