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Candy
When a married businessman falls for a small-town minx, his obsessive love will spur him to give up anything to have her
Jeff Flanders has a nice little job, a nice little wife, and absolutely nothing to get excited about. All that goes down the drain when he meets Candy, a small-town girl who looks as sweet as her name, but is bitter to the core. She offers him her body—the best he’s ever seen—for the bargain price of $1,000, and he can’t refuse. The affair turns Jeff’s world inside out, and he takes to her like she’s a drug, giving up half his paycheck every week for the privilege of taking Candy to bed.
But when Candy finds a new keeper on Park Avenue, Jeff’s life spins out of control. His addiction to Candy will drive him to do anything to get her back—even kill.
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.
Jeff Flanders has a nice little job, a nice little wife, and absolutely nothing to get excited about. All that goes down the drain when he meets Candy, a small-town girl who looks as sweet as her name, but is bitter to the core. She offers him her body—the best he’s ever seen—for the bargain price of $1,000, and he can’t refuse. The affair turns Jeff’s world inside out, and he takes to her like she’s a drug, giving up half his paycheck every week for the privilege of taking Candy to bed.
But when Candy finds a new keeper on Park Avenue, Jeff’s life spins out of control. His addiction to Candy will drive him to do anything to get her back—even kill.
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.
- GenresFiction
158 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1960
23 people are currently reading
47 people want to read
About the author
Sheldon Lord
42 books5 followersA 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.
Books positively identified as Westlake's or Block's will also have their name in the author field.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
June 4, 2022
Another early Lawrence Block book. The first chapter is a doozy as our first-person narrator Jeff comes home late still reeking with his mistresses' perfume and is confronted by his wife. The narration is flavored equally with asshole-ness and self-loathing and really starts the book off with an edge. Then we get a back story chapter showing how Jeff gets involved with Candy. Candy's goal is to be a kept woman and clearly Jeff doesn't make enough to keep her. He becomes obsessed with her. She dumps him. His wife leaves him. He hits the bottle. Losses his job. And then tries to find Candy. To say more would be spoiler, except that the crime elements all come late in the book. In the iBook store this is classified as erotica. It isn't, not even by 1960 standards. Couple of sex scenes, but they are not even written to excite. Overall, some good stuff here, but also plenty of filler, and it's easy to see that Block was ready to make the move to Gold Medal style books.
June 13, 2021
Lawrence Block's team offered me this title for free in audiobook format, and I gladly accepted.
The book is short and sweet and I listened to the whole thing in one sitting. This is a 1963 Lawrence Block title written under the pseudonym of Sheldon Lord (which other authors apparently used as well) that is sometimes classified as a crime novel and sometimes classified as a classic erotic novel. Despite the cover image, which was no doubt designed to sell more dime store paperbacks, it does not seem to qualify under that classification. Even by 1963 standards, I would think this would be pretty PG-rated, so anyone looking for erotica will probably be sorely disappointed. As for erotic content, it is about on par with most of Block's popular novels (unlike some of his novels like Small Town and Getting Off, which have specific themes that are more adult than his typical fare).
As for the crime aspect, it all takes place in the final couple of chapters. Everything leading up to that is the protagonist slowly destroying everything in his life because of a girl. Very noir. There is nothing earth-shattering about this book, other than the fact that it was written nearly 60 years ago by one of the greatest authors in the world. And you know what? He could write even then. Block has always had a way with words and this book has some of the witty hallmarks that have endured in his popular fiction. If you need that hard-boiled/noir itch scratched and have a couple of hours to kill, give it a whirl. If you are a Block completionist (wow, what a task!), you won't be bored by this one. It's short, after all. You can see the seeds of Mona in this one (also re-released as Grifter's Game). If you haven't read that, don't bother doing anything else until you have. Then circle back around to Candy when you need more Lawrence Block in your life.
The book is short and sweet and I listened to the whole thing in one sitting. This is a 1963 Lawrence Block title written under the pseudonym of Sheldon Lord (which other authors apparently used as well) that is sometimes classified as a crime novel and sometimes classified as a classic erotic novel. Despite the cover image, which was no doubt designed to sell more dime store paperbacks, it does not seem to qualify under that classification. Even by 1963 standards, I would think this would be pretty PG-rated, so anyone looking for erotica will probably be sorely disappointed. As for erotic content, it is about on par with most of Block's popular novels (unlike some of his novels like Small Town and Getting Off, which have specific themes that are more adult than his typical fare).
As for the crime aspect, it all takes place in the final couple of chapters. Everything leading up to that is the protagonist slowly destroying everything in his life because of a girl. Very noir. There is nothing earth-shattering about this book, other than the fact that it was written nearly 60 years ago by one of the greatest authors in the world. And you know what? He could write even then. Block has always had a way with words and this book has some of the witty hallmarks that have endured in his popular fiction. If you need that hard-boiled/noir itch scratched and have a couple of hours to kill, give it a whirl. If you are a Block completionist (wow, what a task!), you won't be bored by this one. It's short, after all. You can see the seeds of Mona in this one (also re-released as Grifter's Game). If you haven't read that, don't bother doing anything else until you have. Then circle back around to Candy when you need more Lawrence Block in your life.
June 4, 2021
As always, Block turns out another interesting slice of erotica. His narrator, Bill Weeden, has the perfect voice for Jeff (the protagonist) -- slightly gravelly, slightly sleazy, slightly weary with life. Weeden's voice makes the story even better than it would be if I were reading it instead of listening to it.
One thing -- all of Block's books that I have read (and I think I've read at least a bit in all of his series that I know about) always have transparent writing that -- even while excellent -- does not get in the way of his stories. And many of them have little surprising twists that make the stories. Even his erotica stories and his earliest crime stories have some little detail that elevates them beyond the usual fare.
On another note, I have to admit, Block and his various readers have gotten me to give audiobooks a fair try, and I am very grateful that they have done so. This is a relatively new world for me, but it has been one that has turned out to be very worth exploring.
One thing -- all of Block's books that I have read (and I think I've read at least a bit in all of his series that I know about) always have transparent writing that -- even while excellent -- does not get in the way of his stories. And many of them have little surprising twists that make the stories. Even his erotica stories and his earliest crime stories have some little detail that elevates them beyond the usual fare.
On another note, I have to admit, Block and his various readers have gotten me to give audiobooks a fair try, and I am very grateful that they have done so. This is a relatively new world for me, but it has been one that has turned out to be very worth exploring.
February 7, 2025
Candy is an interesting, if problematic, slice of mid-century sleaze. Block’s writing is always enjoyable, even at this early point in his career and when writing about a particularly unlikable protagonist.
Warning: this book is not for the timid or easily offended and even though I’ve enjoyed several of Block’s earlier efforts (especially Grifter’s Game), I can’t recommend this one. It’s an interesting time capsule but there are better uses for your time.
Warning: this book is not for the timid or easily offended and even though I’ve enjoyed several of Block’s earlier efforts (especially Grifter’s Game), I can’t recommend this one. It’s an interesting time capsule but there are better uses for your time.
September 25, 2023
This is Crime Noir, like most of Lawrence Block’s work, not “Erotica” or “soft porn(?!)”. For the most part it holds up to the rest of his writing, vis a vis the style. However, the plot is a little thin.
February 22, 2019
Another one
July 8, 2016
Real author is Lawrence Block. Not only is this one of Block's "soft porn" novels he wrote in the sixties, but it is also a very good thriller and noir type novel.
March 26, 2017
This was OK up until he raped Candy's lesbian girlfriend. It's hard to have any sympathy for the main character after that. So the end is probably for the best.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews