You Can't Win

 Black Jack. You Can't Win. New York : MacMillan 1926. Print.

First Sentences:

I am now librarian of the San Francisco Call. Do I look like one?

 

Description:

Hardly the opening sentence for the autobiography of a lifelong criminal, a thief who spent the greater portion of his life either stealing, incarcerated in jail, or on the run from police. But such is the start of this fascinating memoir from the author/criminal Jack Black in his 1926 book of detailing his life of crime, You Can't Win. Interestingly, this was a favorite book of William S. Burroughs, author of Naked Lunch, as well as several other Beat writers.

Black was born in the late 1800s and, after his mother died when he was 10, lived with his father in a hotel. Because his father traveled often for business, Black was placed in a Catholic school for four years until he aged out and returned to the hotel life. Unsupervised by his father for weeks, often months at a time, he obtained small jobs like collecting bills for the milkman and minding a tobacco shop (which the owner used as a front for illegal gambling). These jobs brought him in contact with former Civil War soldiers, drunks, gamblers, prostitutes, bums, thieves, and others who were, in his words, "bad men." 

 

At 20 he left "home" and began life as a "Yegg," that is, a beggar/thief, who hitched rides on trains, robbed homes, held up people by gunpoint, blew up safes, and was constantly on the lookout for "coppers."

My background is crowded with robberies, burglaries, and thefts too numerous to recall. All manner of crimes against property. Arrests, trials, acquittals, convictions, escapes. Penitentiaries! I see in the background four of them. County jails, workhouses, city prisons, Mounted Police barracks, dungeons, solitary confinement, bread and water, hanging up, brutal floggings, and the murderous straitjacket. I see hop joints, wine dumps, thieves' resorts, and beggars' hangouts. Crime followed by swift retribution in one form or another. I had very few glasses of wine as I traveled this route. I rarely saw a woman smile and seldom heard a song. In those twenty-five years I took all these things, and I am going to write about them. And I am going to write about them as I took them - with a smile.

After Black left home for the road, he met up with various other wandering men with colorful names such as "Smiler," "Foot-'n'-a-half George," "Salt Chunk Mary," "Soldier Johnnie, and "The Sanctimonious Kid." They taught him through example how to determine a source of money to steal, painstakingly prepare for all contingencies, investigate escape routes, execute the plan, and hopefully hop on a nearby train, leaving nothing behind of your presence in the town. All clothes used in a crime episode were always immediately discarded and any rental rooms cleaned out. Guns, seldom used except in stick-ups as a threat, were often thrown away as well, as they were cheap and readily available in those days. 

But the risks Black undertakes are high. Even with careful planning, things often go wrong. Statistically, burglars are successful only one in five attempts and are often shot at by homeowners or attacked by household dogs. Safes need to be exploded, the sound often raising the owners' interest and subsequent capture of the thief. Train guards were a constant threat as they were known to savagely beat up or even kill anyone they found jumping onto their trains for a free ride.

It was a grim life as well. Several of his fellow thieves were killed during a job with him. He was often jailed, waiting trial for months until shipped to a penitentiary for long-term sentences. He was betrayed by several people through their perjury in court, resulting in his convictions when there was little proof he committed the crimes. He endured solitary confinement, 30 lashes with a whip, and being bound up in a full-body straight jacket, a then-recently invented device that often drove prisoners completely insane after only a few hours trussed up in it.

He does meet people who are kind to him, whether fences, fellow prisoners, lawyers, judges, or simply people sympathetic enough to him to help him obtain legal help. He was even assisted in escaping several jail cells by friends who smuggled in files for him to saw through window bars. Once, he sawed for several nights under the nose of his drunk jailer. In several jails, he was given books from the prison library and passed the empty hours in his cell reading voraciously.

There is some ironic humor in several of his experiences. He and two partner picked the lock of their cell, left the jail and blew up a safe, hid its contents, then went back to their cells, achieving the perfect alibi. Once after two months' planning, Black blew a safe containing the local miners' weekly pay, but the exploded safe fell forward onto its door, thus preventing Black from opening it. He once buried a stash of stolen money in a vacant lot, only to return months later to claim it only to find a building had been constructed over his hiding place. In prison, he ordered cheap jewelry from mail order catalogs, then sold them at a profit to visitors who were told the items were "stolen stuff" smuggled into the jailhouse.

Although Black was twenty-five year thief, an opium addict, and Faro gambler, he brought an honesty and clarity to his world and the people he encountered. He was a thinker, whether in planning a job or wondering at length about the influences on a man which shapes his life, and how much one can control his own destiny. His writing in this autobiography is straightforward, thoughtful, and full of details that bring his world, the people he encountered, his jobs, and his personality into sharp focus.

Black does eventually give up his criminal life, kick his addictions, and secure lawful employment as a librarian no less. And with his former life behind him, he wrote this book. 

While this may not sound like an attractive read, believe me Jack Black is a wonderful writer with a compelling story to tell. You Can't Win paints a historical picture of the society of the late 1800-early 1900s that is both vivid and revealing.  I found this book tremendously engrossing and gets my highest recommendation for everyone.

The thought of turning to the right, squaring myself, and starting anew never entered my mind. Probably youthful egotism, which is nothing but confidence born of ignorance, whispered to me that I could beat a game I knew to be wrong and full of dangers....I knew I was wrong, and yet I persisted....I thought in terms of theft. Houses were built to be burglarized, citizens were to be robbed, police to be avoided and hated, stool pigeons to be chastised, and thieves to be cultivated and protected. That was my code; the code of my companions. That was the atmosphere I breathed. 

[If this book interests you, be sure to check out:]

 Lowrie, Donald. My Life in Prison

In the early 1900s, the author, after stealing a watch and purse valued at about $100 is sentenced to 15 years in San Quentin prison. In this fascinating book, he recalls his life as a prisoner, from food to riots to friendships and the strait jacket punishment that drove men insane. Brilliantly recorded, shocking at times, and revealing of a world, both positive and negative, that few of us know about. (Previously reviewed here)

 Happy reading.

Fred

[P.S. Click here to browse over 500 more book recommendations by subject or title and read the introduction to The First Sentence Reader.]

The Dentist

 Sullivan, Tim. The Dentist. New York : Atlantic Crime 2020. Print.

First Sentences:

The young woman standing in front of him was smiling. Cross was sure of this, as her mouth was turned up at both corners, which was a definite sign. He wasn't sure what it meant though, because he didn't know her. 

Description:

It's always a great pleasure to me to discover a new author, particularly one who has written numerous books in a genre I enjoy. In this case, my latest discovery is Tim Sullivan and his initial police procedural mystery, The Dentist. 

 

Detective Sargent George Cross, the main character in this novel, is a brilliant, yet irritating detective for the Major Crime Unit of the Avon and Somerset (England) police force. Cross, while having probably the best criminal conviction rate in the country, is extremely awkward to be around due to his Asperger's Syndrome which puts him on the Autism Spectrum.

 

This condition makes him extremely detail-oriented and relentless in his pursuit of the truth, both pluses for any criminal investigator. But he is also socially inept, unaware of the affect of his words and actions on others, definitely a minus for his department, suspects, and his long-suffering partner, Josie Ottey, and new officer Alice Mackenzie. He abruptly leaves meetings without a word to pursue some new idea, leaving others to wonder what he's up to. It never occurs to him to include them on what is going on in his head unless they specifically ask him.Truly a trying man to be around professionally and socially.

[Ottey] had become his apologist and translator with the rest of the world. She wasn't entirely happy about this....As frustrating as she found Cross and partnering him, it did have its upside. She wouldn't dream of telling anyone else, but she'd learnt a lot from this man. More than she'd care to admit. 

Cross doesn't drive.although he can. Instead,he sometimes opts to be driven (often reluctantly) by his colleagues so he can concentrate on his thoughts en route. He mostly prefers to use his bicycle for transportation when a driver is not available or he is in too much of a hurry to get somewhere.

[At the crime scene] He had arrived on a bicycle, fully kitted out in a dayglo green helmet with a flashing light and digital camera attached to the top, dayglo cycling windbreaker, dayglo bicycle clips round his ankles and a small backpack over his shoulder. He looked more like an eccentric, absent minded, fifty-year-old geography teacher who had lost his way en route to an orienteering field trip...  

In the opening pages of The Dentist, Cross and Ottey are faced with the dead body of an elderly homeless man. Uniformed officers on the scene had already dismissed this death as a "homeless on homeless" situation that likely involved an argument, an escalating fight, and then an intentional or accidental death. The police conclusion? Inconsequential people in a time-waster of a case. 

 

But to Cross the body represented an individual who needed to be understood in order for Cross to recreate at the situation that led to his death by an unknown person.

Cross studied the corpse's face. Who was this man? How did he end up here? Like this? What events in his life led him to this moment? What was his story?

So there you have it. An odd detective, his partner, a rookie staff person, and the rest of the police force working on a case. I can't give any more away. However, if you are looking for careening car chases, shoot-outs, and fist fights, this is not the book or characters for you. This is a police procedural, one where the action is looking for clues, intensively interviewing suspects, rejecting false leads, and sitting around in meetings and thinking. Maybe this sounds dull, but the conversations, interviews of suspects as well as the investigation procedures conductive by intense and sometimes confused (by Cross) colleagues are fascinating to see in "action."

 

Best of all, author Tim Sullivan has written eight (so far) DS George novels. Having read the first three (The Cyclist is the second in the series, then comes The Patient, both equally well-written and compelling), I have five more queued up on my "To Be Read" list. Nice to have a good novel to turn to when other items don't pan out. I'm going to read them in order as there is growth to the characters and their relationships to each other, even in the first two books. Can't wait to dive into the fourth book, The Politician, when I need a reliable story to fill my spare hours.

[If this book interests you, be sure to check out:]

Baldacci, Davie. Memory Man.

Amos Decker is a man has a memory that remembers every detail, conversation, picture, or situation ... forever. He can never forget the brutal murders of his wife and child, dropping out of the police department and becoming a derelict. But he is reluctantly pulled back into an investigation by a friend who had been on death row but was released after a last-minute confession by another person. Highly interesting and pulse-pounding. Decker is a fascinating character. (Previously reviewed here.)

 Happy reading.

Fred

[P.S. Click here to browse over 500 more book recommendations by subject or title and read the introduction to The First Sentence Reader.]

The Mailman

 Welsh-Huggins, Andrew. The Mailman. New York : Mysterious Press, 2025. Print.

 

First Sentences:

Rachel Stanfield paused, not sure she heard her husband correctly, but wanting as always to give him the benefit of the doubt. Grateful for the distraction of a sound outside, she peered through the kitchen window but saw nothing.  


Description:

But the sound Rachel Stanfield thought she heard in these opening sentences was not an animal nor any other natural cause. It was four thuggish men who break into her house, tie up her and her husband, and demand information from her, Unfortunately, she has no idea what the answers they want are. When one of the men pulls out some special tools to "help her remember," things look completely bleak.

 

Then her doorbell rings. 

 

Thus starts the new thriller by Andrew Welsh-Huggins, The Mailman. It is a whirlwind ride of twists and turns, threatening situations with narrow escapes, mysterious data which good guys and bad guys alike are seeking for differing reasons. And then there is an questionable sum of $20 million that seems to play a part in the adventure.

 

Welsh-Huggins introduces into this environment Mercury ("call me Merc") Carter, an independent delivery man with a packet he wants to deliver to the story's narrator, Rachel. He says he has never missed a delivery before to a client and, despite all obstacles, doggedly does not want Rachel's package to be his first failure. 

So after ringing Rachel's doorbell, he finds himself entering into the aforementioned delicate hostage situation. But Merc conducts himself unexpectedly well despite the dangers to everyone in the room, and the adventure begins.

 

I cannot reveal any more of the plot, but will say that it involves kidnapping, lottery payoffs, some very nasty people, mysteries galore, secret numbers, and some nifty MacGyver-like extractions of various people from some very tight situations. 

There is an overwhelming sense of urgency throughout the book, a foreboding threat of violence and crimes, and touched with a bit of ironic humor as well. But after all, it is a thriller, so if you are not into that kind of scenario, give this novel a pass.

 

But for those of us who enjoy tense encounters, good vs. evil face-offs, impending dire consequences, and impossible last-second escapes, this is definitely the book for you. A great read that will keep you flipping pages long into the night as it did me. It's now in my top 5 thrillers of all time, and that's saying a lot! 

 

Best of all, this is the first book in a new Mercury Carter series, with the next edition to come out later in 2026. Cannot wait to dive into that one as well. 

 

 

[If this book interests you, be sure to check out:]

Andrew Welsh-Huggins. Fourth Down and Out.

Former Ohio State University quarterback, now turned private investigator, needs to recover a friend's laptop and erase a file. Easy enough, but the trail leads him throughout Columbus, Ohio and eventually Ohio State itself where the people there still won't forget the huge mistake he made decades ago in an important football game.

 Happy reading.

Fred

[P.S. Click here to browse over 500 more book recommendations by subject or title and read the introduction to The First Sentence Reader.]

Hotel Lucky Seven

Isaka, Kotaro. Hotel Lucky Seven. New York: Overlook 2024. Print.

First Sentences:

 

"It's Room 415 right?" Blanket is talking to Pillow, who's walking ahead of her. They're both wearing the beige tops and brown bottoms that constitute the uniforms worn by the cleaning staff at the Hotel Vivaldi, Tokyo.

 

"Exactly. 415. Rhymes with For One Life." 

Description:

Ever since I read Kotaro Isaka's Bullet Train, I have been addicted to his four-book series about quirky Japanese assassins. His newest thriller, Hotel Lucky Seven, continues the dark humor mis-adventures of Nanao, code-named "Ladybug." He is tasked by his superior to perform a simple task: deliver a birthday painting from his daughter to a man in Room 2016 located in the elegant Winton Palace Hotel. What could be easier for the self-described unluckiest assassin in the world? Well, everything.

 

First, the man in the room seems suspicious as to why he is receiving a portrait that is not of him. Nanao also is wary in general due to his profession as a hit man, and thinks this delivery may possibly be some sort of trap to harm him. Sure enough, when Nanao is leaving the room, the hotel man rushes at him with arms outstretched as if to strangle him from behind. But the hotel man trips, falls, and hits his head on a table, killing him. 

 

Was this man another "professional" tasked to kill Nanao or merely surprised by Nanao, and decided to end any possible threat to himself? Ladybug realizes he mis-read the blurry room number on the package as "2010" when it was actually "2016" where the true recipient of the portrait probably awaits. Nanao/Ladybug sees it as just another of his simple tasks unluckily complicated by circumstances, just like on the Bullet Train.

 

And so it starts. Ladybug's mistake and resulting accident occur in the first few pages, but set in motion circumstances that just keep building. While beating a hasty retreat to the elevator and escape, Ladybug rescues a young woman, Kamino, from nefarious pursuers. He learns from her that her pursuers' mission is to kidnap her and then tap into secrets held in her perfect memory that forgets nothing. Especially passwords which someone would rather not have unleashed into the world.

 

Soon the hotel is crawling with assassins on different missions. Many have rather silly nickname, such as the teams of Blanket and Pillow who clean up criminal scenes, and Soda and Cola, the explosive devices experts. Others are more straightforward in their identities: the blowgun-wielding Six and the elderly woman, Koko, who can erase your past and set a person up with a completely untraceable new life. 

 

All these deadly strangers chase after or try to escape each other, like an old film where corridor doors open and shut as occupants look for friends or enemies. While there is certainly some killing and always the threat of death, Hotel Lucky Seven  has a rather dry sense of humor about it, much like a Keystone Kops film as characters miss each other by seconds or are captured, only to reverse fortunes on their antagonists.

 

I admit this kind of scenario is not for everyone. But for anyone who enjoy a thriller with oddball characters with uniquely deadly skills who are trapped in unusual situations, Isaka and his Assassins series of books are definitely for you. Well-written, gripping, unexpected, and overall satisfying, Hotel Lucky Seven is the right kind of read for the adventurous reader.

 

[If this book interests you, be sure to check out:] 

  

Isaka, Kotaro. Bullet Train.   

Unlucky Nanao/Ladybug is tasked with another simple job where absolutely nothing could go wrong. Just board a specific Bullet Train, pick up a suitcase from the rack, and get off at the next station. But unbeknownst to him, that particular suitcase has great value to many people, including a trainload of other assassins who encounter and try to deal with each other and the suitcase without other passengers being alerted. Fascinating. (Previously reviewed here.)

Happy reading.

Fred

 

Click here to browse over 435 more book recommendations by subject or title

(and read the introduction to The First Sentence Reader).

 

Locked In

[**Note: Although this book, Locked In, is great on its own. I strongly suggest you first read the first Department Q book, The Keeper of Lost Causes (previously reviewed here) as there are spoilers here which involve characters, situations, clues, and references from previous cases. If not, no problem. Locked In stands on its own very well.  FR]

Adler-Olsen, Jussi. Locked In. New York: Dutton. 2024. Print.

First Sentences:

The predicament in which Carl now found himself reminded him of childhood, of the moment when its haze of innocence had been cruelly and definitively lifted. When, for the first time, he had come to see everything a little too clearly, to feel the sting of lies. It was the experience of injustice burning itself into his cheek after an unearned slap.

 

Description:

In the opening chapter of Jussi Adler-Olsen's Locked In, Danish homicide detective Carl Morck finds himself in handcuffs while being driven to the "bleak, mammoth" Vestre Prison. He and his Department Q team, assigned to work on a cold murder case, had just successfully investigated and stopped the person responsible for a brutal crime spree involving nail guns, kidnapping, and other atrocities. 

But instead of congratulations, Morck is heading to prison. His crime? A long-forgotten suitcase was found in his attic containing copious amounts of drugs and cash, with Morck's fingerprints on the bills. Years ago, Morck had agreed to hold that suitcase for his partner who was relocating his residence. Unfortunately, this partner was killed and Morck eventually forgot about the suitcase. Morck never had any knowledge of what was in the case, assuming it to be clothing and personal property of his partner.

Now, he is thrown into a prison full of men whom he had been instrumental in solving their crimes and putting them behind those same bars. Worse, for some unknown reason, Morck is not put into a protective solitary area, making his life vulnerable to any attack. Communication with his department, family, and friends is completely cut off.

Survival is key. Will he be able to fight off any attackers inside the prison? Can his team figure out what is going on, and who is behind the program to imprison and potentially kill him? And why, after his years of dedicated service on the Danish police force, is Morck accused of corruption?

This plotline revisits several ancient Department Q cases, especially the nail gun murder spree that left one of Mork's partners dead (the man with the suitcase) and one partner paralyzed by a bullet in a police raid gone wrong. Morck has carried the guilt from that raid and the results because he hadn't pulled his gun out in time to stop the criminals from shooting his friends.

Slowly, painstakingly the Danish police, Department Q, and others work on Carl Morck's situation, some trying to free him and others seeking to hold him responsible for corruption, drug-dealing, and other criminal activities. All the time, Morck sits locked in to his prison cell, unable to defend himself much less get to the bottom of the accusations.

It's a gripping, thrilling, and twisty-turny police procedural, one that is unusual because the Danish force is investigating one of their own stars. I loved it as one of those novels not easily put down, grabbing a few pages to read during any moments of free time.

[If this book interests you, be sure to check out:]

  

Adler-Olsen, Jussi. The Keeper of Lost Causes.   

Carl Morck, the crusty Danish police homicide detective, is banished downstairs to form a one-man, unsolved crime division, Department Q, where he will be buried in impossible cases. He is immediately involved in a missing woman case. This is the first in the Department Q series. Clever, powerful, sometimes violent, and always totally engrossing. 

Happy reading. 

Fred

Click here to browse over 490 more book recommendations by subject or title

(and read the introduction to The First Sentence Reader).

Safe Enough

Child, Lee. Safe Enough. New York: Mysterious Press. 2024. Print.

First Sentences:

 

Like everything else, the world of bodyguarding is split between the real and the phony. Phony bodyguards are just glorified drivers, big men in suits chosen for their size and shape and appearance, not paid very much, not very useful when push comes to shove, Real bodyguards are technicians, thinkers, trained men with experience....I am a real bodyguard. Or at least, I was. 

Description:

If ever an author epitomized my First Sentence Reader philosophy, it is Lee Child, creater of the twenty-nine books in the Jack Reacher series. His writings, from the first sentence on, pull readers inexorably onward from sentence to sentence, paragraph to paragraph, page to page right up to the end. His ear for dialogue and inner thoughts are smooth and realistic, lending a believable persona to each of the people who populate his books. While some readers may not be fans of violence, Child handles these tricky encounters with straightforward descriptions that, while they never dwell on the overly-graphic, are descriptive enough to paint a picture that plants readers right smack dab in the middle of the mind and emotions of the protagonista.

His newest book, Safe Enough, is a collection of his published short stories, and not a one is about Jack Reacher. But no matter. Each story is riveting right from the start and up to the end. You simply cannot put them down until they are finished. Child finishes each tale with an unexpected (for me) twist, giving these tales the air of a Saki-Hitchcock-Spillane collaboration.

His stories were told by characters such as:

• A bodyguard who himself needs a protector;
• An assassin who likes to double-dip his protection fees by offering his target the opportunity to knock off the person who wants them killed;
• An investigator working on a crime on Baker Street near Sherlock Holmes fictional lodgings;
• A courier carrying a briefcase possibly full of money, but unable to be arrested in case he is innovent;
• A Black jazz piano player with a mysterious past;

I simply ate them up, every one of them, in two short sittings. Great characters, enticing stories, smooth writing, and unexpected twists and turns. Who could want more in a book perfect for passing short periods of time in the world of crime and mystery? Highly recommended.

 

 [If this book interests you, be sure to check out:] 

  

Child, Lee. The Killing Floor.   

Introduction to the Jack Reacher character: loner, ex-Military Police, 6' 6' of muscle, wandering the country with just a toothbrush and a desire to find the truth. Each one in the series is tremendous although contains some violence: brilliant read s for character, dialogue, and story.

Happy reading.

Fred

 

Click here to browse over 435 more book recommendations by subject or title

(and read the introduction to The First Sentence Reader).