The Lemur: A Novel | 
|  | | | Title: | The Lemur: A Novel | | Author: | Benjamin Black | | Publisher: | Picador | | Type: | Book / Paperback | | Publication Date: | 24 June, 2008 | | ISBN / ISBN-13: | 0312428081 / 9780312428082 | | List Price: | $13.00 | | You Save: | $3.90 | | Amazon Price: | $9.10 | |
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| Editorial Review / Publisher's Information:
Product Description
A new thriller from the Booker Prize–winning and Edgar-nominated author of Christine Falls and The Silver Swan
John Glass's life in New York should be plenty comfortable. He's given up his career as a journalist to write an authorized biography of his father-in-law, communications magnate and former CIA agent Big Bill Mulholland. He works in a big office in Mulholland Tower, rent-free, and goes home (most nights) to his wealthy and well-preserved wife, Wild Bill's daughter. He misses his old life sometimes, but all in all things have turned out well.
But when his shifty young researcher--a man he calls "The Lemur"--turns up some unflattering information about the family, Glass's whole easy existence is threatened. Then the young man is murdered, and it's up to Glass to find out what The Lemur knew, and who killed him, before any secrets come out--and before any other bodies appear. Shifting from 1950s Dublin to contemporary New York, the masterful crime writer Benjamin Black returns in this standalone thriller--a story of family secrets so deep, and so dangerous, that anyone might kill to keep them hidden.
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Customer Reviews:
• Disappointing At Best 05 October, 2008
After reading Christine Falls and The Silver Swan, i found this to be a huge disappointment. As another reviewer wrote, the brevity of this story does not allow Black to show that he is a very talented mystery writer. I actually had a hard time getting through this book, or really wanting to find out the identity of the murderer. If I hadn't had high expectations for this book, based on previous Benjamin Black books, I probably wouldn't have even finished the book. Hopefully Black's next mystery will have more developed characters and a more complex plot.
- Reviewed by customer ID: A241UYA17ENH18
• All Of The Reviews Are Written About Other Books By The Author 16 July, 2008
It's my fault for not noticing that all of the praise written on the back of this book are for other books by this author. Although, I still feel duped, mostly because this book is the literary equivalent of "phoning it in." The plot is like a "Law and Order" episode: pointless, obvious, and over in less than an hour, 30 minutes too many. The only thing I find interesting is that this is a mystery in which the protagonist seems to have almost no interested in solving it and does so with almost no effort. There is nothing to be gained from reading this book. Maybe you should read one of the other books that are lauded on the back of this one.
- Reviewed by customer ID: A1DV4GMJL517XS
• Terrible 27 July, 2008
A terrible book and a pointless waste of time.Skip it and read Banville's novels in his own name, not this would be noir dreck.
- Reviewed by customer ID: A3JMHPN9AP48LX
• Originally Serialized Novella Lacks Depth 06 September, 2008
Originally serialized in The New York Times Magazine, this novella doesn't meet the standards of Black's Quirke novels. Irish journalist John Glass has given up reporting on foreign wars and accepted a commission from his wealthy and powerful American father-in-law, "Big Bill," to write the old man's biography.
His reduced role in the world - complacent, unfaithful husband of a rich wife, occupying a glassed-in office in the old man's Manhattan skyscraper - doesn't square with his war-correspondent persona. There may be such people, but Black never convinces and the story - a dark secret in the past and a murder in the present - is Chandleresque but ordinary.
Black (pseudonym of award-winning novelist John Banville) is a fine writer, but readers interested in his noir books should turn to his Dublin pathologist Quirke series, beginning with "Christine Falls."
- Reviewed by customer ID: A2VG0RY3EUWZKB
• Have I Told You Lately That I Lemur? 29 July, 2008
I found this disappointing. I was drawn in initially by the skillful prose but I agree that this was a short sketch of what could have been a longer and more complex novel. I can't recommend this. It is a shame, because "Benjamin Black" has writing talent. (Now I understand why the reviews on the back of the book are for his other books, NOT this one.)
- Reviewed by customer ID: A2V3JXK6SI6C2Q
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