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Evan Tanner #8
Tanner on Ice
Cold War superspy Evan Tanner lost the ability to sleep on a battlefield in Korea. So where the heck has he been since the '70s?Frozen. Cryogenically. A Tanner-sicle. Which he never thought would happen when he walked into a basement in Union City, New Jersey, more than a quarter century ago. Now he's unthawed and ready to rumble, and his somewhat addled, former super-secret boss, "the Chief," is glad his favorite operative's active again.
Tanner awoke to a different world, though some bad things have remained the same . . . or gotten worse. Even before he can fully acclimate himself to this perplexing future, Tanner's off to Burma (which isn't really Burma anymore) to pose as a monk, destabilize the government, dodge a lethal double-cross, and rescue a beautiful prisoner.
The world's still full of conspiracy, corruption, greed, political chicanery—and beautiful women. So Tanner's back with a vengeance, with a lot of lost time to make up for.
288 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1998
30 people are currently reading
241 people want to read
About the author
Lawrence Block
758 books3,016 followersLawrence Block has been writing crime, mystery, and suspense fiction for more than half a century. He has published in excess (oh, wretched excess!) of 100 books, and no end of short stories.
Born in Buffalo, N.Y., LB attended Antioch College, but left before completing his studies; school authorities advised him that they felt he’d be happier elsewhere, and he thought this was remarkably perceptive of them.
His earliest work, published pseudonymously in the late 1950s, was mostly in the field of midcentury erotica, an apprenticeship he shared with Donald E. Westlake and Robert Silverberg. The first time Lawrence Block’s name appeared in print was when his short story “You Can’t Lose” was published in the February 1958 issue of Manhunt. The first book published under his own name was Mona (1961); it was reissued several times over the years, once as Sweet Slow Death. In 2005 it became the first offering from Hard Case Crime, and bore for the first time LB’s original title, Grifter’s Game.
LB is best known for his series characters, including cop-turned-private investigator Matthew Scudder, gentleman burglar Bernie Rhodenbarr, globe-trotting insomniac Evan Tanner, and introspective assassin Keller.
Because one name is never enough, LB has also published under pseudonyms including Jill Emerson, John Warren Wells, Lesley Evans, and Anne Campbell Clarke.
LB’s magazine appearances include American Heritage, Redbook, Playboy, Linn’s Stamp News, Cosmopolitan, GQ, and The New York Times. His monthly instructional column ran in Writer’s Digest for 14 years, and led to a string of books for writers, including the classics Telling Lies for Fun & Profit and The Liar’s Bible. He has also written episodic television (Tilt!) and the Wong Kar-wai film, My Blueberry Nights.
Several of LB’s books have been filmed. The latest, A Walk Among the Tombstones, stars Liam Neeson as Matthew Scudder and is scheduled for release in September, 2014.
LB is a Grand Master of Mystery Writers of America, and a past president of MWA and the Private Eye Writers of America. He has won the Edgar and Shamus awards four times each, and the Japanese Maltese Falcon award twice, as well as the Nero Wolfe and Philip Marlowe awards, a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Private Eye Writers of America, and the Diamond Dagger for Life Achievement from the Crime Writers Association (UK). He’s also been honored with the Gumshoe Lifetime Achievement Award from Mystery Ink magazine and the Edward D. Hoch Memorial Golden Derringer for Lifetime Achievement in the short story. In France, he has been proclaimed a Grand Maitre du Roman Noir and has twice been awarded the Societe 813 trophy. He has been a guest of honor at Bouchercon and at book fairs and mystery festivals in France, Germany, Australia, Italy, New Zealand, Spain and Taiwan. As if that were not enough, he was also presented with the key to the city of Muncie, Indiana. (But as soon as he left, they changed the locks.)
LB and his wife Lynne are enthusiastic New Yorkers and relentless world travelers; the two are members of the Travelers Century Club, and have visited around 160 countries.
He is a modest and humble fellow, although you would never guess as much from this biographical note.
Born in Buffalo, N.Y., LB attended Antioch College, but left before completing his studies; school authorities advised him that they felt he’d be happier elsewhere, and he thought this was remarkably perceptive of them.
His earliest work, published pseudonymously in the late 1950s, was mostly in the field of midcentury erotica, an apprenticeship he shared with Donald E. Westlake and Robert Silverberg. The first time Lawrence Block’s name appeared in print was when his short story “You Can’t Lose” was published in the February 1958 issue of Manhunt. The first book published under his own name was Mona (1961); it was reissued several times over the years, once as Sweet Slow Death. In 2005 it became the first offering from Hard Case Crime, and bore for the first time LB’s original title, Grifter’s Game.
LB is best known for his series characters, including cop-turned-private investigator Matthew Scudder, gentleman burglar Bernie Rhodenbarr, globe-trotting insomniac Evan Tanner, and introspective assassin Keller.
Because one name is never enough, LB has also published under pseudonyms including Jill Emerson, John Warren Wells, Lesley Evans, and Anne Campbell Clarke.
LB’s magazine appearances include American Heritage, Redbook, Playboy, Linn’s Stamp News, Cosmopolitan, GQ, and The New York Times. His monthly instructional column ran in Writer’s Digest for 14 years, and led to a string of books for writers, including the classics Telling Lies for Fun & Profit and The Liar’s Bible. He has also written episodic television (Tilt!) and the Wong Kar-wai film, My Blueberry Nights.
Several of LB’s books have been filmed. The latest, A Walk Among the Tombstones, stars Liam Neeson as Matthew Scudder and is scheduled for release in September, 2014.
LB is a Grand Master of Mystery Writers of America, and a past president of MWA and the Private Eye Writers of America. He has won the Edgar and Shamus awards four times each, and the Japanese Maltese Falcon award twice, as well as the Nero Wolfe and Philip Marlowe awards, a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Private Eye Writers of America, and the Diamond Dagger for Life Achievement from the Crime Writers Association (UK). He’s also been honored with the Gumshoe Lifetime Achievement Award from Mystery Ink magazine and the Edward D. Hoch Memorial Golden Derringer for Lifetime Achievement in the short story. In France, he has been proclaimed a Grand Maitre du Roman Noir and has twice been awarded the Societe 813 trophy. He has been a guest of honor at Bouchercon and at book fairs and mystery festivals in France, Germany, Australia, Italy, New Zealand, Spain and Taiwan. As if that were not enough, he was also presented with the key to the city of Muncie, Indiana. (But as soon as he left, they changed the locks.)
LB and his wife Lynne are enthusiastic New Yorkers and relentless world travelers; the two are members of the Travelers Century Club, and have visited around 160 countries.
He is a modest and humble fellow, although you would never guess as much from this biographical note.
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June 25, 2024So some 27 or 28 years after Block finished his Evan Tanner espionage-spoof series in 1970 with Me Tanner, You Jane, Block delves into the series again with a 320-page final book to the series. But, as he explains in an afterword, does he have a senior citizen Tanner collecting social security and going about the world or does he do something else to account for all the lost years. And, here’s where Block goes all science-fictiony on us and comes up with time travel – sort of, in the Rip Van Winkle way. Tanner, for unknown reasons, was literally put on ice – thus, the title – in 1970 and left frozen in a package like a package of frozen fish filets for nearly three decades only to be discovered in the sub-basement accessible only by a hidden trap door under the floor for no good reason. Block has a bit of fun with this concept as Tanner awakens only to wonder whether Nixon or McGovern won the election and to be mystified when told Nixon resigned and Agnew to and the president is now some guy named Clinton. There’s just a lot of history he has missed, including the fall of the Berlin Wall and the dissolution of both the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia. He is also introduced to a Mac and the internet and spends six months getting up to speed on the world. Although he does remind the reader it has been nearly three decades since he has had sex, but now there’s a whole new world of AIDs and blood tests and the like.
The Chief locates him and asks where he has been and Tanner tells the Chief he has been frozen, which the Chief thinks means he was held incommunicado in a Swedish cell. Burma is now Myanamar, a brutal dictatorship who put national leader Aung San’s daughter under house arrest. The Agency does not like how things are going in Myanamar with the Chinese making in-roads and Tanner’s mission is to go there and shake things up and destabilize things by making contact with extreme prejudice with the daughter under house arrest.
What follows is a comedy of errors as Tanner makes his way across Southeast Asia with every entrepreneur he meets thinking he is there on some child sex tour deal, being followed by the necessary liasons, and fleeing from the secret and not-so-secret police as his life comes under extreme danger.
For my money, the best parts of the story are all to do with the time travel or sleep for three decades stuff. There was no end to the odd scenes that could be made of that stuff. The espionage exploits in Myanamar harken back to the earlier Tanner novels, but seem a little redundant here.
The Chief locates him and asks where he has been and Tanner tells the Chief he has been frozen, which the Chief thinks means he was held incommunicado in a Swedish cell. Burma is now Myanamar, a brutal dictatorship who put national leader Aung San’s daughter under house arrest. The Agency does not like how things are going in Myanamar with the Chinese making in-roads and Tanner’s mission is to go there and shake things up and destabilize things by making contact with extreme prejudice with the daughter under house arrest.
What follows is a comedy of errors as Tanner makes his way across Southeast Asia with every entrepreneur he meets thinking he is there on some child sex tour deal, being followed by the necessary liasons, and fleeing from the secret and not-so-secret police as his life comes under extreme danger.
For my money, the best parts of the story are all to do with the time travel or sleep for three decades stuff. There was no end to the odd scenes that could be made of that stuff. The espionage exploits in Myanamar harken back to the earlier Tanner novels, but seem a little redundant here.
October 2, 2022
Lawrence Block has created a number of memorable series characters. Back in the day, Tanner was one whose adventures took him to exotic locales. He also never needed sleep. I am not sure why this was important. Any how, we have not seen Tanner for decades and in this update we find out why: he has been cryogenically frozen: literally put on ice.
In this novel, Lawrence Block. whose works I generally love, thaws Tanner out and sends him off on an adventure. The only reason for this device that I can discern is it enables the author to comment on how the world has changed in the 25 years Tanner has been chilled... think electronic devices, internet etc.
In this novel, Lawrence Block. whose works I generally love, thaws Tanner out and sends him off on an adventure. The only reason for this device that I can discern is it enables the author to comment on how the world has changed in the 25 years Tanner has been chilled... think electronic devices, internet etc.
September 21, 2014
Great read. Block has a gift for dialogue. From the basement in New Jersey to the hills of Burma and streets of Bangkok, I was hooked. I even learned how to say "eight" in Burmese - a helpful thing to know as a mother of teenage boys. There is more by this author on the shelf. I may find myself camping in the BL section for a bit. This one was much better than the Bogart bit.
February 9, 2008
Tanner is a great character. The stories won't keep you up at night, but that's okay, Tanner will stay up for you.
April 16, 2021
I'm not sure whether Block wrote the rest of this series in the 60s or the 80s but this one was written in the late 90s. Anyway, Tanner is literally reincarnated 25 years after book #7 (cryogenics, anyone?) but should have been left in the deep freeze. Most of the Tanner series tends to ramble along (enjoyably) without going anywhere but this one redefines pointless. If you have read the previous seven as I have, you might as well finish the series, but don't expect much. Two stars 'coz I could NEVER give Lawrence Block just one!
February 26, 2009
Sometimes a publisher takes a well-known author and publishes anything he writes whether it belongs in a toilet or a landfill. It is my deeply-held opinion that this is one of those times that an author wrote a piece of garbage unfit for publication, but someone published it anyway.
If that doesn't convince you to avoid Tanner on Ice, I don't know what will. Here's some of the problem I had with the book.
1) Characterization
The lead character is a guy who was wounded in Korea and the shrapnel somehow impacted his brain in such a way that he doesn't need to sleep. Therefore, the old chap spends a lot of time reading, researching, and even writing research papers for college students.
Then, he is drugged and wakes up 25 years later, a victim of some sort of mad cryogenic advocate-- it never is 100% clear what the motive for freezing him was.
Despite his odd life experience, this character is flatter than a pancake. Oh, he spouts some occasionally clever dialogue. But other than that, he just sort of meanders through the book with some neublous mission and no actual instructions on how to accomplish it.
He meets a half-Russian and half-Indian woman in Burma, befriends this woman whose only characterization is that she likes to drink.
2) Plot
The plot in this novel is so mysterious that even the reader is uncertain what the mystery is. Except for a minor scrape in a taxi chase and a shortly-described battle against a military group... there is no plot.. the character just drinks his way through Thailand and Burma
Avoid this one like the plague.
If that doesn't convince you to avoid Tanner on Ice, I don't know what will. Here's some of the problem I had with the book.
1) Characterization
The lead character is a guy who was wounded in Korea and the shrapnel somehow impacted his brain in such a way that he doesn't need to sleep. Therefore, the old chap spends a lot of time reading, researching, and even writing research papers for college students.
Then, he is drugged and wakes up 25 years later, a victim of some sort of mad cryogenic advocate-- it never is 100% clear what the motive for freezing him was.
Despite his odd life experience, this character is flatter than a pancake. Oh, he spouts some occasionally clever dialogue. But other than that, he just sort of meanders through the book with some neublous mission and no actual instructions on how to accomplish it.
He meets a half-Russian and half-Indian woman in Burma, befriends this woman whose only characterization is that she likes to drink.
2) Plot
The plot in this novel is so mysterious that even the reader is uncertain what the mystery is. Except for a minor scrape in a taxi chase and a shortly-described battle against a military group... there is no plot.. the character just drinks his way through Thailand and Burma
Avoid this one like the plague.
July 24, 2017
I apologize for this poor rating. I loved Mr. Block's Bernie Rhodenbarr series, so when I found this book at a yard sale, I had to buy it. I also realize that this is book 8 in a series, and I haven't read any of the previous ones, but, still, I like the author. This was a hot mess: rambling, pointless, waste of time.
January 26, 2014
Evan Tanner is back after 25 years of being on ice. The Cold War is over, Minna is all grown, and the Chief is still around only now he's working for some unnamed individual of private means who wants Tanner to undertake a shady assassination in Burma. Tanner takes the assignment with no intention of completing it, but it gives him a good excuse to get away from his growing attraction/confusion/whatever-it-is for Minna.
Burma proves to be the perfect setting for Tanner's signature high jinks involving finely drawn characters of questionable and highly convenient integrity. Government officials, brigands, and a fellow traveler of a female variety who escapes with Tanner when they masquerade as Buddhist monks provide rich material for irony at every turn.
Burma proves to be the perfect setting for Tanner's signature high jinks involving finely drawn characters of questionable and highly convenient integrity. Government officials, brigands, and a fellow traveler of a female variety who escapes with Tanner when they masquerade as Buddhist monks provide rich material for irony at every turn.
July 7, 2021
July 2021. 8 years later. Still a "ditto" Quirky!!!!!
March 2013. This is Tanner after a 25 year in cold storage plus his crazy no sleep thing.
It was an unusual way to read about Burma.
But it was definetely a page turner.
It seemed more farfetched than other Block books but I always like Block's writing style.
March 2013. This is Tanner after a 25 year in cold storage plus his crazy no sleep thing.
It was an unusual way to read about Burma.
But it was definetely a page turner.
It seemed more farfetched than other Block books but I always like Block's writing style.
April 21, 2011
This one was a 3+ or even a 4. Our library was giving away books and this is one I brought home. It's from 1998 and is one of "Tanner" books. Tanner doesn't sleep, an interesting premise in itself. But then, you read the books.
June 1, 2009
excellent
December 30, 2017
After a twenty-six year hiatus, author Lawrence Block brought back his most unique character for an encore in 1998. This is the 8th and (so far) final novel in the Evan Tanner series.
The first five chapters may rank as the highlight of the entire saga. Tanner is outwitted by a Swedish secret agent, but he is such a pacifist he cannot kill Tanner outright. Instead, Tanner is cryogenically frozen. Tanner awakes 25 years later, biologically the same age he had been in 1972, to discover almost all his hopeless political causes have now inexplicably become reality.
This was a lot of fun for diligent series readers. In truth, it probably would have better if Block had worked this into a novella and then just wrapped things up with a neat bow. When Tanner gets sent on a new mission to destabilize the Burmese government, it feels abrupt and disconnected. It is not tied to the failed Swedish secession, and it effectively kills an emerging subplot with Minna, the young girl Tanner raised for a few years but who is now a beautiful woman his own age.
The Burma plot starts slow. Tanner has no idea how to accomplish his mission. At the first sign of real trouble—he is framed for murder—he tries to bail. Things pick up when he has to trek across the interior with an amorous but malaria-infected woman, both of them disguised as Buddhist monks. He even starts a revolution in a Shan village, which provides a nice parallel to his Macedonian revolt from the first book.
The book’s ending leaves possibilities for another sequel. The Minna question is still open-ended. Plus, Tanner has a new mysterious adversary who promises to cross paths again in the future.
It has been 20 years since Tanner on Ice, but here is hoping the thief/spy/adventurer has one last caper still in him.
The first five chapters may rank as the highlight of the entire saga. Tanner is outwitted by a Swedish secret agent, but he is such a pacifist he cannot kill Tanner outright. Instead, Tanner is cryogenically frozen. Tanner awakes 25 years later, biologically the same age he had been in 1972, to discover almost all his hopeless political causes have now inexplicably become reality.
This was a lot of fun for diligent series readers. In truth, it probably would have better if Block had worked this into a novella and then just wrapped things up with a neat bow. When Tanner gets sent on a new mission to destabilize the Burmese government, it feels abrupt and disconnected. It is not tied to the failed Swedish secession, and it effectively kills an emerging subplot with Minna, the young girl Tanner raised for a few years but who is now a beautiful woman his own age.
The Burma plot starts slow. Tanner has no idea how to accomplish his mission. At the first sign of real trouble—he is framed for murder—he tries to bail. Things pick up when he has to trek across the interior with an amorous but malaria-infected woman, both of them disguised as Buddhist monks. He even starts a revolution in a Shan village, which provides a nice parallel to his Macedonian revolt from the first book.
The book’s ending leaves possibilities for another sequel. The Minna question is still open-ended. Plus, Tanner has a new mysterious adversary who promises to cross paths again in the future.
It has been 20 years since Tanner on Ice, but here is hoping the thief/spy/adventurer has one last caper still in him.
April 17, 2025
In the 1960s Lawrence Block wrote seven fun thrillers about Evan Tanner. I read and enjoyed all of them in paperback years ago. I had never seen this one before.
Tanner was hit in the head with shrapnel in Korea during the war. It had the odd result of making him not need to sleep. He also has a passion for odd fringe political groups. He is a member of almost every national movement to overthrow a nation or restore a previous ruler. He is a proud member of the flat earth society. He is recruited by a shadowy government agency to run dangerous secret capers.
In 1998, almost thirty years later, Block released this Tanner book. The hook is that Tanner has been cryogenically frozen by a bad guy for the last twenty-five years in a hidden lab in New Jersey. The lab is discovered. He is unfrozen. He tries to return to his old life. Those complications are amusing. Block has great fun with Tanner discovering what's happened since he was frozen. Ronald Reagan was president? Russia has collapsed? People have personal computers?
Tanner gets contacted by his old agency and he gets set off on a mission to Burma, which was just changing to Myanmar. He gets involved with beautiful woman, exotic temples, stolen jewels, drug dealing and vicious politics.
Block is a pro at telling an adventure story. He gets a good helping of Burma information into the story. We find out about the currency, the booze, the food, the clothing and the complicated politics. The frozen theme and the can't-sleep theme seem to get abandoned mostly when he gets to Burma.
This is a fun and exciting political thriller which brings back a favorite from the 1960s.
Tanner was hit in the head with shrapnel in Korea during the war. It had the odd result of making him not need to sleep. He also has a passion for odd fringe political groups. He is a member of almost every national movement to overthrow a nation or restore a previous ruler. He is a proud member of the flat earth society. He is recruited by a shadowy government agency to run dangerous secret capers.
In 1998, almost thirty years later, Block released this Tanner book. The hook is that Tanner has been cryogenically frozen by a bad guy for the last twenty-five years in a hidden lab in New Jersey. The lab is discovered. He is unfrozen. He tries to return to his old life. Those complications are amusing. Block has great fun with Tanner discovering what's happened since he was frozen. Ronald Reagan was president? Russia has collapsed? People have personal computers?
Tanner gets contacted by his old agency and he gets set off on a mission to Burma, which was just changing to Myanmar. He gets involved with beautiful woman, exotic temples, stolen jewels, drug dealing and vicious politics.
Block is a pro at telling an adventure story. He gets a good helping of Burma information into the story. We find out about the currency, the booze, the food, the clothing and the complicated politics. The frozen theme and the can't-sleep theme seem to get abandoned mostly when he gets to Burma.
This is a fun and exciting political thriller which brings back a favorite from the 1960s.
February 17, 2023
This is a pretty fun book. Evan Tanner, the spy who doesn't sleep, has been put in a cryogenic freezer for 25 years by an agent of the Swedish government. When he is awakened he is 25 years older but hasn't aged a day, and since much has changed, it takes some getting used to. So that's the first half of the book.
The second half is that his old boss gives him the task of stirring up trouble in Myanmar, which was still Burma when Tanner was put on ice. He does eventually manage to start some, but it probably would have happened without him.
My favorite quote from the book is a twist on an old saying, "Give a man a fish," he said "and you feed him for a day. Teach that man to fish, and for the rest of his life you can sell him rods and reels ands hooks and leaders and flies and lures and God only knows what else."
The second half is that his old boss gives him the task of stirring up trouble in Myanmar, which was still Burma when Tanner was put on ice. He does eventually manage to start some, but it probably would have happened without him.
My favorite quote from the book is a twist on an old saying, "Give a man a fish," he said "and you feed him for a day. Teach that man to fish, and for the rest of his life you can sell him rods and reels ands hooks and leaders and flies and lures and God only knows what else."
August 23, 2022
Six-word Review - Frozen Tanner returns and charms everyone.
It is impossible to overestimate how great Block's characters are. Matt Scudder, Bernie Rhodenbarr, John Keller, and in this book, Evan Tanner. Are Tanner's exploits always believable, of course not. Do the plots always hang together, no. Using cryonics to bring Tanner back from the dead so to speak was a stroke of genius. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like we are going to get another Tanner story since this one was published in 1998.
This story skips along with lots of puns, self-deprecating humor, sex, politics, betrayal, a murder or two, Myanmar, NYC, etc., etc., etc. I read it in a couple of days.
If you have a chance to grab a copy, do it. You will have an entertaining and fun trip.
It is impossible to overestimate how great Block's characters are. Matt Scudder, Bernie Rhodenbarr, John Keller, and in this book, Evan Tanner. Are Tanner's exploits always believable, of course not. Do the plots always hang together, no. Using cryonics to bring Tanner back from the dead so to speak was a stroke of genius. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like we are going to get another Tanner story since this one was published in 1998.
This story skips along with lots of puns, self-deprecating humor, sex, politics, betrayal, a murder or two, Myanmar, NYC, etc., etc., etc. I read it in a couple of days.
If you have a chance to grab a copy, do it. You will have an entertaining and fun trip.
August 24, 2023
Another intriguing story by Lawrence Block, the amazing wordsmith. In this instance, the Author takes Evan Michael Tanner (the thief that couldn't sleep]) on an assassination assignment to Burma. Along the way, Tanner encounters a woman named Katya. She subsequently accompanies him throughout his journey. Katya is five-six, slender with straight blond hair that hangs to her shoulders and a heart-shaped face with a broad, high forehead and cheekbones that are almost severe in their prominence. She is not merely exotic, she is beautiful. An inextricable travelling companion for Tanner.
December 10, 2023
I'm a huge reader of Lawrence Block and normally love his books. This one not so much. It was full of Block's regular take on current events, food, drink, the human condition, etc. It just didn't have much else going on, plotwise or otherwise. I'm thinking Tanner was better off staying on ice!
August 31, 2017
I really enjoyed this book.
October 10, 2017
Bizarre. Engaging.
October 23, 2019
What do you do with spies? You put them on ice. I completely enjoyed this book. Larry Block never lets you down.
November 12, 2019
I like Lawrence Block but this one just didn't do it for me. I was bored. Couldn't finish.
July 23, 2020
I liked the earlier books better.
March 18, 2025
Interesting but a little slow and not very focused. You had to read the last chapter to determine what the whole expedition was about. Not a satisfactory read.
December 3, 2008
Evan Tanner, another of Block’s interesting creations, can’t sleep. He was hit in the head in Korea and that destroyed the part of the brain that controls his ability to sleep. This unusual disability has made him useful to a variety of secret service agencies. He’s also a favorite character of mine, along with Bernie Rhodenbarr, for his jaundiced view of the world. In this most entertaining story, Tanner wakes up in 1997, having been frozen in a basement deep freeze by a Swedish government agent, worried that Tanner’s connection to the very small group wanting to restore Sweden to Danish rule, will somehow cause them problems. Not believing in capital punishment, the Swedes froze him instead of killing him. You get the idea. Tanner’s reflections on the world around him and how it has changed are more than amusing, to say the least. In the meantime, he’s reading everything he can get his hands on— not having to sleep helps immeasurably — but he is soon contacted by his old chief who, not having any world hegemonies to worry about, has begun taking contracts from large corporations and business folks. One of them wants to cause a mini-revolution in Burma, so Tanner’s been assigned to assassinate the local political dissident. Tanner, of course, doesn’t have any intention of doing so. The trick is to persuade the chief and his employer that what they want can’t be done and there is no reason to send anyone else. He becomes embroiled in all sorts of schemes; the man who is following him is found stabbed to death in his hotel room; he’s thrown in jail for smuggling, meets a beautiful girl, and together they have to escape the country dressed as Buddhist monks. It all makes for great fun and a good story. It appears that Block has spent some time in Burma, for the tale is replete with what appears to be authentic detail.
December 5, 2007
TANNER ON ICE (Adventure-Evan Tanner-NYC/Thailand-Cont) – G+
Block, Lawrence – 8th in series
Harper, 2007 (copyright 1998), US Paperback – ISBN: 9780061283932
First Sentence: I flew from New York to Los Angeles, then nonstop to Seoul.
*** Due to a Korean War head wound, spy Even Tanner’s sleep center was turned off so he never sleeps. Except now, he’s been slipped a Mickey and cryogenically frozen for 25 years waking up in present day New York looking exactly as he did when Nixon was President. Recovered, his “control,” send him off to Burma to destabilize the government. Instead he finds drugs have been planted on him, a man murdered in his hotel room, jailed but allowed to escape and find a way to get out of the country with a lovely woman by his side.
*** Block’s humor, love of travel and keen observation of the world are very apparent here. For me, the most interesting part was Tanner catching up with all the changes in the world over the 25 years he’d been frozen. This isn’t as fleshed out a story as others of his books but Lawrence Block is one of the few writers who can take a completely implausible plot and make it a completely entertaining read.
Block, Lawrence – 8th in series
Harper, 2007 (copyright 1998), US Paperback – ISBN: 9780061283932
First Sentence: I flew from New York to Los Angeles, then nonstop to Seoul.
*** Due to a Korean War head wound, spy Even Tanner’s sleep center was turned off so he never sleeps. Except now, he’s been slipped a Mickey and cryogenically frozen for 25 years waking up in present day New York looking exactly as he did when Nixon was President. Recovered, his “control,” send him off to Burma to destabilize the government. Instead he finds drugs have been planted on him, a man murdered in his hotel room, jailed but allowed to escape and find a way to get out of the country with a lovely woman by his side.
*** Block’s humor, love of travel and keen observation of the world are very apparent here. For me, the most interesting part was Tanner catching up with all the changes in the world over the 25 years he’d been frozen. This isn’t as fleshed out a story as others of his books but Lawrence Block is one of the few writers who can take a completely implausible plot and make it a completely entertaining read.
October 29, 2012
this was in the tanner series. he doesnt sleep. he was drugged in someones house and put 'on ice' frozen for 25 years when they woke him up. he had no memory of the last 25 years. he still looked 25 years younger.
the young girl he had raised was now a few years younger than him. she kept his apt while he was 'gone'
he worked for this man and went to another country to do something, kill some lady, i wasnt clear on. he met a girl there and they dressed as monks and walked to another city to get away and out of the country. someone was trying to set him up, first with drugs, he got arrested but got away then he got malaria, the girl did too. they got out of the country and he moved her to a russian community and she was happy there. he moved back in with the girl he was raising.
i forgot i hadnt read this series in a long time. it was different!
the young girl he had raised was now a few years younger than him. she kept his apt while he was 'gone'
he worked for this man and went to another country to do something, kill some lady, i wasnt clear on. he met a girl there and they dressed as monks and walked to another city to get away and out of the country. someone was trying to set him up, first with drugs, he got arrested but got away then he got malaria, the girl did too. they got out of the country and he moved her to a russian community and she was happy there. he moved back in with the girl he was raising.
i forgot i hadnt read this series in a long time. it was different!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 1, 2016
#8 in the Evan Tanner series.
Spy Evan Tanner series - International man of action Evan Tanner returns after more than 25 years. Tanner, one of whose characteristics is his inability to sleep, had in fact been comatose - in a deep freeze, in fact - for all that time, and the scene where he wakes up, thinking Richard Nixon is still president, is as funny and sharp as a similar one in Woody Allen's Sleeper. After that, Tanner is off to a new exotic locale, activated as usual by his vaguely CIA manager: this time it's to Burma, where he's supposed to destabilize the government by assassinating a popular opposition figure. He doesn't do it, of course, but becomes involved instead with a beautiful woman who wants to flee the country and eventually, after participating in a guerrilla action, both manage to do so.
Spy Evan Tanner series - International man of action Evan Tanner returns after more than 25 years. Tanner, one of whose characteristics is his inability to sleep, had in fact been comatose - in a deep freeze, in fact - for all that time, and the scene where he wakes up, thinking Richard Nixon is still president, is as funny and sharp as a similar one in Woody Allen's Sleeper. After that, Tanner is off to a new exotic locale, activated as usual by his vaguely CIA manager: this time it's to Burma, where he's supposed to destabilize the government by assassinating a popular opposition figure. He doesn't do it, of course, but becomes involved instead with a beautiful woman who wants to flee the country and eventually, after participating in a guerrilla action, both manage to do so.
July 28, 2010
This is the first Lawrence Block I've read that wasn't tight in construction and carefully planned. It has its clever moments, and you keep reading to find out what's going to happen; but the mystery, if there is one, is never solved, motives remain unclear, even who the bad guy might have been is left open. I learned a bit about Burma and Buddhism, but otherwise it wasn't a particularly rewarding read. The last page suggests very heavily that there will be a sequel--but it's been 13 years, Block has retired, and the sequel has never appeared. I guess he just lost what little interest he had in the character.
October 7, 2011
This my second Tanner book. It was fascinating reading. I especially enjoyed it because the other one I read was the first one and this was the last, so far. These were separated in time by decades, but the character was equally quirky and interesting in both. This books opens with Tanner waking up after a d ay or two in his mind, but twenty-five years in the real world. His adaptation to the changes between the early seventies and the late nineties is mesmerizing. But the change in time has little impact on his ability to get himself into and out of fascinating and extremely dangerous experiences. A quick, fun read.
January 17, 2012
Normally, I quite like Block's work, especially the Matthew Scudder novels, which are entertaining, funny, with vibrant characters and plots.
But this, my first Tanner novel, left me a bit cold. It didn't really seem to work, though a few good scenes, such as the arrest at the hotel come off particularly well.
But this, my first Tanner novel, left me a bit cold. It didn't really seem to work, though a few good scenes, such as the arrest at the hotel come off particularly well.
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