Bill sees a help wanted sign in a diner as the bus is going through a small time. He gets off the bus and ends up with a job in the diner. You know that he has some demons following him and wonder if his past is going to catch up with him. Is he deluding himself? Or is this that fresh start?
At around one hundred pages I'm surprised at how fast I was dropped into the story and was totally invested. I haven't read anything by Lawrence Block before and now that I have I want some more please.

Another BLOCK-buster right but faaar too short to appreciate Bill the drifter.

This is a novella by Lawrence Block, who is a brilliant crime novelist. It’s not necessarily a good introduction to his work, but if you have been reading his books for years (like me!) than this is definitely a must-read addition to the list. The concept seems pretty stock – a man shows up in town, takes a new name and a job in an attempt to escape his past and start fresh, but of course that past eventually catches up with him. However, Block takes this and manages to distill it down into a 50-page novella, without sacrificing any of the tension and wonderful character development he’s known for. It’s a quick read but very satisfying.

A loner gets off a bus at random and gets a job as a cook in a diner. That sounds like the start to a [[ASIN:0515153656 Jack Reacher novel]], but Lawrence Block takes the story in a creepier direction. The main character and narrator starts dropping increasingly odd clues to his past and future.

As the opening chapters of a novel, this could be great. At about one third the length, it could be a first rate short story. But the current length has too much detail, moves too slowly, for the mild payoff at the end. If I'm going to learn this much about a guy, I want more context and action. If I'm just supposed to think about him, I could do it in fewer pages.

On his blog, the author says he started to write a short story, and when he got to 21,000 words, decided to call it a novella. It's not a novella, not enough happens. It's either a novel he gave up on, or a short story he refused to edit to a decent length.

The story is entertaining enough on its own, and of course the writing is superb, but I suspect most readers will be disappointed either that it went on for so long, or that it ended so soon.

7.5/10

A solid short read, well worth my time. After reading something as epic as “The Stand”, I needed something to cleanse the palette. I’d seen this pop up on my feed a number of times and it was a short story (it made a nice change seeing those %’s fly by!) and of the Scudder books I’ve listened to I was keen to give Lawrence Block a try with something separate and actually in print so this seemed like a no brainer.

It was an enjoyable read, Block makes the mundane readable and, actually, even enjoyable. Even knowing that there was something shady about Bill’s history I was rooting for him to come good and make a go of things. Who doesn’t want a sexy librarian girlfriend after all?!

It’s a short read but that doesn’t mean Block doesn’t cram a lot in that packs a punch. Filled with intrigue and a lingering dread of old habits dying hard, a man trying to give it a go in a new place, making acquaintances with locals. Well worth the time to read.