- Paperback: 320 pages
- Publisher: Mysterious Press (Feb 1 2003)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0446678708
- ISBN-13: 978-0446678704
- Product Dimensions: 13.3 x 2.2 x 20.3 cm
- Shipping Weight: 268 g
- Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #2,227,480 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
Sometimes it's pleasant to read a tale that unfolds slowly and methodically like the layers of an onion. This first novel is such a story. Retired detective and senior citizen William (never Bill, Billy or Willy) Riskin, a New Yorker through and through, used to work for an investigative agency, the Three Eyes, whose clients were either from the city or had settled in south Florida. The problem at hand is that some people who left their longtime New York abodes for Florida never arrived there. Where are they, and what happened to them? Jean Goldblum, deceased, one of William's former partners in the Three Eyes agency, had been working on the "biggest case of his life," and now William must come out of retirement to try to pick up the pieces. William only has Jean's list of names of the missing people to work with. "Follow the list, William, it's all you have," our hero says to himself. As the layers are stripped bit by bit, and oh, so slowly, we learn that this case has roots in the past, when Nazi Germany controlled much of Europe. Jean had always been known as an underground hero from World War II; could it be that his reputation is undeserved? As William moves from clue to clue, he uncovers more than one startling secret. In a denouement as frightening as a medieval torture chamber, William fights for his life. Is this Williams's last case, or will he return in another adventure? Either way, readers will be satisfied. (June 5)won many industry awards. He also wrote the Emmy-winning NBC "Make You Know" public service campaign.
Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.From Library Journal
Retired P.I.William Riskin spends his golden years sweeping out a Queens Offtrack Betting Office and waiting to die when he spots the newspaper obituary of his old partner, Jean Goldblum, a hardened concentration camp survivor and war hero. Although he has mixed feelings about Jean, who brutally exposed his wife's infidelity and destroyed his marriage, William pays his respects at the funeral and learns that Jean was working on the most important case of his life at the time of his death. Investigating a list of names that Jean left for safekeeping with a neighbor, William follows a trail of missing retirees who supposedly moved to Florida but never arrived there. In turn, this leads him to horrifying crimes committed 60 years earlier in occupied France. This first novel by the creative director of a New York ad agency skillfully combines a compelling crime story with clearly drawn characters (most over the age of 70) and wry, tart insights about the indignities and humiliations of growing old ("William the Conquerer was going back into mothballs. William the Meek was now taking calls."). For all mystery collections. Wilda Williams, "Library Journal"
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
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Most helpful customer reviews
1.0 out of 5 stars
GRAVE MISTAKE,
By
This review is from: Epitaph: A Novel (Paperback)
I certainly admire Siegel for wanting to write a story that had an seventy year old as its hero. The reaffirmation that being elderly doesn't mean being dead is a good intention. However, in EPITAPH, William is so low in self-esteem and has little literary energy, so the plot moves at a snail's pace, and one can't feel the urge to finish what could possibly be a good book? I don't know cause midway through, I got tired of William and the rambling lack of action, so I didn't finish it. You'll have to decide...
5.0 out of 5 stars
Worth the Wait,
By Rebecca Mccloud "Life is Grand" (Lexington, KY USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Epitaph: A Novel (Paperback)
I read this book even after having read some of the more negative comments here (I tend to let those things influence me!) but thoroughly enjoyed it. While it might have been just a bit slow in the beginning, I think all of it was necessary to set the mood and background of the characters. The ending was unexpected. A really good read. His second book "Derailed" is even better -- another surprise ending! I can't wait for #3.
3.0 out of 5 stars
Grumpy Old Men; The Crime,
By
This review is from: Epitaph: A Novel (Paperback)
Epitaph is a good book to read over a weekend. It's a little slow moving but, the ending is interesting. It's a crime novel but it also has the theme of growing old and being alone.The hero of the story is a seventy year old man. I would recommend the book.
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