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Evan Tanner #6
Tanner's Virgin
The CIA, the FBI, the KGB, Interpol—not one of the world's premier intelligence organizations knows quite what to make of Evan Michael Tanner. Is he a spy, a mercenary, a footloose adventurer, or simply a screwball sucker for hopeless causes? (Actually he's a little bit of all of the above. Plus he never sleeps. Ever .) One thing's for Tanner's a true romantic, which is why he can't refuse a distraught mother who begs him to rescue her lost, pure-as-driven-snow daughter. Phaedra Harrow (nee Deborah Horowitz) once shared Tanner's apartment but not his bed. And now the virginal beauty's been abducted by white slavers in the Afghan wilderness. Finding Phaedra will be difficult enough. Bringing her back alive and unmolested may be impossible. And first Tanner will have to swim the English Channel, survive trigger-happy Russian terrorists . . . and maybe pull off a timely assassination or two.
206 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1968
41 people are currently reading
218 people want to read
About the author
Lawrence Block
768 books2,992 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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Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
December 20, 2017
Another entertaining tale about the man who cannot sleep, chasing across continents to rescue a young friend sold into white slavery. Not dated at all.
January 27, 2016
As good as always, especially in its depiction of '60s Afghanistan and the Indian yogu and the famous music band of four in the end was a good touch... and I especially empathise with Tanner's frustration in this book
Read
July 26, 2025hysterisk. bra lite-bättre-än-pulp-roman
December 28, 2020
A standard Evan Tanner story...not Block's best, but always a nice break from more serious reads.
June 24, 2024
Here Comes a Hero was originally published by Fawcett Gold Model (# R2008) in 1968 and later re-published as Tanner’s Virgin. The original title and original cover art are still the best, though. Here Comes a Hero continues the tongue-in-cheek comedic adventures of sort-of secret-agent/ assassin Evan Tanner, a Korean War veteran who took shrapnel to the head and lost his ability to sleep and thus spends an extra eight hours a day learning languages and corresponding with revolutionary groups all over the world. In the vein of the light-hearted sex comedy aspect of these books, Tanner here is engaged by a missing woman’s mother to go find her across the world.
Tanner once knew her as Phaedra Harrow, although her real name was Deborah Horowitz, and he knew her (except in the biblical sense) as the woman who stayed in his apartment, but never “slept” with him or anyone else for that matter. He describes her as “an eighteen-year-old virgin with an incredible body, an implausible name, and an inpenetrable chastity.” He tells us though that, “Unless one possesses the mentality of a rapist, after all, one regards desire as an essentially mutual thing. Lust cannot long be a one-way street.”
To follow on this story line, when he traces her to London, he finds that she appears to have naively answered an ad seeking young woman or adventure and foreign travel and been taken to Kabul, Afghanistan, and sold into a brothel.
Getting from New York to London to Paris to Kabul is a series of half-assed mis-adventures for Tanner, who runs into every odd revolutionary group he can find before landing in Kabul in the middle of a Russian-centered coup. But he still desperately tries to track down Phaedra or what survives of her after she has been sold into some heathen brothel and abused.
Tanner once knew her as Phaedra Harrow, although her real name was Deborah Horowitz, and he knew her (except in the biblical sense) as the woman who stayed in his apartment, but never “slept” with him or anyone else for that matter. He describes her as “an eighteen-year-old virgin with an incredible body, an implausible name, and an inpenetrable chastity.” He tells us though that, “Unless one possesses the mentality of a rapist, after all, one regards desire as an essentially mutual thing. Lust cannot long be a one-way street.”
To follow on this story line, when he traces her to London, he finds that she appears to have naively answered an ad seeking young woman or adventure and foreign travel and been taken to Kabul, Afghanistan, and sold into a brothel.
Getting from New York to London to Paris to Kabul is a series of half-assed mis-adventures for Tanner, who runs into every odd revolutionary group he can find before landing in Kabul in the middle of a Russian-centered coup. But he still desperately tries to track down Phaedra or what survives of her after she has been sold into some heathen brothel and abused.
February 3, 2021
Spoilers all the way
I was going to dnf this book at 85%, yes 85% that's how bad it was. This series has steadily gotten worse and the culprit is wordiness, a lot of it. Something which could have been written in 2 paragraphs is drawn out to 15 pages - I kid you not.
Summary: One of Tanner's girl friends has been duped by a white slaver and is sold to the hinterlands of 1960's Afghanistan for prostitution. It could have been the usual trip style novel where Tanner travels across different countries and the author relays his experiences. Instead most of the book is focused on a few forced exchanges between Tanner and other characters. For example the hard to believe exchange between Tanner and Amanullah (the Afghani who sells the women to different brothels across the country) is dragged out to 15 pages when it could have been dealt with in a few paragraphs.
Other forced dialog between Tanner and others dragged the book on longer. The only reason I kept to the end was because I wanted to find out what happened to the main character. I'm wondering now if it's worthwhile reading the other 2 books in the series.
I was going to dnf this book at 85%, yes 85% that's how bad it was. This series has steadily gotten worse and the culprit is wordiness, a lot of it. Something which could have been written in 2 paragraphs is drawn out to 15 pages - I kid you not.
Summary: One of Tanner's girl friends has been duped by a white slaver and is sold to the hinterlands of 1960's Afghanistan for prostitution. It could have been the usual trip style novel where Tanner travels across different countries and the author relays his experiences. Instead most of the book is focused on a few forced exchanges between Tanner and other characters. For example the hard to believe exchange between Tanner and Amanullah (the Afghani who sells the women to different brothels across the country) is dragged out to 15 pages when it could have been dealt with in a few paragraphs.
Other forced dialog between Tanner and others dragged the book on longer. The only reason I kept to the end was because I wanted to find out what happened to the main character. I'm wondering now if it's worthwhile reading the other 2 books in the series.
June 7, 2017
I am almost convinced Lawrence Block is clairvoyant. Through the first six novels of this series, it seems the majority of Evan Tanner’s silly, hopeless political causes of the 1960’s have now become present-day reality. Tanner’s Virgin involves a significant subplot about Russians trying to take over the Afghanistan government. Keep in mind, this was written in 1968, a full eleven years before the Soviet Union did in fact invade for that very purpose.
Of course, because this is a Tanner novel, nothing is quite as it seems. Evan only wanted to rescue a beautiful 18-year old who had been sold into white slavery. Saving the world from communism and fouling up a secret CIA mission is only a side benefit.
This was one of the best entries of the series. Both darker and funnier than its predecessors, Block amps up the zany fun and again shows wry insight into global politics of the era.
Of course, because this is a Tanner novel, nothing is quite as it seems. Evan only wanted to rescue a beautiful 18-year old who had been sold into white slavery. Saving the world from communism and fouling up a secret CIA mission is only a side benefit.
This was one of the best entries of the series. Both darker and funnier than its predecessors, Block amps up the zany fun and again shows wry insight into global politics of the era.
June 29, 2018
In Block fashion, this book is fun! A bit of revisionist history regarding the Russian invasion of Afghanistan... but from there comes a hero to make it right. It's white hat cowboy mixed with James Bond and a touch of sixties sexual revolution. It's quick and dirty. And funny. If you can find a copy... read it.
July 23, 2020
Not my favorite book in the series.
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
S
P
O
I
L
E
R
S
..................The woman he needs to rescue was kidnapped and sold to a brothel. Where it turns out she very much enjoys sex and just loves having sex with random men all day long and night. He rescues her anyway and they agree to never discuss it.
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
S
P
O
I
L
E
R
S
..................The woman he needs to rescue was kidnapped and sold to a brothel. Where it turns out she very much enjoys sex and just loves having sex with random men all day long and night. He rescues her anyway and they agree to never discuss it.
February 6, 2025
真想像不出來，這本書跟《烈酒一滴》，居然是同一個人寫得！而且還不是一本而已，以這個主角寫成的，居然是一大串的一系列。挖哩！……
主角伊凡‧譚鈉因在北韓出任務時傷了腦袋，從此變成一個不需要睡覺的男人。這個故事是譚鈉受人之託，要到阿富汗去救出一個在英國被人口販子騙走，賣到當地當妓女的美國女子。
故事中譚鈉不但不用睡覺，還會各國語言，包括俄文、保加利亞文，阿富汗文，巴基斯坦文……反正他經過的地方所需要講的語文，他通通會。而且還精通各種武器、打鬥、擒拿，體力方面的搏鬥更是不在話下。能想像的B級電影裡的爆破或暴力畫面，通通都出現。當然B級電影裡的笨蛋壞蛋，也同時登場。
過程血腥再加點情色，B級電影大功告成。
是不是作者一邊喝得醉醺醺，一邊亂寫的產物呢？看這本印刷空洞，薄薄200頁的小書，就花了我快一個月，怎麼還會有讀者一路捧場，讓他繼續一直寫下去？
夠了，夠了喲！
主角伊凡‧譚鈉因在北韓出任務時傷了腦袋，從此變成一個不需要睡覺的男人。這個故事是譚鈉受人之託，要到阿富汗去救出一個在英國被人口販子騙走，賣到當地當妓女的美國女子。
故事中譚鈉不但不用睡覺，還會各國語言，包括俄文、保加利亞文，阿富汗文，巴基斯坦文……反正他經過的地方所需要講的語文，他通通會。而且還精通各種武器、打鬥、擒拿，體力方面的搏鬥更是不在話下。能想像的B級電影裡的爆破或暴力畫面，通通都出現。當然B級電影裡的笨蛋壞蛋，也同時登場。
過程血腥再加點情色，B級電影大功告成。
是不是作者一邊喝得醉醺醺，一邊亂寫的產物呢？看這本印刷空洞，薄薄200頁的小書，就花了我快一個月，怎麼還會有讀者一路捧場，讓他繼續一直寫下去？
夠了，夠了喲！
March 4, 2021
Audiobook.
Lawrence Block is always guaranteed to entertain even when stories like this one don't feel like they have much point to them. I'm not complaining. It was fun.
Definitely worth a listen just for that brilliant dialogue alone.
3 stars.
Lawrence Block is always guaranteed to entertain even when stories like this one don't feel like they have much point to them. I'm not complaining. It was fun.
Definitely worth a listen just for that brilliant dialogue alone.
3 stars.
June 5, 2023
This book would not let me put it down, because of all the twist and turns.
A good read in spite of what happen to her.
A good read in spite of what happen to her.
June 18, 2021
Funny and witty as always, although ending could have been better. Too many paragraphs about prostitution sometimes get disgusting and boring but still the plot keep's you engaged. It disgusted me to the core of my heart for what happened to the the poor tanner girl. It broke me further as L Block gave a hint in acknowledgment that someone told me that it happened for real. I suppose girls were too stupid and dumb if that's true.
January 26, 2014
What a satisfying read on a cold rainy day. It was everything you could hope for in an Evan Tanner story as he bumbles his way illegally through England, France, and all the way to Afghanistan of the sixties in the search and rescue of a woman sold into white slavery. In the midst of the oddly moralistic amoral character mix of vivid description, Tanner dodges bullets, bombs, knives, and other assorted attempts on his life from a group of Russian spies intent on overthrowing the Afghanistan government. Or so it seems.
Throughout it all, the irony and absurdity of human foibles, and Evan Tanner's role in it all, ran the gamut from quiet chuckle to shake your head and laugh out loud as the good guys got out unscathed and the bad guys their just rewards.
The ending with the Chief was particularly satisfying as further twists come to light and the facts neatly rearranged to suit his agenda, while transforming Tanner's bumblings into the stuff that has become Tanner legend. Then, to put the proverbial cherry on an already delightful tort, there was the perfect alpha and omega ending of the phone getting ripped from the wall once again. Loved it all around!
Throughout it all, the irony and absurdity of human foibles, and Evan Tanner's role in it all, ran the gamut from quiet chuckle to shake your head and laugh out loud as the good guys got out unscathed and the bad guys their just rewards.
The ending with the Chief was particularly satisfying as further twists come to light and the facts neatly rearranged to suit his agenda, while transforming Tanner's bumblings into the stuff that has become Tanner legend. Then, to put the proverbial cherry on an already delightful tort, there was the perfect alpha and omega ending of the phone getting ripped from the wall once again. Loved it all around!
July 23, 2015
#6 in the Evan Tanner series. This 1968 entry was renamed Tanner's Virgin when reissued in 2005. Tanner is a secret agent in a spoof of the 1960's spy series. He was wounded in the Korean War and has been unable to sleep since. In the afterword to the reprint, Block says "The storylines of Tanner's adventures, as you may have noticed, generally range somewhere between far-fetched and absurd". It's rollicking entertainment and a fun read.
Spy Evan Tanner series - Tanner's a true romantic, which is why he can't refuse a distraught mother who begs him to rescue her lost, pure-as-driven-snow daughter. Phaedra Harrow (nee Deborah Horowitz) once shared Tanner's apartment but not his bed. And now the virginal beauty's been abducted by white slavers in the Afghan wilderness. Finding Phaedra will be difficult enough. Bringing her back alive and unmolested may be impossible. And first Tanner will have to swim the English Channel, survive trigger-happy Russian terrorists . . . and maybe pull off a timely assassination or two.
Spy Evan Tanner series - Tanner's a true romantic, which is why he can't refuse a distraught mother who begs him to rescue her lost, pure-as-driven-snow daughter. Phaedra Harrow (nee Deborah Horowitz) once shared Tanner's apartment but not his bed. And now the virginal beauty's been abducted by white slavers in the Afghan wilderness. Finding Phaedra will be difficult enough. Bringing her back alive and unmolested may be impossible. And first Tanner will have to swim the English Channel, survive trigger-happy Russian terrorists . . . and maybe pull off a timely assassination or two.
January 27, 2013
Evan Tanner goes to Afghanistan to rescue a former girlfriend from enslavement as a prostitute. Funnier than that brief summary would suggest, and including Tanner's accidental involvement in a plot to overthrow the Afghan government, which the Russians are apparently behind but which is really a CIA initiative. The ending is actually somewhat anticlimactic, as it shifts gears to make fun of transcendentalism rather than international skulduggery.
July 26, 2008
Tanner, the spy who can't sleep in an adventure that takes him across Europe to a search throughout Afghanistan. OK, this was written in 1968, an early Block entry before Scudder, Rhodenbarr and Keller took over. It's a fun read and Tanner is sufficiently dry to qualify as a wise-ass, but a likable one. Good supporting characters here. A good, quick fun read.
Want to read
September 28, 2009AKA: Sheldon Lord, Jill Emerson, Paul Kavanaugh, Chip Harrison, Lawrence Block
February 26, 2019
Tanner is back for more
July 25, 2013
I guess this is supposed to be a comedy/thriller but it was not funny at all.
April 9, 2015
A bit dated. But, still a good read.
March 14, 2016
I liked it, don't know why. The lead is unbelievable and the plots are impossible, but the stories are still fun.
Read
April 7, 2014A hit man who has a therapist and who ends up as hero/protagonist? You got it!
Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews