April North

by Sheldon Lord, Lawrence Block

Consumed by passion, a nice girl turned bad goes on a sexual tear that will threaten her reputation, her sanity, and ultimately, her life     Innocent high school student April North gave her virginity to Dan, her long-time steady, an expression of pure love that she thought was the first step to marriage. But when Dan spreads the word, she finds herself marked with a scarlet letter—not A for adultery, but E for easy—and in a town like Antrim, Ohio, a girl with a reputation has no future at all. Ashamed of her newfound passion, she is ready to run away when she meets Craig, a twenty-something playboy with a fast car and fast friends who shows her that sex isn’t something to fear.   Craig’s world of cocktail parties and casual flings is a side of adulthood April never imagined—a lifestyle that, if she isn’t ready for it, may spell her doom.   This ebook features an illustrated biography of Lawrence Block, including rare photos and never-before-seen documents from his personal collection, and a new afterword written by the author.

Lawrence Block (b. 1938) is a Grand Master of the Mystery Writers of America and an internationally acclaimed New York Times bestselling author. His awards include a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Private Eye Writers of America and the Cartier Diamond Dagger Lifetime Achievement Award from the Crime Writers’ Association (UK). Although he is best known for his four main mystery series, Block explored a variety of genres, including thrillers and erotica, and developed an early following as a pulp-fiction writer under a number of pseudonyms. Born in Buffalo, New York, Block has three daughters and currently lives with his wife in New York City.

Genres: Fiction

154 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1961

About the author

A pseudonym used by Donald E. Westlake, Lawrence Block, Peter Hochstein and Milo Perichitch.

Books positively identified as Westlake's or Block's will also have their name in the author field.

Reviews

[Steven · Rating 2 out of 5]

Another early Lawrence Block book, writing here as Sheldon Lord. The setting is small town Ohio in 1960. Good girls don't do IT. But this is a coming-of-age morality tale so April goes all the way in the backseat of her boyfriend's car and suffers the consequences. She loves him and is already planning marriage, babies, and white picket fences. Next day he dumps her, spreads the word around school that she put out, and other boys start calling her because they want to do IT and April does IT. Her reputation ruined, April's life spirals downward . . . Ok, this is Lawrence Block ,so it is readable, but that's about the best I can say. Shallow psychology, cardboard characters, plot-driven actions. The sex scenes are a bit better than his earlier books. Not graphic, but well-described with fewer euphemisms, except for the climactic moments, which are usually described as "and then it got better and better and better." No crime in this one. Just vintage-sleaze filtered through 1950s morality. Block's description of how he came up with the character name and the title is pretty funny: A friend created a character named June East as a play on Mae West; Block liked that, hence, April North.

[Patrick · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some out of print books should never be put back into print (or ebook). This is one of those. It's so dated that most of it feels like one of those shorts kids in the 50s or 60s would see in hygiene class or they later would make fun of on MST3K. In this case the eponymous April North is a "good girl" who dreams of going to college so she can find a man and settle down as a housewife until a jerk boy convinces her to put out in the backseat of an Oldsmobile. Now deemed a "bad girl" she ends up putting out for a couple more boys before she meets Craig, who seems suave and sophisticated, but is in reality the worst of them all.

The end takes far too long and is chalk-full of late 50s-early 60s casual sexism. Block became a good writer but along the way there had to be a few duds like this. If you appreciate his later works like the Matt Scudder, Bernie Rhodenbarr, or Keller books then you should really skip this one. Sometimes ignorance is bliss.

[Mxyzptlk · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not bad, but not worth seeking out either. For die-hards only.

[Diane Wilkes · Rating 1 out of 5]

Disappointing.

[Holly · Rating 2 out of 5]

Wow, super depressing. I even skipped over a scene and went back later because I was worried about how far it was going to go. It was weird to say the least. Coming of age story, I guess..