From Publishers Weekly
Wide-ranging in setting and tone, yet linked by their sense of irony and reverence for the past, these 13 short stories reflect in miniature the pseudonymous Trevanian's chameleonic career as a genre-defying author of popular fiction (Shibumi; Incident at Twenty-Mile). Most of the tales take place in pre- and post-WWII urban environments, most notably the title story, which features a lonely girl dressed up like June Allyson and a gentlemanly stalker who imitates Jimmy Stewart and W.C. Fields. Trevanian tells the story twice, the first version introducing the volume, the second ending it; each has a different denouement, but both are tragic. A similar period mustiness permeates "Snatch Off Your Cap, Kid!"Aan ode to the tramps and hobos of bygone days; "After Hours at Rick's," an evocation of the timeless, edgy ennui of last call at a pick-up bar; and "The Sacking of Miss Plimsoll," the story of an unusual relationship between a bestselling author and his literary secretary. Basque country serves as the backdrop for two of Trevanian's tales: a young couple come together in a light romantic farce entitled "The Engine of Fate," and a village idiot improves his lot in life by pretending that he has a fortune to bequeath in "That Fox-of-a-Be?at." The author ventures even farther afield with "Easter Story," set in ancient Rome and detailing Pontius Pilate's first meeting with Jesus, and with a retelling of the wise and witty Onondaga creation parable "How the Animals Got Their Voices." Though he employs a number of hoary devices to achieve his effects, Trevanian can be an engaging storyteller, with a knack for getting inside his characters' heads. Several tales get bogged down when his narrative style turns pedantic, but the collection as a whole is enjoyable, if vaguely anachronistic. (June)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
Trevanian keeps his fans guessing with long silences (15 years elapsed between The Summer of Katya and Incident at Twenty-Mile) and shifts in genre, from thriller to police procedural to romance to Western. Now comes a shift in format, from novel to short story. The 13 stories in this collection show Trevanian to be a storyteller as versatile as he is skillful, using a variety of voice, time, and place to leave the reader with a smile, a shake of the head, or a shudder. Narrators include an imaginative nine-year-old boy in the 1940s, the slave translator of Pontius Pilatus, and a middle-aged professor at a pickup bar. There is an ancient folk tale, one from the Round Table, and several featuring canny Basque peasants. In the title story, a plain young woman in an anonymous city at mid-century goes out alone at night and is picked up by a well-spoken drifter. Told twice with different endings, this story brackets the others and is the most chilling of all. An admirable collection.
-Michele Leber, Fairfax Cty. P.L., VA Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
