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Jack Susko #2
O Russo Negro
O sebo de livros raros, Susko Books, enfrenta mais uma semana de marasmo e dívidas. A luz no fim do túnel para o dono, Jack Susko, é conseguir alguns trocados com a venda de um catálogo de arte antiga. Mas sua vida está prestes a dar uma guinada quando entra no local errado e na hora errada...
Jack flagra um roubo e os ladrões levam não somente um misterioso objeto de arte, mas também sua mochila, que continha um exemplar raro de Moscou contra 007, de Ian Fleming. Porém, a busca pelo exemplar roubado acaba levando-o ao russo negro, um traficante de antiguidades apaixonado por blues e jazz, e a disputadíssima Bíblia de Sergius. Jack se vê, de repente, numa perseguição emocionante, digna de filmes de ação, e em uma rede de intrigas de ladrões de arte.
Tentando salvar seu sebo, o personagem agora poderá viver o que sempre achou estar apenas em livros de romance policial, e se descobrirá um detetive nato, que, mais do que seguir um raciocínio minucioso, às vezes, usa de uma boa dose de instinto e intuição.
Jack flagra um roubo e os ladrões levam não somente um misterioso objeto de arte, mas também sua mochila, que continha um exemplar raro de Moscou contra 007, de Ian Fleming. Porém, a busca pelo exemplar roubado acaba levando-o ao russo negro, um traficante de antiguidades apaixonado por blues e jazz, e a disputadíssima Bíblia de Sergius. Jack se vê, de repente, numa perseguição emocionante, digna de filmes de ação, e em uma rede de intrigas de ladrões de arte.
Tentando salvar seu sebo, o personagem agora poderá viver o que sempre achou estar apenas em livros de romance policial, e se descobrirá um detetive nato, que, mais do que seguir um raciocínio minucioso, às vezes, usa de uma boa dose de instinto e intuição.
233 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2010
1 person is currently reading
36 people want to read
About the author
Lenny Bartulin
9 books21 followersLenny Bartulin is the author of Death by the Book aka A Deadly Business (2008). His poetry and short stories have appeared in numerous publications, including HEAT, Meanjin, and New Australian Stories. His latest novel is The Black Russian.
Lenny Bartulin was born in Hobart in 1969 and lives in Sydney.
Lenny Bartulin was born in Hobart in 1969 and lives in Sydney.
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
October 14, 2012
Right lets be clear Bartulin is no Chandler but who is? But for those who love and have exhausted Chandler and know of or live in sydney this is a great entertaining modern day noir novel.
March 6, 2018
Um livro facílimo de ler, dinâmico e com muita fluidez - e apesar da capa, não é propriamente um livro de crime. Bem humorada, esbarra em Nick Hornby, embora a anos-luz do charme e do bom humor.
Personagens bons, um tanto exagerados (especialmente o protagonista Jack Susko), e uma história comum, sem grandes sustos. Vale pela escrita fluída e por ser um livro australiano, que pra mim não é uma leitura comum.
Personagens bons, um tanto exagerados (especialmente o protagonista Jack Susko), e uma história comum, sem grandes sustos. Vale pela escrita fluída e por ser um livro australiano, que pra mim não é uma leitura comum.
September 29, 2019
Fun Aussie crime novel - not too serious, perfect reading for a lazy long weekend
November 17, 2019
Amazingly fun and funny.
Read it.
Read it.
March 21, 2021
3.5 rounded up to 4 / Great fun!
January 29, 2022
Set in Sydney, lots of known streets and suburbs mentioned, always fun.
Otherwise, pretty basic, criminals and stolen goods and lots of scenes with guns and heavies.
Otherwise, pretty basic, criminals and stolen goods and lots of scenes with guns and heavies.
September 5, 2025
Não tente me enganar, Lenny. Eu sei que vidas de donos de sebo não são tão legais como essa aqui que você escreveu.
April 29, 2010
Having really enjoyed the first Jack Susko book, A DEADLY BUSINESS, it was music to my ears to find that the second book was on its way. THE BLACK RUSSIAN sees not just the return of Jack - but the return of all of Jack's problems - financial and personal.
In THE BLACK RUSSIAN Jack somehow or other manages, yet again, to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Attempting to scrape up some much needed cash, he's doing a special delivery of an old art catalogue when the gallery he has just walked into is held up by a couple of masked thieves. Masked, yet there's something somewhere in the back of Jack's minds that is ringing bells about one of those gunmen. Beyond that, much more importantly, the thieves also pinched a rare first edition from his bag. So it's personal.
One of the fun things about the accidental detective genre is the way in which the author has to set up a scenario for our hero to get himself into trouble in. I love the inventive methods that so many of our authors use to come up with something that just seems so feasible - as long as you don't spend too much time wondering why your average accidental detective just doesn't lick their wounds and go home and feed the cat! Jack's detecting skills are still very much from the "poke around and make yourself unpopular school" but he does it with such aplomb (okay well he bumbles around with intent) that it's not only believable, it's frequently quite hilarious.
Part of the attraction of both of these books is the stereotypes, delivered with a dead pan Australian sensibility and wit. In THE BLACK RUSSIAN, the hero is beaten, threatened, put upon, abused and mistreated. The villains are, well villainous - menacing, threatening and sinister, surrounded by lots of big, dumb and violent sidekicks. The girls are gorgeous, dangerous, mad and not to be trusted under any circumstances. The cat is aloof. The settings evocative and fresh and clear - you can see the slightly dowdy look of Susko Books, you can hear the off engine notes of the beaten up cars. The dialogue is frequently funny and Jack does a great line in wise-cracking commentary, lines that definitely have their roots in the hard-bitten, hard-boiled Noir heroes of earlier days.
THE BLACK RUSSIAN is great fun, and very well done, and something that surely should make your average reader rush out to the bookshops for a copy. (Perhaps incorporate a search through the nearby second-hand bookshop on the way home, just in case there's a real-life Jack lurking around in there, contemplating a risk just to make a living).
In THE BLACK RUSSIAN Jack somehow or other manages, yet again, to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Attempting to scrape up some much needed cash, he's doing a special delivery of an old art catalogue when the gallery he has just walked into is held up by a couple of masked thieves. Masked, yet there's something somewhere in the back of Jack's minds that is ringing bells about one of those gunmen. Beyond that, much more importantly, the thieves also pinched a rare first edition from his bag. So it's personal.
One of the fun things about the accidental detective genre is the way in which the author has to set up a scenario for our hero to get himself into trouble in. I love the inventive methods that so many of our authors use to come up with something that just seems so feasible - as long as you don't spend too much time wondering why your average accidental detective just doesn't lick their wounds and go home and feed the cat! Jack's detecting skills are still very much from the "poke around and make yourself unpopular school" but he does it with such aplomb (okay well he bumbles around with intent) that it's not only believable, it's frequently quite hilarious.
Part of the attraction of both of these books is the stereotypes, delivered with a dead pan Australian sensibility and wit. In THE BLACK RUSSIAN, the hero is beaten, threatened, put upon, abused and mistreated. The villains are, well villainous - menacing, threatening and sinister, surrounded by lots of big, dumb and violent sidekicks. The girls are gorgeous, dangerous, mad and not to be trusted under any circumstances. The cat is aloof. The settings evocative and fresh and clear - you can see the slightly dowdy look of Susko Books, you can hear the off engine notes of the beaten up cars. The dialogue is frequently funny and Jack does a great line in wise-cracking commentary, lines that definitely have their roots in the hard-bitten, hard-boiled Noir heroes of earlier days.
THE BLACK RUSSIAN is great fun, and very well done, and something that surely should make your average reader rush out to the bookshops for a copy. (Perhaps incorporate a search through the nearby second-hand bookshop on the way home, just in case there's a real-life Jack lurking around in there, contemplating a risk just to make a living).
January 31, 2016
Second book in the Jack Susko series, set in modern day Sydney.
Jack owns a secondhand book store that really isn't making its way.
Jack ends up at a robbery where incidentally he loses one of the few decent things he owns. The victim persuades him not to go to the police, but then fails to reimburse him for his loss.
Things go downhill from there and Jack is threatened and fooled left, right and centre by just about everyone he meets.
Lots of twists. Fun, light read. 3.5 Stars.
Jack owns a secondhand book store that really isn't making its way.
Jack ends up at a robbery where incidentally he loses one of the few decent things he owns. The victim persuades him not to go to the police, but then fails to reimburse him for his loss.
Things go downhill from there and Jack is threatened and fooled left, right and centre by just about everyone he meets.
Lots of twists. Fun, light read. 3.5 Stars.
March 18, 2015
I really enjoyed this book. From the wisecracking amateur detective who’s always in over his head, to the plot twists and double-double crosses that keep you guessing right to the end. This is a fun read with lots of Aussie colour.
April 6, 2016
Not enough layers or depth to keep my interest. A read that was over too quickly with little reward.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews