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Tanner's Twelve Swingers (Evan Tanner #3)
by
Lawrence Block (Goodreads Author)
Out of print for fifteen years, Lawrence Block's third book in his hilarious Tanner series is back...And this time the intrepid spy is up to his neck in a dozen leggy beauties and a life-and-death smuggling assignment out of the cold corners of Russia.
Paperback, 272 pages
Published
October 1st 1999
by Signet
(first published 1967)
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You may remember Tanner from previous reviews: the spy who can’t sleep. This novel takes place earlier than the one I had read and Block provides a more detailed explanation of just how Tanner got himself into this position (The Thief Who Couldn’t Sleep is the first in the series and, naturally, has the most detail). Besides the small pension he gets monthly from the government for the head injury that resulted in his inability to sleep, Tanner writes term papers for hire for those students eith...more
#3 in the Evan Tanner series. Evan Tanner is Lawrence Block's spy who doesn't sleep - ever since a head injury suffered during the Korean War. In this 1967 entry, his boss (of an unspecified Federal agency) wants him to head for Colombia to head off a popular revolution. Being in favor of the revolution, Tanner pleads an urgent need to go to Latvia - a friend has asked for Tanner's help in getting his girlfriend from behind the Iron Curtain. On the way to Latvia, he stops off in Macedonia to vis...more
One of Block's evan tanner books. I liked the story. Sometime spy Evan Tanner has accepted impossible assignments for many reasons: money, thrills, to have something to occupy his waking hours (twenty-four of them every day, in fact, since battlefield shrapnel obliterated his brain's sleep center). But this might be the first time he's put his life on the line . . . for love.
Tanner's agreed to smuggle a sexy Latvian gymnast—the lost lady love of a heart-sick friend—out of Russia. With the Cold W...more
Tanner's agreed to smuggle a sexy Latvian gymnast—the lost lady love of a heart-sick friend—out of Russia. With the Cold W...more
The spy who could not sleep is off on another venture to try to get a gymnast out of Latvia (this is before the breakup of the Soviet Union) for a Latvian/american who is in love with her. On the way he stops to see his son for the first time in Macedonia. As he makes his way north to Latvia he seems to accumulate baggage and people till in a comedy of errors he arrives at his last stop before the US with 15 people in tow. a quick, light read in the humorous mode.
ISBN - 1-58547-130-5, light susp...more
ISBN - 1-58547-130-5, light susp...more
It's certainly an easily readable book. The plot flows well, with something always happening or about to happen. Evan Tanner is a unique character.
But I was disappointed a bit. Things got silly near the end. And though there was a lot happening, I never really felt connected to it emotionally. I guess I expected more from the guy who wrote Mona.
Anyway, I found this passage interesting, for a book that was first published in 1967:
"... the author made a rational yet impassioned plea for the disso...more
But I was disappointed a bit. Things got silly near the end. And though there was a lot happening, I never really felt connected to it emotionally. I guess I expected more from the guy who wrote Mona.
Anyway, I found this passage interesting, for a book that was first published in 1967:
"... the author made a rational yet impassioned plea for the disso...more
Definitely as readable as the other Block books I've read, "Tanner's Twelve Swingers" wasn't quite as focused. I enjoyed reading about Tanner's romp across Eastern Europe. Evan Tanner makes it with women in every country he enters, finds immediate, random solutions to all obstacles in his way, and in such a short book, none of it gets old. I don't know if I'll be reading another Tanner book for awhile - I think there are many - but its good to know there's a capering, sleepless spy out there to...more
Ok, I admit it--this was my first Tanner book, and I just loved the idea of a man who could speak so many languages. His misadventures are always great, since he tends to be fairly clueless and just bulls along. He starts this book out trying to get a friends girlfriend out from behind the Iron Curtain in order to avoid doing a job for the secret agency that THINKS he works for them. He winds up--rescuing the girl--plus 11 other gymnists from her troop, getting a disident out of Chekaslovakia, s...more
Again Block has turned a possibly long and tedious story into a great adventure. He uses humor and witty quips throught the book. Tanner having a wry outlook on things and people around him keep the story flowing and enjoyable.
Mar 20, 2012
Spinster
rated it
2 of 5 stars
Recommended to Spinster by:
previous books by the author
Shelves:
mystery
I think I need to take a break from the series. Each one is too much like the other one. I am anxious to see what happens to the kid he rescued.
Like clowns piling out of a mini car, Tanner's situation gets complicated in a ridiculously funny way.
Another, and perhaps least likely Evan Tanner book I have read. Still it is a good time, and goes by VERY quickly.
Evan Tanner alwaya make me laugh. you got action, adventure, and plenty of comedy.
AKA: Sheldon Lord, Jill Emerson, Paul Kavanaugh, Chip Harrison, Lawrence Block
Not as good as his later works, it's still a fun read.
Nov 11, 2009
Glenn
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
mysteries-and-thrillers
One of Block's earlier works, about a spy named Evan Michael Tanner who caught a piece of shrapnel during the Korean war that destroyed the sleep center in his brain, causing him to no longer require sleep. This one is about Evan's attempts to smuggle a female Latvian gymnast out of Russia during the Cold War so she can be reunited with her lover, but of course there are complications along the way. Decent read. I surmise that just like many of you, if my sleep center was destroyed I'd use part...more
Ha ha.
Out of print for fifteen years, Lawrence Block's third book in his hilarious Tanner series is back...And this time the intrepid spy is up to his neck in a dozen leggy beauties and a life-and-death smuggling assignment out of the cold corners of Russia.
Think a much more tongue in cheek James Bond with very little sex.
May 02, 2013
Tania Fletcher
marked it as to-read
Apr 15, 2013
Charles
added it
Mar 25, 2013
Soniateixr
marked it as to-read
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Received the Shamus Award, "The Eye" (Lifetime achievment award) in 2002.
From his web site:
I'm told every good author website needs a bio, so here's mine:
"Lawrence Block's novels range from the urban noir of Matthew Scudder (A Drop of the Hard Stuff) to the urbane effervescence of Bernie Rhodenbarr (The Burglar on the Prowl), while other characters include the globe-trotting insomniac Evan Tanne...more
More about Lawrence Block...
From his web site:
I'm told every good author website needs a bio, so here's mine:
"Lawrence Block's novels range from the urban noir of Matthew Scudder (A Drop of the Hard Stuff) to the urbane effervescence of Bernie Rhodenbarr (The Burglar on the Prowl), while other characters include the globe-trotting insomniac Evan Tanne...more
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