Reviewed By: Jon Jordan - Crime Spree Magazine - RAM
![[Book Cover graphic]](http://www.booksnbytes.com/book_covers/pronzini_bleeders.jpg)
Bleeders
Amazon US HC Amazon Canada HC
Bill Pronzini
Class/Genre: Mystery Private Investigator
Series: Nameless Detective # 27
2002, Carroll and Graf, 213 pages/$24.00
As I started this book, I read the dedication. It reads “For Bill Pronzini Without whom this series would never have been written”. And you know what, I really like that. Because it’s a great series and Bill deserves more credit than he gets. The characters have all grown with the series. This is Twenty seven and it shows no signs of age. I also love the feeling I get when reading them that I’m totally hip to what’s going to happen next. And then finding out I’m wrong! This series still surprises me.
The book starts out with “Nameless” working a blackmail case with ulterior motives from the man who hired him. The blackmail scheme is more intricate than we first see, and the road it leads us down is a winding one, with plenty of stops along the way for honest to goodness detective work. While we find out about the case we also find out about his home life, which has a few new wrinkles. Namely, he and Kerry have a daughter now, a girl from a previous tale who lost her parents. So while we are getting the low down on the case and the main plot of the story we are also finding our hero having doubts about working so much and whether he is spending enough time at home. It’s wonderfully real and human and that’s part of what I love about Pronzini’s writing. It’s human quality. And that aspect of the story is all over the book. From out hero’s pondering his own mortality and questioning choices he’s made, to his dealings with those around him, on both sides of the law. Right up until the conclusion of the book we are seeing the world through someone else’s eyes, someone who has been around the block a few times and discovers that “home is the place where...”
Jon Jordan - Crime Spree Magazine - RAM
Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Jon Jordan - Crime Spree Magazine - RAM
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