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Two Way Toll (Matt Jacob, #2)

by Zachary Klein (Goodreads Author)

3.5 of 5 stars 3.50 · rating details · 10 ratings · 4 reviews

Matt Jacob has plenty of good reasons to avoid his past. His present isn't all that wonderful either. The alienated detective is adrift on a sea of unresolved relationships when a chance encounter with a ragged figure throws him back to his days as a social worker in The End -- a forsaken pocket of Boston that's home to society's hopeless, helpless, and desperate.
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Mass Market Paperback

Published January 23rd 1993 by Fawcett

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Sep 09, 2012 Tom rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: first-reads

I received this book as a giveaway in Goodreads'First Reads program. The author was kind enough to send me a first printing hardcover copy, from 1991 when it was first published, autographed with a small personal letter. Little touches like that do make me feel more invested in a book when I pick it up, I will admit.

My sensibilities from 1991 to now have changed some with the passage of time, but I would like to think I would have enjoyed this book as much back then as I did when I read it now....more

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Jul 23, 2011 Sherri Frank Mazzotta rated it 5 of 5 stars

"Lew Archer never worked a mall."

That’s how PI Matt Jacob berates himself when he starts working security at a local mall. Sure, it gets him off the couch and distracts him from thinking about his problems. But he’s bored and feeling more than a little useless prowling for shoplifters all day.

Two Way Toll is the second novel featuring the troubled detective. Matt’s still smoking too much dope and drinking too much whiskey, trying to dull the pain of losing his family. Unfortunately, the sharp...more "Lew Archer never worked a mall."

That’s how PI Matt Jacob berates himself when he starts working security at a local mall. Sure, it gets him off the couch and distracts him from thinking about his problems. But he’s bored and feeling more than a little useless prowling for shoplifters all day.

Two Way Toll is the second novel featuring the troubled detective. Matt’s still smoking too much dope and drinking too much whiskey, trying to dull the pain of losing his family. Unfortunately, the sharp edges of his past keep slicing through the haze. This time, the past comes at him in the form of a cracked-toothed thief named Blackhead.

Blackhead asks Matt to look into a death that happened 20 years ago, in a desecrated part of Boston known as The End. Filled with sidewalk sleepers, abandoned buildings, and hopelessness, The End is a place Matt once called home. It’s where, as a social worker, he fought for those who couldn’t fight for themselves. It’s also where he began his doomed marriage to his first wife, Megan.

Before Matt even begins investigating, Blackhead inexplicably tells him to drop the case. But driven by memories of Megan and by sheer curiosity, Matt drifts into The End one night and starts asking questions. His curiosity rattles too many chains, and soon, a group of teenage thugs attacks him, making it clear he’s no longer welcome there. The attack leaves him bleeding but undaunted; determined to keep digging. He admits: “Warnings always held a fascination I found hard to resist.”

In this novel, character development and plot are expertly intertwined. We learn more about who Matt was and what his life was like before the accident that killed his family. As he digs deeper into the case he was warned to forget, he struggles to deal with feelings he can’t forget, left over from his marriage to Megan. Those feelings are stirred by his growing involvement with Melanie, a life-long resident of The End. When Matt finally uncovers the truth, he wishes he had never sought it in the first place.

Most of the characters from Still Among the Living reappear in Two Way Toll, and there’s a wonderful scene in which this motley group—including Matt’s ex-shrink, drug dealer, and sedate father-in-law—gather around a table for Thanksgiving, stifling Matt with their care and concern. Matt’s painfully aware of how his inability to deal with his emotions is alienating him. “Life hasn’t exactly prepared me for family ties,” he says at one point. It’s this awareness, and his striving to reconcile the past—even as he runs from it—that make him such a compelling character.

Two Way Toll is a complex, well-crafted story. Klein does a great job of gradually revealing the heartaches in Matt’s life, showing us why he’s more comfortable in alleys than on the polished tile floors of a mall. Throughout, Matt’s cynical but humorous voice keeps the action moving forward. His voice engages you, stays with you, and makes you grateful that there’s another book in the series to turn to after you’ve finished reading this one.

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Jul 26, 2012 Lu Ann rated it 2 of 5 stars

I am sorry to say, I found very little in this author's writing to feel it worth my time to read his work.
There was far too much profanity and constant drug usage. I wasn't sure if he was promoting his book or pushing drug usage and condoning a lower level of life-style.
The story line perhaps would have been OK if the constant language and drug usage hadn't detracted so much.
I appreciate the generosity of the author in offering his book to a giveaway and I am certain he is a good person, but I f...more

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Jun 20, 2011 Jason Hillenburg rated it 3 of 5 stars

Strong characterizations, a sympathetic protagonist who adopts some genre conventions but rejects others, and intelligent, literate prose. However, the story is too thin and Klein meanders too much early in the novel.

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Nov 10, 2012 Neil Fowler rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

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Jul 16, 2012 Mindy rated it 3 of 5 stars

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About Zachary Klein

I'm the author of the critically acclaimed Matt Jacob mystery series, which includes Still Among the Living, Two Way Toll, and No Saving Grace. I think of myself as a “serial careerist." I've worked as a Vista volunteer and a private counselor for individuals, couples, and groups. I was a founder of the People’s School in Uptown, Chicago, a school for high school dropouts. I also worked at Boston’...more

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Two Way Toll (Matt Jacob, #2)

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