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The Girl with the Deep Blue Eyes
Cashed out from the NYPD after 24 years, Doak Miller operates as a private eye in steamy small-town Florida, doing jobs for the local police. Like posing as a hit man and wearing a wire to incriminate a local wife who’s looking to get rid of her husband. But when he sees the wife, when he looks into her deep blue eyes...
He falls—and falls hard. Soon he’s working with her, against his employer, plotting a devious plan that could get her free from her husband and put millions in her bank account. But can they do it without landing in jail? And once he's kindled his taste for killing...will he be able to stop at one?
Cover art by Glen Orbik.
He falls—and falls hard. Soon he’s working with her, against his employer, plotting a devious plan that could get her free from her husband and put millions in her bank account. But can they do it without landing in jail? And once he's kindled his taste for killing...will he be able to stop at one?
Cover art by Glen Orbik.
234 pages, Hardcover
First published September 1, 2015
44 people are currently reading
758 people want to read
About the author
Lawrence Block
768 books2,977 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 - 30 of 237 reviews
August 4, 2015
When private eye Doak Miller goes undercover to catch a woman attempting to hire a hitman to murder her husband, he doesn't count on falling in love with her. There's just the little matter of getting her husband out of the way...
When you get home from work to find a mysterious package containing the upcoming Lawrence Block book on your doorstep, you drop what you're doing and get readin'.
The Girl with the Deep Blue Eyes is a modern take on the classic noir tale of a man falling for a woman and then bumping off her husband, only to be consumed by madness and guilt. Doak Miller is a former cop and a lady's man who finds himself face to face with his fantasy girl. How will he attempt to bump off her husband?
Block's writing is as crisp as ever and there's a lot of sex in this book. It's like Lawrence Block ripped a page from the James M. Cain playbook and thrust it repeatedly into one of his early smut novels. Not only does The Girl with the Deep Blue Eyes read like a sexualized modernization of Double Indemnity or The Postman Always Rings Twice, the character of Doak adds some additional wrinkles I won't give away here. As more is revealed of Doak's true nature, you have to wonder if anyone will make it out alive.
The Girl with the Deep Blue Eyes is a worth addition to the Hard Case Crime Series and everything I've come to know and love about Lawrence Block's Hard Case novels. Four out of five stars.
When you get home from work to find a mysterious package containing the upcoming Lawrence Block book on your doorstep, you drop what you're doing and get readin'.
The Girl with the Deep Blue Eyes is a modern take on the classic noir tale of a man falling for a woman and then bumping off her husband, only to be consumed by madness and guilt. Doak Miller is a former cop and a lady's man who finds himself face to face with his fantasy girl. How will he attempt to bump off her husband?
Block's writing is as crisp as ever and there's a lot of sex in this book. It's like Lawrence Block ripped a page from the James M. Cain playbook and thrust it repeatedly into one of his early smut novels. Not only does The Girl with the Deep Blue Eyes read like a sexualized modernization of Double Indemnity or The Postman Always Rings Twice, the character of Doak adds some additional wrinkles I won't give away here. As more is revealed of Doak's true nature, you have to wonder if anyone will make it out alive.
The Girl with the Deep Blue Eyes is a worth addition to the Hard Case Crime Series and everything I've come to know and love about Lawrence Block's Hard Case novels. Four out of five stars.
November 8, 2015
The title of this one makes it sound as if Lisbeth Salander and Travis McGee had a baby, but it’s far more like James Cain than Stieg Larsson or John D. MacDonald. Actually, let’s just skip the comparisons and say that it’s 100% Lawrence Block, and his fans know that this is a very good thing.
Doak Miller is a retired NYPD detective who moved to Florida where he now does the odd job as a private detective. A local sheriff has gotten word that beautiful Lisa has tried to hire a hit man to do away with her wealthy husband, and now the sheriff asks Doak to meet with Lisa as the hired killer to record evidence of her conspiracy to commit murder. However, Doak becomes infatuated with Lisa’s picture and instead cooks up a way to warn her off which is the start of a steamy affair between the two of them. It’s also got Doak thinking of ways that he could actually pull off the murder so that he and Lisa could get all that money.
That sounds like a familiar set-up, but this isn’t just your typical story of the adulterous couple trying to kill off a spouse. From its traditional start the story morphs into what would can only be described as metafiction in the way that Doak acknowledges that he’s essentially living in a noir story as he watches movies like Double Indemnity and The Postman Always Rings while planning his crime. (I’m a little surprised that Body Heat wasn’t mentioned because the plot, Florida setting, and steamy sex scenes seem like it’d be a natural one to bring up, but maybe Block was worried about Doak catching that one on TCM.)
However, this never feels like a flashy gimmick because it’s a compelling story told to us from the third party perspective of Doak. At first it seems like Doak could be another version of Block’s Matt Scudder. A retired police detective with some some regrets about his past living a low-rent life as he works as a PI is very Scudder-esque, but Doak is a different kind of animal which we learn from his willingness to turn killer as well as his interactions with Lisa and other women.
Those interactions include several graphic sexual encounters. Block has never been shy about throwing kinky scenes into some of his books, and as the cover indicates this one has no shortage of them. He uses them very effectively to a way of establishing Doak’s character as well as providing a believable twisted bond between him and Lisa beyond just some kind of insta-love thing which probably would have seemed hokey. Despite the lurid potential of some of this Block does a great job of portraying it in a matter of fact way that trusts that his characters and readers are adults who can handle it.
This is a master crime writer doing a sharp and clever take on noir tropes, and it’s a great read for fans of the genre.
Also posted on Kemper's Book Blog.
Doak Miller is a retired NYPD detective who moved to Florida where he now does the odd job as a private detective. A local sheriff has gotten word that beautiful Lisa has tried to hire a hit man to do away with her wealthy husband, and now the sheriff asks Doak to meet with Lisa as the hired killer to record evidence of her conspiracy to commit murder. However, Doak becomes infatuated with Lisa’s picture and instead cooks up a way to warn her off which is the start of a steamy affair between the two of them. It’s also got Doak thinking of ways that he could actually pull off the murder so that he and Lisa could get all that money.
That sounds like a familiar set-up, but this isn’t just your typical story of the adulterous couple trying to kill off a spouse. From its traditional start the story morphs into what would can only be described as metafiction in the way that Doak acknowledges that he’s essentially living in a noir story as he watches movies like Double Indemnity and The Postman Always Rings while planning his crime. (I’m a little surprised that Body Heat wasn’t mentioned because the plot, Florida setting, and steamy sex scenes seem like it’d be a natural one to bring up, but maybe Block was worried about Doak catching that one on TCM.)
However, this never feels like a flashy gimmick because it’s a compelling story told to us from the third party perspective of Doak. At first it seems like Doak could be another version of Block’s Matt Scudder. A retired police detective with some some regrets about his past living a low-rent life as he works as a PI is very Scudder-esque, but Doak is a different kind of animal which we learn from his willingness to turn killer as well as his interactions with Lisa and other women.
Those interactions include several graphic sexual encounters. Block has never been shy about throwing kinky scenes into some of his books, and as the cover indicates this one has no shortage of them. He uses them very effectively to a way of establishing Doak’s character as well as providing a believable twisted bond between him and Lisa beyond just some kind of insta-love thing which probably would have seemed hokey. Despite the lurid potential of some of this Block does a great job of portraying it in a matter of fact way that trusts that his characters and readers are adults who can handle it.
This is a master crime writer doing a sharp and clever take on noir tropes, and it’s a great read for fans of the genre.
Also posted on Kemper's Book Blog.
October 1, 2015
Life doesn't get a whole lot better than a day when you have a brand new book from Lawrence Block to read fresh for the first time, and The Girl with the Deep Blue Eyes proves that Block is still at the top of his game. With this book, Block updates the steamy pulp novels of yesteryear and demonstrates that, even in the age of computers, cell phones and the Internet, there's still a lot of life that can be wrung out of the genre.
At the heart of the book is Doak Miller, a retired cop from New York City who moves to a small town in Florida where his pension dollars will stretch a bit farther than in NYC. Once settled, he takes the occasional job as a private investigator to supplement the pension. He befriends the local sheriff and even does an occasional job for the county. A divorced man, Doak also cultivates the local ladies and engages in some very hot sex. Early in his career, Block wrote "adult" novels under various pen names and in writing the sex scenes, he channels his younger self and goes beyond the limits he or his editors set for Matthew Scudder and Bernie Rhodenbarr.
As the book opens, Doak agrees to take an undercover job for the sheriff, William Radburn. A woman named Lisa Otterbein is looking to hire a hit man to kill her very wealthy husband, and the lowlife that she first approached in a bar has reported her to the sheriff. (Obviously, the woman should have called Dot and hired Keller, but that would have been another story all together.)
The sheriff wants Doak to play the part of the hired killer (Frank from Jersey) and record Lisa attempting to hire him. Once they have the poor woman on tape, she will be convicted of soliciting murder and sent to prison.
Doak agrees, but he doesn't count on the fact that Lisa will turn out to be the most beautiful woman he's ever seen. He's not about to entrap her and cleverly warns her away from the scheme. Lisa shows her gratitude in a particularly nice way, and before long we're headed into James M. Cain country.
Lisa convinces Doak that she's madly in love with him and Doak, of course, is totally smitten with her. He's soon concocting plans to eliminate Lisa's husband, but will he have any better luck than Walter Neff in Double Indemnity or Frank Chambers in The Postman Always Rings Twice?
As always, Block has created interesting and believable characters and then inserted them into a steamy and complex plot that's enormously entertaining. Doak Miller knows his crime fiction and like any other literate fan of the genre, he also knows how these schemes inevitably end up. But like the aforementioned Messrs. Neff and Chambers, the poor guy just can't walk away. One can only hope that Lawrence Block is not yet ready to walk away either from what has already been a very long and distinguished career. Every time you read one of his last few books, you can only desperately hope that there will yet be at least one more.
At the heart of the book is Doak Miller, a retired cop from New York City who moves to a small town in Florida where his pension dollars will stretch a bit farther than in NYC. Once settled, he takes the occasional job as a private investigator to supplement the pension. He befriends the local sheriff and even does an occasional job for the county. A divorced man, Doak also cultivates the local ladies and engages in some very hot sex. Early in his career, Block wrote "adult" novels under various pen names and in writing the sex scenes, he channels his younger self and goes beyond the limits he or his editors set for Matthew Scudder and Bernie Rhodenbarr.
As the book opens, Doak agrees to take an undercover job for the sheriff, William Radburn. A woman named Lisa Otterbein is looking to hire a hit man to kill her very wealthy husband, and the lowlife that she first approached in a bar has reported her to the sheriff. (Obviously, the woman should have called Dot and hired Keller, but that would have been another story all together.)
The sheriff wants Doak to play the part of the hired killer (Frank from Jersey) and record Lisa attempting to hire him. Once they have the poor woman on tape, she will be convicted of soliciting murder and sent to prison.
Doak agrees, but he doesn't count on the fact that Lisa will turn out to be the most beautiful woman he's ever seen. He's not about to entrap her and cleverly warns her away from the scheme. Lisa shows her gratitude in a particularly nice way, and before long we're headed into James M. Cain country.
Lisa convinces Doak that she's madly in love with him and Doak, of course, is totally smitten with her. He's soon concocting plans to eliminate Lisa's husband, but will he have any better luck than Walter Neff in Double Indemnity or Frank Chambers in The Postman Always Rings Twice?
As always, Block has created interesting and believable characters and then inserted them into a steamy and complex plot that's enormously entertaining. Doak Miller knows his crime fiction and like any other literate fan of the genre, he also knows how these schemes inevitably end up. But like the aforementioned Messrs. Neff and Chambers, the poor guy just can't walk away. One can only hope that Lawrence Block is not yet ready to walk away either from what has already been a very long and distinguished career. Every time you read one of his last few books, you can only desperately hope that there will yet be at least one more.
August 28, 2020
”And after the sun was down he found himself watching a movie, Double Indemnity on TCM.
All in black and white, which suited the film’s classic noir mood, and TCM showed it without commercials, and he started out appreciating it and wound up caught up entirely in the story. He had to go to the bathroom, his bladder was stretched to capacity, but he waited until the final credits had rolled before he got up from his chair.
The subject matter, of course, may have had something to do with it.
They were going to have to kill George Otterbein.”
Double Indemnity (1944)
You’d almost think that TCM was putting thoughts in Doak Miller’s mind. Besides Double Indemnity they also played The Last Seduction with Linda Fiorentino, who portrayed a femme fatale as sultry as she was deadly. They really should have had Pitfall with Lisbeth Scott and Dick Powell in that lineup as well, but then Doak had enough ideas already.
It all began when the local sheriff elicited Doak’s help in a sting operation to take down a wife who had made enquiries about having her husband knocked off. Instead of reeling her in like he was supposed to, he did a catch and release.
It was those blue eyes, not to mention the beautiful package around those eyes, but those eyes were what made him think about how to get away... with murder.
Doak had recently retired from a New Jersey police force and moved to Florida. He thought he’d begin his new life by banging the real estate agent who sold him the house. ”And Barb had a nice enough body, built more for comfort than speed. Her breasts were nice, her ass was even nicer, and long before she’d shown him the house he wound up buying, he’d already decided not only that he wanted her but just how he intended to have her.”
I would tell you what happens next, but it would make you blush.
Barb’s nice, but once he laid eyes on Lisa Otterbein’s blue eyes, he had eyes for no one else. The only thing standing between him and happy ever after was her abusive, wealthy husband.
How do you kill a man when the cops already knew the wife was planning to have him killed? ”Murder was easy. The tricky part was getting away with it.”
Fortunately for Doak Miller, he had the grand master of mystery writers pounding away at the keyboard, directing his life. There are few people in this world who have thought of more devious ways to kill people than Lawrence Block. Will Doak get his happy ever after?
”’You know in the movies I’ve been watching, things never work out. In the end, something always goes wrong.’
‘That’s the movies,’ she said. ‘This is life.’
The sex is steamy and kinky, so don’t be recommending this to your pious grandmother unless you want a tongue lashing for Christmas. The plot whips along at breakneck speed, so be prepared to be trapped for a couple of hours while you race through the pages to the explosive finish. If you like your mysteries to be hardboiled with plenty of Florida sun and devious women, you’ll really enjoy this one.
If you wish to see more of my most recent book and movie reviews, visit http://www.jeffreykeeten.com
I also have a Facebook blogger page at:https://www.facebook.com/JeffreyKeeten
All in black and white, which suited the film’s classic noir mood, and TCM showed it without commercials, and he started out appreciating it and wound up caught up entirely in the story. He had to go to the bathroom, his bladder was stretched to capacity, but he waited until the final credits had rolled before he got up from his chair.
The subject matter, of course, may have had something to do with it.
They were going to have to kill George Otterbein.”
Double Indemnity (1944)
You’d almost think that TCM was putting thoughts in Doak Miller’s mind. Besides Double Indemnity they also played The Last Seduction with Linda Fiorentino, who portrayed a femme fatale as sultry as she was deadly. They really should have had Pitfall with Lisbeth Scott and Dick Powell in that lineup as well, but then Doak had enough ideas already.
It all began when the local sheriff elicited Doak’s help in a sting operation to take down a wife who had made enquiries about having her husband knocked off. Instead of reeling her in like he was supposed to, he did a catch and release.
It was those blue eyes, not to mention the beautiful package around those eyes, but those eyes were what made him think about how to get away... with murder.
Doak had recently retired from a New Jersey police force and moved to Florida. He thought he’d begin his new life by banging the real estate agent who sold him the house. ”And Barb had a nice enough body, built more for comfort than speed. Her breasts were nice, her ass was even nicer, and long before she’d shown him the house he wound up buying, he’d already decided not only that he wanted her but just how he intended to have her.”
I would tell you what happens next, but it would make you blush.
Barb’s nice, but once he laid eyes on Lisa Otterbein’s blue eyes, he had eyes for no one else. The only thing standing between him and happy ever after was her abusive, wealthy husband.
How do you kill a man when the cops already knew the wife was planning to have him killed? ”Murder was easy. The tricky part was getting away with it.”
Fortunately for Doak Miller, he had the grand master of mystery writers pounding away at the keyboard, directing his life. There are few people in this world who have thought of more devious ways to kill people than Lawrence Block. Will Doak get his happy ever after?
”’You know in the movies I’ve been watching, things never work out. In the end, something always goes wrong.’
‘That’s the movies,’ she said. ‘This is life.’
The sex is steamy and kinky, so don’t be recommending this to your pious grandmother unless you want a tongue lashing for Christmas. The plot whips along at breakneck speed, so be prepared to be trapped for a couple of hours while you race through the pages to the explosive finish. If you like your mysteries to be hardboiled with plenty of Florida sun and devious women, you’ll really enjoy this one.
If you wish to see more of my most recent book and movie reviews, visit http://www.jeffreykeeten.com
I also have a Facebook blogger page at:https://www.facebook.com/JeffreyKeeten
January 12, 2016
Released Today!
Lawrence Block is a pretty popular crime author, but many readers aren't fully familiar with the beginning of his career when he wrote a bunch of softcore smut and lesbian erotica novels under various pen names. In recent years, many of those books have become more popular due to reprints and he even resurrected one of his more popular alter egos, Jill Emerson, for an original novel for Hard Case Crime called Getting Off . Now with The Girl With The Deep Blue Eyes, his new original Hard Case novel, with it's healthy doses of erotica mixed with classic noir stylings, it feels like he unofficially resurrected the well-used Andrew Shaw alter ego, who worked with that same booty-noir mix back in the day. And it seems like Andrew is super pumped about being unleashed onto our worldly, post-50 Shades society, because he definitely holds nothing back on the smut-tip with this book!
An ex-NYC cop turned Florida private eye named Doak Miller gets an assignment to act as a hitman and entrap a trophy wife looking to knock off her husband. But once he meets her, he sees the girl of his dreams and he concocts a plan to keep her all to himself.
At first, I got a bit frustrated because the plot didn't really move at the pace I wanted it to. It didn't really seem like much was happening for the first half of the book, and then I realized that the book is less about the crime and the hot sex and more about the character of Doak Miller, which I didn't expect. And the way Block slowly and skillfully reveals more and more about Doak's character is pretty compelling. One really stand-out aspect that I enjoyed is that it takes place in 2014 and Doak is a film noir fan. Because of this, he recognizes that his situation is the same as the characters in classic noirs like The Postman Always Rings Twice and Double Indemnity. He knows this convention and knows that those characters never get away in the end. But what makes this even more noir is that although he already knows this, he thinks his situation just might be different, and begins to set everything in motion anyway. He's a great pulp character and Block really illustrates the inevitability of noir. Recommended to crime fans, it's a cool read that might give you a thrill! And just maybe give you a tingle in your underpants!!
Lawrence Block is a pretty popular crime author, but many readers aren't fully familiar with the beginning of his career when he wrote a bunch of softcore smut and lesbian erotica novels under various pen names. In recent years, many of those books have become more popular due to reprints and he even resurrected one of his more popular alter egos, Jill Emerson, for an original novel for Hard Case Crime called Getting Off . Now with The Girl With The Deep Blue Eyes, his new original Hard Case novel, with it's healthy doses of erotica mixed with classic noir stylings, it feels like he unofficially resurrected the well-used Andrew Shaw alter ego, who worked with that same booty-noir mix back in the day. And it seems like Andrew is super pumped about being unleashed onto our worldly, post-50 Shades society, because he definitely holds nothing back on the smut-tip with this book!
An ex-NYC cop turned Florida private eye named Doak Miller gets an assignment to act as a hitman and entrap a trophy wife looking to knock off her husband. But once he meets her, he sees the girl of his dreams and he concocts a plan to keep her all to himself.
At first, I got a bit frustrated because the plot didn't really move at the pace I wanted it to. It didn't really seem like much was happening for the first half of the book, and then I realized that the book is less about the crime and the hot sex and more about the character of Doak Miller, which I didn't expect. And the way Block slowly and skillfully reveals more and more about Doak's character is pretty compelling. One really stand-out aspect that I enjoyed is that it takes place in 2014 and Doak is a film noir fan. Because of this, he recognizes that his situation is the same as the characters in classic noirs like The Postman Always Rings Twice and Double Indemnity. He knows this convention and knows that those characters never get away in the end. But what makes this even more noir is that although he already knows this, he thinks his situation just might be different, and begins to set everything in motion anyway. He's a great pulp character and Block really illustrates the inevitability of noir. Recommended to crime fans, it's a cool read that might give you a thrill! And just maybe give you a tingle in your underpants!!
December 18, 2015
The fantasy: he meets this woman, and their eyes lock, and they connect in a way that neither of them has ever before connected with another human being.
And that's just it, because they walk out of their separate lives and into a life together. Not a word to anybody, not a wasted moment to pack a bag or quit a job. They look at each other, and they connect and they're in a car riding off together, or on a bus or a train or an airplane, and it's crazy and they know it's crazy but they don't care.
Riding out into the sunset sounds romantic and daring in theory, but in practice there are all kinds of complications, starting with breaking free of past commitments and ending with the inherent risks of jumping into bed with a total stranger, who might or might not be a psychopatic liar.
I'm not well versed in the lore of Lawrence Block, this being only my second or third novel of his that I try, but I am already convinced that he is not only a very talented storyteller, but also a very subversive one. While openly honoring the noir traditions and name dropping some of the biggest icons in the genre, what Block is actually doing here is playing with the reader's expectations and gleefully turning them on their head.
Case in point: the young and smoking hot wife of a rich Florida businessman would like to get rid of her marital obligations by any means necessary and a retired New York cop who moonlights as private detective for the local county police department is ready to do anything for a look into her deep blue eyes. If the story sounds familiar, it's because the plot has been in use since the Greek tragedies, by way of Shakespeare up to James M Cain. Lawrence Block acknowledges his sources of inspiration by making his detective, Doak Miller, watch the TCM programs in the evening and remarking on how similar his situation is to these movies shown on TV:
- Double Indemnity with Fred McMurray, Barbara Stanwick and Edward G Robinson
- The Postman Always Rings Twice, the 1946 version with Lana Turner and John Garfield
- In A Lonely Place, with Humphrey Bogart and Gloria Grahame
- D.O.A. with Edmund O'Brien
- The Last Seduction with Linda Fiorentino
Matters veer on a divergent course from these classic movies in a gradual and subtle way. So subtle in fact that I was actually revolted as I turned the last page and the final twist was not what I expected.
I'm glad I have waited more than a week to write down my review, as the interval allowed me to ruminate some more on what Block is trying to say here and to come to terms with my own outraged sense of right and wrong. Justice and Fate are big factors in a carefully scripted movie, especially if it had to pass the Hays Production Code. In real life the good guys are not guaranteed a hard won victory or a save in the last second by the charging US Cavalry. In modern crime novels, the reader is no longer even allowed to pick and choose the good guys from the bad guys.
I grew up with a romantic vision of the Private Detective as a true American hero, an urban cowboy in a slightly disheveled trenchcoat walking down the mean streets of his corrupt metropolis, fighting crime under the guidance of a strong inner sense of justice. I extended this glamorous icon to Doak Miller, but the more time I spent in his company the harder it got to hold on to the Raymond Chandler gumshoe avatar.
It's not easy to talk about what ticked me off about Doak without spoiling some of the best revelations in the book, but a lot of my issues have to do with his atitude towards women. The 1940's detectives were not famous for their political corectness towards the 'dames', but Miller is flirting with the criminal sections of the Code of Law right from the start.
Another noir icon that gets slightly tarnished in the novel is the 'femme fatale' who uses her body to get men into trouble. Our blue eyed girl seems to fit the profile and I kept expecting her to show her true devious colours in her relationship with Doak Miller, but here also Lawrence Block prefers to play by his own rules. She's neither black widow nor spotless nun, she's a victim and also a fighter, she's using Doak to get rid of her husband but she also may be honestly attracted to him.
Block manages here a truly skillful act : bringing the noir classics up to the third millenium standards in plot and character development. He's also very good at keeping the reader glued to the page. I will use one of Doak Miller's own remarks about watching the above mentioned movies to capture the experience of reading this novel:
He had to go to the bathroom, his bladder was stretched to capacity, but he waited until the final credits had rolled before he got up from his chair.
Kudos also for the story being firmly engaged in current hot button issues and doing it as an integral part of the plot. I'm talking about gun rights in the US, and about the cruel irony of holding a gun fair in a school:
He hadn't signed anything for the Taurus or the Ruger. The bearded fellow never even raised the subject, just conducted the transaction with no more ceremony than if Doak had been purchasing a can of window putty.
--- ---
After all this praise, I feel I shouldn't bring up the few complaints I had, but there were some passages that stretched my credulity. For example, Doak is presented as a modern detective with a good grasp of computer technology and of the way to use a search engine efficiently. Yet he simply starts a suspect's laptop and "he plugged a flash drive into a port and dumped her hard drive onto it.". I'd like to see Doak do this on my password protected 2 TB drive, as well as reading all my online stored emails from this data dump.
--- ---
Verdict: Block is guilty of writing a challenging and damn good crime novel.
He should be 'sentenced' to write more of the same.
October 5, 2015
I’ve read more books written by Lawrence Block than by any other writer. I like crime fiction and my preference is for it to be set in America, so that’s two boxes ticked. But the primary reason I come back to Block so often is down to style and quality. He does have a distinctive way of lying down words and he knows how to tell a story – in itself, not that unusual. What I believe he offers over and above just about any other crime fiction writer is volume and variety. James Lee Burke is my all time favourite writer and you’d be hard pressed to find a wordsmith to match his ability to create tension and atmosphere between the pages. But, like most writers (of all genres), he has a tendency to re-write the same story in pretty much the same way. And even if it’s identifiably a different tale it feels like the same story. Not Block. I’ve lost count of the number of works he’s published – well over a hundred – and he’s managed to create at least three best selling series (Scudder, Rhodenbarr and Keller) each with its own identity and own style. In addition he’s written non-fiction and, in his early days, a good deal of erotic fiction, released using various pseudonyms.
So where does this one fit? Well, it’s tempting to bracket it in with his early erotic stuff but then again it’s listed as a hard-case crime novel. In reality it’s a combination of both. Doak Miller (love the name!) is a cop who’s put in his time and is now seeking something else. He takes his police pension and a PI licence to a small town in Florida, where does a few favours for the local police whist he works out what he really wants from life. Then along comes a woman - the girl with the deep blue eyes. I’ll let others delve into the details of the plot, but suffice to say Doak gets caught up in a conundrum concerning the woman he desires, her rich husband and the husband’s girlfriend. You know it’s going to end badly… or will it?
As he schemes and plots, Doak watches old films on TCM such as Double Indemnity and D.O.A. Can he find the perfect way of squaring the circle? It’s all great fun and the whole thing has the feel of one of those great old films but staged in a contemporary setting.
The sex scenes are graphic and might put off some, but they are integral to understanding who Doak is. Overall it’s yet another a satisfying piece of escapist fiction from the master of crime. I liked it a lot. I just hope that Block is willing and able to keep feeding us the occasional gem – he’s just too good to retire!
So where does this one fit? Well, it’s tempting to bracket it in with his early erotic stuff but then again it’s listed as a hard-case crime novel. In reality it’s a combination of both. Doak Miller (love the name!) is a cop who’s put in his time and is now seeking something else. He takes his police pension and a PI licence to a small town in Florida, where does a few favours for the local police whist he works out what he really wants from life. Then along comes a woman - the girl with the deep blue eyes. I’ll let others delve into the details of the plot, but suffice to say Doak gets caught up in a conundrum concerning the woman he desires, her rich husband and the husband’s girlfriend. You know it’s going to end badly… or will it?
As he schemes and plots, Doak watches old films on TCM such as Double Indemnity and D.O.A. Can he find the perfect way of squaring the circle? It’s all great fun and the whole thing has the feel of one of those great old films but staged in a contemporary setting.
The sex scenes are graphic and might put off some, but they are integral to understanding who Doak is. Overall it’s yet another a satisfying piece of escapist fiction from the master of crime. I liked it a lot. I just hope that Block is willing and able to keep feeding us the occasional gem – he’s just too good to retire!
May 31, 2025
"Murder was easy. The tricky part was getting away with it." -- on page 154
I joked with my lady friend that the usually dependable Hard Case Crime imprint could be referred to as 'Hard-On Crime' with little loss of accuracy in relation to The Girl with the Deep Blue Eyes. A crass punchline? Absolutely. But this noir novel was oddly and wildly obsessed with the unlawful carnal relations between main character Doak Miller - a fortysomething NYPD veteran turned private eye on the Gulf Coast region of Florida - and various local women (including an unhappily married realtor, a pregnant housewife, and especially the trophy spouse of a successful businessman) that he encounters within this crime story. Instead of seeming edgy it was sort of sleazy and ultimately boring, especially when said characters go on extended verbal benders about their fantasies, desires and prior boudoir experiences. Absent those 'sexy' moments, this would otherwise be a very abridged story, which often comes of like a lackluster 21st century version of a classic James M. Cain potboiler like Double Indemnity and/or The Postman Always Rings Twice, both of which are name-checked - or at least their notable 1940's film adaptations - during the plot machinations. (The striking cover art by illustrator Glen Orbik, however, is first rate. Yowza!) Maybe this book should've instead been titled Anything That Moves for all the depicted and/or imagined randy activity.
I joked with my lady friend that the usually dependable Hard Case Crime imprint could be referred to as 'Hard-On Crime' with little loss of accuracy in relation to The Girl with the Deep Blue Eyes. A crass punchline? Absolutely. But this noir novel was oddly and wildly obsessed with the unlawful carnal relations between main character Doak Miller - a fortysomething NYPD veteran turned private eye on the Gulf Coast region of Florida - and various local women (including an unhappily married realtor, a pregnant housewife, and especially the trophy spouse of a successful businessman) that he encounters within this crime story. Instead of seeming edgy it was sort of sleazy and ultimately boring, especially when said characters go on extended verbal benders about their fantasies, desires and prior boudoir experiences. Absent those 'sexy' moments, this would otherwise be a very abridged story, which often comes of like a lackluster 21st century version of a classic James M. Cain potboiler like Double Indemnity and/or The Postman Always Rings Twice, both of which are name-checked - or at least their notable 1940's film adaptations - during the plot machinations. (The striking cover art by illustrator Glen Orbik, however, is first rate. Yowza!) Maybe this book should've instead been titled Anything That Moves for all the depicted and/or imagined randy activity.
August 29, 2020
This story is around hard-core erotica. Less explicitness with more story and character development could have made it better from this usually good author. 4 of 10 stars
October 10, 2015
Doak Miller is a former cop living out his retirement in Florida. Not content to sit on his ass and collect a pension, Doak picks up a P.I. license and takes the odd job that floats his way. When a local sheriff comes to him with a request to impersonate a hit-man to a housewife looking to knock off her bastard of a husband, Doak takes the assignment. But what happens when Doak falls under the spell of his titillating target?
Seeing as Block cut his teeth writing erotic yarns, it isn’t hard to believe he could write such filthy fiction. The smut in here is about as graphic as can be but the scenes don’t feel like filler. Unlike Pelecanos’ The Double, a novel that soured me with what I perceived as unnecessary sex sessions, Block’s book makes good use of the mature material, tying it into Doak and using it to showcase his aggressive nature and desire for violence.
The plot works well within the Hard Case Crime dynamic. Much of the story is spent inside Doak’s mind from a third party narrator giving insight into his sex-crazed ambitions as well as his plan to try and get away with murder. Given HCC’s tendency to showcase scumbags as their novel’s protagonists, Doak fits the mold. That being said, it’s hard not to root for him after discovering the wife’s motive.
Although it took a few days to get through this one, it felt like a quick read. The Girl with the Deep Blue Eyes is something that could easily be devoured in a few hours. I had a hard time putting this one down. As long as Block feels like writing new novels, I’ll keep reading them.
Seeing as Block cut his teeth writing erotic yarns, it isn’t hard to believe he could write such filthy fiction. The smut in here is about as graphic as can be but the scenes don’t feel like filler. Unlike Pelecanos’ The Double, a novel that soured me with what I perceived as unnecessary sex sessions, Block’s book makes good use of the mature material, tying it into Doak and using it to showcase his aggressive nature and desire for violence.
The plot works well within the Hard Case Crime dynamic. Much of the story is spent inside Doak’s mind from a third party narrator giving insight into his sex-crazed ambitions as well as his plan to try and get away with murder. Given HCC’s tendency to showcase scumbags as their novel’s protagonists, Doak fits the mold. That being said, it’s hard not to root for him after discovering the wife’s motive.
Although it took a few days to get through this one, it felt like a quick read. The Girl with the Deep Blue Eyes is something that could easily be devoured in a few hours. I had a hard time putting this one down. As long as Block feels like writing new novels, I’ll keep reading them.
October 6, 2015
Lawrence Block’s newest standalone thriller is both familiar and different. The racy cover, noir plot and seedy setting put it solidly in the category of the prurient paperback pulps of the fifties. Don’t be deceived, though, the story takes place in the 21st century, complete with cell phones, Nancy Grace and gun shows at Georgia high schools. One major difference is the sex. Where most of the fifties pulps merely suggest steamy sex, Block delivers it in a way that his predecessors wouldn’t have dared. To be blunt, if I had received a copy of this book when I was an adolescent, I would have thought I was in Heaven.
Until now, the only Lawrence Bock books that I have read have been part of the Matt Scudder series, which I have really enjoyed. When the Sacred Ginmill Closes is one of my favorite hard-boiled PI books. I usually found Scudder to be a self-aware individual with a keen sense of his own humanity.
In ‘The Girl with the Deep Blue Eyes’, Doak Miller is a horse of a different color. With his marriage and NYPD career circling the drain, he heads south to settle in Florida, living an emotionally desolate life, following the dictates of his smaller head above all others. When asked to participate in a sting operation posing as a hitman, Doak falls hard and betrays the authorities, beginning a torrid affair with a woman who is trying to order a hit on her husband. This plot is about as noir as noir can get, reminiscent of several classics, such as Double Indemnity or The Postman Always Rings Twice. In one scene, Doak gets totally wrapped up watching Double Indemnity, enjoying Barbara Stanwick and Fred MacMurray’s performances but then muses that “The subject matter, of course, may have had something to do with it.”
Bottom line: The plot is proof positive that noir is not dead. The characters may lack any vestige of softness and will never be considered warm and fuzzy Even so, the story is intriguing and indicative of Bock's skill as a writer. I personally wish he had toned down the sex but that is a matter of taste.
WARNING: If you have never watched either version of The Postman Always Rings Twice and don't want to read any spoilers, avoid the second half of chapter 27.
*Quotations are cited from an advanced reading copy and may not be the same as appears in the final published edition. The review book was based on an advanced reading copy obtained at no cost from the publisher in exchange for an unbiased review. While this does take any ‘not worth what I paid for it’ statements out of my review, it otherwise has no impact on the content of my review.
FYI: On a 5-point scale I assign stars based on my assessment of what the book needs in the way of improvements:
• 5 Stars – Nothing at all. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
• 4 Stars – It could stand for a few tweaks here and there but it’s pretty good as it is.
• 3 Stars – A solid C grade. Some serious rewriting would be needed in order for this book to be considered great or memorable.
• 2 Stars – This book needs a lot of work. A good start would be to change the plot, the character development, the writing style and the ending.
• 1 Star - The only thing that would improve this book is a good bonfire.
Until now, the only Lawrence Bock books that I have read have been part of the Matt Scudder series, which I have really enjoyed. When the Sacred Ginmill Closes is one of my favorite hard-boiled PI books. I usually found Scudder to be a self-aware individual with a keen sense of his own humanity.
In ‘The Girl with the Deep Blue Eyes’, Doak Miller is a horse of a different color. With his marriage and NYPD career circling the drain, he heads south to settle in Florida, living an emotionally desolate life, following the dictates of his smaller head above all others. When asked to participate in a sting operation posing as a hitman, Doak falls hard and betrays the authorities, beginning a torrid affair with a woman who is trying to order a hit on her husband. This plot is about as noir as noir can get, reminiscent of several classics, such as Double Indemnity or The Postman Always Rings Twice. In one scene, Doak gets totally wrapped up watching Double Indemnity, enjoying Barbara Stanwick and Fred MacMurray’s performances but then muses that “The subject matter, of course, may have had something to do with it.”
Bottom line: The plot is proof positive that noir is not dead. The characters may lack any vestige of softness and will never be considered warm and fuzzy Even so, the story is intriguing and indicative of Bock's skill as a writer. I personally wish he had toned down the sex but that is a matter of taste.
WARNING: If you have never watched either version of The Postman Always Rings Twice and don't want to read any spoilers, avoid the second half of chapter 27.
*Quotations are cited from an advanced reading copy and may not be the same as appears in the final published edition. The review book was based on an advanced reading copy obtained at no cost from the publisher in exchange for an unbiased review. While this does take any ‘not worth what I paid for it’ statements out of my review, it otherwise has no impact on the content of my review.
FYI: On a 5-point scale I assign stars based on my assessment of what the book needs in the way of improvements:
• 5 Stars – Nothing at all. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
• 4 Stars – It could stand for a few tweaks here and there but it’s pretty good as it is.
• 3 Stars – A solid C grade. Some serious rewriting would be needed in order for this book to be considered great or memorable.
• 2 Stars – This book needs a lot of work. A good start would be to change the plot, the character development, the writing style and the ending.
• 1 Star - The only thing that would improve this book is a good bonfire.
June 12, 2019
This is a pretty good book about an imperfect retired NYPD detective who works as a PI in Florida. He meets his fantasy woman after a life of mundane love and loneliness that comes from only being in contact with work friends. All that changes when he feels awoken from this when he meets a younger damsel in distress who wants out of an unhappy marriage. Only problem is her husband is super rich and once you come from a poor family most people don't want to go back. The unhappy wife and PI can share anything together and even live through each other at times. Now that the fantasy of meeting the perfect girl has happened, it's time for a new fantasy such as living the high life.
The biggest downfall this book, besides the one-time use of a racist word, has is that it won’t be liked by those who don’t like women as the typical “she’s got a great asset so I need to f*** her” attitude from the main male character. The truth is these characters may not be likable but they were recognizable to me (as I know people like the main male and female characters. There was a moment a rape is brought up and the seemingly subtle changes that happened in the wake of it. It was interesting as it showcases the feeling of being trapped not able to escape from a predator. This was something nice to see for an adult instead of a young adult book. It’s not discussed as deeply as it could be but as it’s been repressed it makes sense. For those who don't like graphic sex scenes then avoid this book as there are mentions of sexual touching, anal sex, oral sex, and vaginal sex throughout this book. The last issue I want to bring up is that there are missing words in sentences throughout the book. It’s minor ones such as “be” so you’re able to figure it out, but it bothers me an editor didn’t catch this before the final version was published. Also, why the fudge is “plickaninnies” used by a character!? First time used is one too many! If you’re able to look past the faults in this book then you might like it, but if my warnings sound too much to bear then you can skip this book.
The closest I could explain this experience to someone is that reading this book is like a TV movie one would watch when there is nothing to do but you're pleasantly surprised that it didn't stink. The characters were dull at times but I liked the plot and inner look at the characters minds well enough. Not bad for me starting this book on a bet with my husband.
The biggest downfall this book, besides the one-time use of a racist word, has is that it won’t be liked by those who don’t like women as the typical “she’s got a great asset so I need to f*** her” attitude from the main male character. The truth is these characters may not be likable but they were recognizable to me (as I know people like the main male and female characters. There was a moment a rape is brought up and the seemingly subtle changes that happened in the wake of it. It was interesting as it showcases the feeling of being trapped not able to escape from a predator. This was something nice to see for an adult instead of a young adult book. It’s not discussed as deeply as it could be but as it’s been repressed it makes sense. For those who don't like graphic sex scenes then avoid this book as there are mentions of sexual touching, anal sex, oral sex, and vaginal sex throughout this book. The last issue I want to bring up is that there are missing words in sentences throughout the book. It’s minor ones such as “be” so you’re able to figure it out, but it bothers me an editor didn’t catch this before the final version was published. Also, why the fudge is “plickaninnies” used by a character!? First time used is one too many! If you’re able to look past the faults in this book then you might like it, but if my warnings sound too much to bear then you can skip this book.
The closest I could explain this experience to someone is that reading this book is like a TV movie one would watch when there is nothing to do but you're pleasantly surprised that it didn't stink. The characters were dull at times but I liked the plot and inner look at the characters minds well enough. Not bad for me starting this book on a bet with my husband.
November 16, 2019
Block's Girl With the Deep Blue Eyes takes us on a very different kind of journey, a journey that has us crawling into the sewer holes that form a psychotic killer's mind. That's why this isn't the straight-ahead pulp novel we were expecting.
Doak might be a retired New York City policeman settling down in a small town to do some fishing, but there's more to him than meets the eye, including a more questionable past than we originally think. There are things he's gotten away with in his past and, although he may justify his crimes, you gotta wonder how truthful he's being.
Oh, he's a charmer alright and it doesn't take long before women strip off their wedding rings and pretty much everything else for him. But even adultery isn't quite enough for him. The sex has to eventually become deviant and violent. And, half the time you wonder how much of his encounters are real and how much are the fantasies he has concocted.
Of course, Doak and Lisa have their meet-cute story about how she was going to hire him as a hitman and how he was going to get her on tape for the sheriff. But even that gets twisted and Doak being who he is changed the play. Is she the femme fatale out to finish off her husband or is it really Doak pushing her?
This book is a lightning fast read and can be finished in just a few hours. It's not filled with action in the sense of a guy in the run or shootouts in the street. It's not a bank robbery story. It's a lot slower to develop and there's a kind of psychotic madness that Block teases out of this work. It may be quite titillating with vivid couplings, but there's a lot more beneath the surface. Really enjoyed this one, but it's not at all what I was expecting.
Doak might be a retired New York City policeman settling down in a small town to do some fishing, but there's more to him than meets the eye, including a more questionable past than we originally think. There are things he's gotten away with in his past and, although he may justify his crimes, you gotta wonder how truthful he's being.
Oh, he's a charmer alright and it doesn't take long before women strip off their wedding rings and pretty much everything else for him. But even adultery isn't quite enough for him. The sex has to eventually become deviant and violent. And, half the time you wonder how much of his encounters are real and how much are the fantasies he has concocted.
Of course, Doak and Lisa have their meet-cute story about how she was going to hire him as a hitman and how he was going to get her on tape for the sheriff. But even that gets twisted and Doak being who he is changed the play. Is she the femme fatale out to finish off her husband or is it really Doak pushing her?
This book is a lightning fast read and can be finished in just a few hours. It's not filled with action in the sense of a guy in the run or shootouts in the street. It's not a bank robbery story. It's a lot slower to develop and there's a kind of psychotic madness that Block teases out of this work. It may be quite titillating with vivid couplings, but there's a lot more beneath the surface. Really enjoyed this one, but it's not at all what I was expecting.
March 11, 2018
This is the only book I've ever read that went straight into the garbage can when I was done with it. I tend to keep everything I read. Even the bad ones typically stay on the shelf. If they're just awful, maybe I give them away. But this is the first I can ever remember throwing out.
I'd only ever read one other Lawrence Block book before this, and I liked it. I've recently started getting into some of the pulpy, noir stuff, and so far I've enjoyed everything that I've read from Hard Case. I've heard Block's name often, and I figured this would have to be good.
It's basically misogynistic porn. No one in the story is likable. The protagonist is a sociopath, and the other characters. Well, really, there aren't any other characters, just a string of horribly undeveloped female caricatures. I don't mind sex in books. But this wasn't "sex." This stuff read like the sexual fantasies of a 13 year old boy whose only knowledge of the act comes from his abusive father's secret stash of snuff films. I can get that the character in this book treats women horribly. He's supposed to be a really shitty guy. I just can't get past how poorly the author treats women. Every time the protagonist more or less forces himself on some unsuspecting woman, she winds up loving it and thanking him once the deed is done.
This book made me want to take a very long, hot shower. I kept reading till the end because I thought at some point the author would redeem himself, that there was going to be some plot twist that made sense of it all. Nope. Just shit, then more shit, then more shit.
I'd only ever read one other Lawrence Block book before this, and I liked it. I've recently started getting into some of the pulpy, noir stuff, and so far I've enjoyed everything that I've read from Hard Case. I've heard Block's name often, and I figured this would have to be good.
It's basically misogynistic porn. No one in the story is likable. The protagonist is a sociopath, and the other characters. Well, really, there aren't any other characters, just a string of horribly undeveloped female caricatures. I don't mind sex in books. But this wasn't "sex." This stuff read like the sexual fantasies of a 13 year old boy whose only knowledge of the act comes from his abusive father's secret stash of snuff films. I can get that the character in this book treats women horribly. He's supposed to be a really shitty guy. I just can't get past how poorly the author treats women. Every time the protagonist more or less forces himself on some unsuspecting woman, she winds up loving it and thanking him once the deed is done.
This book made me want to take a very long, hot shower. I kept reading till the end because I thought at some point the author would redeem himself, that there was going to be some plot twist that made sense of it all. Nope. Just shit, then more shit, then more shit.
August 24, 2015
Way more complex than the PI grinds Lawrence Block got me used to in the past, but as enjoyable as ever. THE GIRL WITH THE DEEP BLUE EYES is an erotic noir novel about the wild and reckless desires of lonely men. It might shocks (and perhaps anger) some of the female audiences, but it's as honest and unflinching of a portrayal of male desire as I've ever read. Block's draws a spiderweb of women who are both real and projections of his protagonist Doak Miller's untamed sexuality, which he gets tangled in.
THE GIRL WITH THE DEEP BLUE EYES is both classic noir (like all the noir movies Doak watches in the novel) and a surprisingly contemporary look into male sexuality. The provocative cover is going to turn off some potential readers (and so will the first scene), but it's a novel that's really good and honest at what it does. If I told you I did not recognize myself one bit in Doak Miller, I would be lying through my hat.
THE GIRL WITH THE DEEP BLUE EYES is both classic noir (like all the noir movies Doak watches in the novel) and a surprisingly contemporary look into male sexuality. The provocative cover is going to turn off some potential readers (and so will the first scene), but it's a novel that's really good and honest at what it does. If I told you I did not recognize myself one bit in Doak Miller, I would be lying through my hat.
November 16, 2015
I'm a big Lawrence Block fan but this one was a disappointment. He usually has the ability to make even the most psycho characters interesting and even oddly sympathetic (Ballou in the Scudder series, or Keller in the Hit Man series), but I found the main character in this book repellant and at the same time not all that interesting. I Iiked the use of old Noir films against the story, but it just didn't feel like enough of a story. I know it's a bore as an artist to be asked to do something you've already done, but I would love to see more Scudder or Keller. Also, couldn't help feeling all the sex in the book was just filler to make up for a lack of plot.
November 1, 2015
Makes the writing in Fifty Shade of Grey look like Tolstoy.
November 18, 2015
The Girl with the Deep Blue Eyes is the new book by Lawrence Block.
Doak Miller is a retired cop from New York who has relocated to Florida and spends his time doing P.I work and occasionally helping out the local law enforcement. Then one day Sheriff Radburn asks Miller to pose as a hit man from Jersey. It seems the beautiful wife of a wealthy local might be trying to procure a contract on his life. Miller meets with her and become consumed with her pulchritude and splendor. There is nothing he won’t do for this woman and each step he takes brings him closer and closer to the chilling core of his unhinged true nature.
The value of this tale depends on how much the reader appreciates noir stories told from the point of view of a degenerate character—somebody who is depraved and corrupt, maybe even a killer. I personally lean more towards noir stories that have a moral compass –the detective or investigator who is struggling to bring order and justice to a corrupt situation. Somebody like Block’s own Matthew Scudder. When everyone is acting bad, I find the situations uninteresting and bland. The shocking moments—seducing a married pregnant neighbor or killing an innocent person lose their voltage.
The Girl with the Deep Blue Eyes was not my cup of tea. The story seemed slight, the characters stock, and the sex over-the-top explicit—still it was great to read Block’s wonderful prose and see where the story led me. If you are into the Double Indemnity or Postman Always Rings Twice type of fare injected with steroids (and several STD’s) written by a living master of suspense this would be the book for you!
Doak Miller is a retired cop from New York who has relocated to Florida and spends his time doing P.I work and occasionally helping out the local law enforcement. Then one day Sheriff Radburn asks Miller to pose as a hit man from Jersey. It seems the beautiful wife of a wealthy local might be trying to procure a contract on his life. Miller meets with her and become consumed with her pulchritude and splendor. There is nothing he won’t do for this woman and each step he takes brings him closer and closer to the chilling core of his unhinged true nature.
The value of this tale depends on how much the reader appreciates noir stories told from the point of view of a degenerate character—somebody who is depraved and corrupt, maybe even a killer. I personally lean more towards noir stories that have a moral compass –the detective or investigator who is struggling to bring order and justice to a corrupt situation. Somebody like Block’s own Matthew Scudder. When everyone is acting bad, I find the situations uninteresting and bland. The shocking moments—seducing a married pregnant neighbor or killing an innocent person lose their voltage.
The Girl with the Deep Blue Eyes was not my cup of tea. The story seemed slight, the characters stock, and the sex over-the-top explicit—still it was great to read Block’s wonderful prose and see where the story led me. If you are into the Double Indemnity or Postman Always Rings Twice type of fare injected with steroids (and several STD’s) written by a living master of suspense this would be the book for you!
January 19, 2016
The Girl with the Deep Blue Eyes by Lawrence Block is noire without the concern of censorship. This is the story Raymond Chandler would have told alone in a quiet room, knowing, that not a single one of his publishers would have had the guts to circulate it. The Girl with the Deep Blue Eyes is dark and gritty and sexy and dirty and downright filthy. Yeah I absolutely loved it!
"...Sheriff,' he said. 'How may I serve the good people if Gallatin County?'
'Now that's what I ask myself every hour of every day. You'll never believe the answer came back to me first thing this morning.'
'Try me.'
'Hire a hit man.'
'So you thought of me..."
Doak Miller was a private eye in a laid back little town in Florida. He cashed out of the NYPD after giving then 24 years and moved away. Now he does odd jobs for Insurance companies and the odd bit of work for the local police. Like wearing a wire and posing as a hit man.
Lisa Otterbein is the young wife of a much older wealthy man and she is ready to leave her husband. The problem is that iron clad pre-nuptial agreement he had her sign. Lisa has been poor before, very poor and she doesn't want to go back to that again. Not after everything she has gone through, so there seems to be only one answer. One night she asks a man if knows a man who could have kill someone for her.
So the plan was simple. Pose as the hit man and get her to say something incriminating on tape. Simple. But nothing is ever simple for Doak and when he sees Lisa he falls hard, submerged into her deep blue eyes. Now he is plotting and working to get her free from her husband, safe from the cops and finding a way to put millions of dollars into her hands. But at what price to him and others and can he really trust the girl with the deep blue eyes?
I know this is a "...Hard Case Crime.." novel and Block has begun his career writing soft core porn but nothing really prepared me for this tale of desire and inner demons.
"...Here's what you have to know. I liked it.'
'You liked-'
'I liked the feeling. I liked pulling the trigger, I liked watching the man die. It was like coming.'
'Honestly?'
'I don't know if I can describe it properly. It was like an orgasm..."
Reading this book was like watching Kathleen Turner in Body Heat for the first time but only shot full access. It was porn and it was a crime novel. It was uninhibited. A dark and sexy ride through the psyche of a good cop gone terribly bad. Doak's desires don't just get the best of him. They decimate him. All that was once darkness within him comes pouring out and all that matters, all he cares about is the girl with the deep blue eyes and making her his. He doesn't even want the money. He just wants her.
Block absolutely nails it with this one. Some people may get unsettled but I say sometimes you need to leave your sensibilities aside and just get you hands dirty.
A dark, dirty and nasty ride. Just plain fun!
"...Sheriff,' he said. 'How may I serve the good people if Gallatin County?'
'Now that's what I ask myself every hour of every day. You'll never believe the answer came back to me first thing this morning.'
'Try me.'
'Hire a hit man.'
'So you thought of me..."
Doak Miller was a private eye in a laid back little town in Florida. He cashed out of the NYPD after giving then 24 years and moved away. Now he does odd jobs for Insurance companies and the odd bit of work for the local police. Like wearing a wire and posing as a hit man.
Lisa Otterbein is the young wife of a much older wealthy man and she is ready to leave her husband. The problem is that iron clad pre-nuptial agreement he had her sign. Lisa has been poor before, very poor and she doesn't want to go back to that again. Not after everything she has gone through, so there seems to be only one answer. One night she asks a man if knows a man who could have kill someone for her.
So the plan was simple. Pose as the hit man and get her to say something incriminating on tape. Simple. But nothing is ever simple for Doak and when he sees Lisa he falls hard, submerged into her deep blue eyes. Now he is plotting and working to get her free from her husband, safe from the cops and finding a way to put millions of dollars into her hands. But at what price to him and others and can he really trust the girl with the deep blue eyes?
I know this is a "...Hard Case Crime.." novel and Block has begun his career writing soft core porn but nothing really prepared me for this tale of desire and inner demons.
"...Here's what you have to know. I liked it.'
'You liked-'
'I liked the feeling. I liked pulling the trigger, I liked watching the man die. It was like coming.'
'Honestly?'
'I don't know if I can describe it properly. It was like an orgasm..."
Reading this book was like watching Kathleen Turner in Body Heat for the first time but only shot full access. It was porn and it was a crime novel. It was uninhibited. A dark and sexy ride through the psyche of a good cop gone terribly bad. Doak's desires don't just get the best of him. They decimate him. All that was once darkness within him comes pouring out and all that matters, all he cares about is the girl with the deep blue eyes and making her his. He doesn't even want the money. He just wants her.
Block absolutely nails it with this one. Some people may get unsettled but I say sometimes you need to leave your sensibilities aside and just get you hands dirty.
A dark, dirty and nasty ride. Just plain fun!
October 9, 2015
Murder was easy. The tricky part was getting away with it.
Doak Miller is a retired NYPD cop spending his golden years in sunny Florida. He keeps himself in the game a bit by occasionally doing favors for the local sheriff's office.
His latest assignment is wearing a wire to incriminate a woman who wants to do away with her husband. But it just so happens that that woman in question is the girl of Doak's dreams and not only does he help her to not incriminate herself, but he begins a relationship with her that leads to his working out just if and how the husband should be killed.
The latest entry in the Hard Case Crime series, Lawrence Block's The Girl With the Deep Blue Eyes is everything that a reader has come to expect. A sexy cover, a hard-boiled protagonist and a fem fatale. The fact that Doak is carrying on affairs with not only the title character but two other women only helps to underscore his role as the noir lead.
Told in quick chapters, Girl is not for the faint of heart. This novel is an homage to pulp fiction at its best -- lurid, quick to read and full of all kinds of graphic details that aren't normally discussed in polite company. If you're squeamish about adults acting like adults (for good and bad), then this book probably isn't for you.
At multiple points in the story, Doak takes in a few classic noir films that have people trying to get away with murder and always getting caught. These sequences seem to be Block calling upon a shared vocabulary for this type of story and it helps us see how he's trying to not only pay homage to it but give it a bit of a new twist in this story.
Not for the faint of heart, The Girl With the Deep Blue Eyes is gritty, raw and compelling.
I've not read a lot of Block's previous works but after reading this one, I'm intrigued to look at his extensive back catalog and see what other gems are there.
Doak Miller is a retired NYPD cop spending his golden years in sunny Florida. He keeps himself in the game a bit by occasionally doing favors for the local sheriff's office.
His latest assignment is wearing a wire to incriminate a woman who wants to do away with her husband. But it just so happens that that woman in question is the girl of Doak's dreams and not only does he help her to not incriminate herself, but he begins a relationship with her that leads to his working out just if and how the husband should be killed.
The latest entry in the Hard Case Crime series, Lawrence Block's The Girl With the Deep Blue Eyes is everything that a reader has come to expect. A sexy cover, a hard-boiled protagonist and a fem fatale. The fact that Doak is carrying on affairs with not only the title character but two other women only helps to underscore his role as the noir lead.
Told in quick chapters, Girl is not for the faint of heart. This novel is an homage to pulp fiction at its best -- lurid, quick to read and full of all kinds of graphic details that aren't normally discussed in polite company. If you're squeamish about adults acting like adults (for good and bad), then this book probably isn't for you.
At multiple points in the story, Doak takes in a few classic noir films that have people trying to get away with murder and always getting caught. These sequences seem to be Block calling upon a shared vocabulary for this type of story and it helps us see how he's trying to not only pay homage to it but give it a bit of a new twist in this story.
Not for the faint of heart, The Girl With the Deep Blue Eyes is gritty, raw and compelling.
I've not read a lot of Block's previous works but after reading this one, I'm intrigued to look at his extensive back catalog and see what other gems are there.
November 18, 2016
A retired cop turned small town PI poses as a hitman to ward off a potential murder, only to fall for the girl commissioning the hit (against her husband). Having donned the killer for hire persona previously to aid the local law in a semi-sting, Doak Miller didn’t bargain for what sashayed up to his car door on his latest assignment; Lisa, a housewife, who’d had enough of her husband (and with good reason).
Doak is a either a hopeless romantic or delusional boarding on sex obsessed. He lives in hope of meeting his fantasy girl – the one he’ll fall head over boots for, while, in the meantime sticking it to the local real-estate agent and also a married pregnant women in-between his search. Even after he meets Lisa, the perfect fit for his fantasy, he continues his sexual escapades making The Girl with the Deep Blue Eyes more sleaze pulp than PI – and that’s just fine.
As with any Lawrence Block book, the dialogue is sharp and there is little page time wasted, though there were passages of The Girl With the Deep Blue Eyes which made the story feel like it was wading through water – not enough to detract from the overall enjoyment of the book.
The Girl with the Depp Blue Eyes is right at home is a great addition to the Hard Case Crime books.
Doak is a either a hopeless romantic or delusional boarding on sex obsessed. He lives in hope of meeting his fantasy girl – the one he’ll fall head over boots for, while, in the meantime sticking it to the local real-estate agent and also a married pregnant women in-between his search. Even after he meets Lisa, the perfect fit for his fantasy, he continues his sexual escapades making The Girl with the Deep Blue Eyes more sleaze pulp than PI – and that’s just fine.
As with any Lawrence Block book, the dialogue is sharp and there is little page time wasted, though there were passages of The Girl With the Deep Blue Eyes which made the story feel like it was wading through water – not enough to detract from the overall enjoyment of the book.
The Girl with the Depp Blue Eyes is right at home is a great addition to the Hard Case Crime books.
November 6, 2015
If you enjoyed Double Indemnity but thought it would be better with "butt sex", then this is the book for you.
June 10, 2025
Lawrence Block does Double Indemnity by way of Wild Things. Ok I guess that’s technically Body Heat but Block is satirizing lust in a similar spirit to WT. A fun late period effort of his that harkens back to his earlier work.
March 2, 2016
Retired NYPD detective “Doak” Miller left his job for sunny small-town Florida, supplementing his pension as a part-time PI, performing background checks, routine insurance inquiries, and every so often, undercover work for the local Sheriff’s office, which is where the story begins. It is a fast read, and I read it in a little over four hours.
The wife of a wealthy businessman is looking to have her husband killed. The Sheriff wants Doak to play the part of hitman, get it on tape when she hires him to kill her husband, and accept a $1,000 earnest payment. Doak agrees until he sees the woman, and calls everything off. Her deep blue eyes do him in.
The Girl with the Deep Blue Eyes is short, written with a stark flair, and remarkably complicated. It is Doak Miller’s story, intimately told. The girl’s backstory is told as narrative cleverly disguised as dialogue, and it works.
Doak is devious, criminal, selfish, and, as the novel develops, his amoral character is expertly revealed. He is clearly a man already fallen. His destruction is self-inflicted, and the blue-eyed woman is the tool he chooses to use to destroy himself. In an homage to Jonathan Cain, it is a skewed version Double Indemnity, but here, the man is predator and the woman his willing accomplice. The book admirably plays off the old black and white film noir without losing its own identity and interest. Its plotting is disturbing because nothing is out of place or unresolved. There is an extremely heavy dose of erotica (at a level I was not expecting – this is pulp noir after all) and not a single likable character.
I really like and enjoy these books from the Hard Case Crime imprint, reprinting many of the out-of-publication classics, and interspersing them with new works by authors like Block, Stephen King, and many others. This one fits in perfectly amongst the classics: it’s sassy and dirty like you would expect.
The wife of a wealthy businessman is looking to have her husband killed. The Sheriff wants Doak to play the part of hitman, get it on tape when she hires him to kill her husband, and accept a $1,000 earnest payment. Doak agrees until he sees the woman, and calls everything off. Her deep blue eyes do him in.
The Girl with the Deep Blue Eyes is short, written with a stark flair, and remarkably complicated. It is Doak Miller’s story, intimately told. The girl’s backstory is told as narrative cleverly disguised as dialogue, and it works.
Doak is devious, criminal, selfish, and, as the novel develops, his amoral character is expertly revealed. He is clearly a man already fallen. His destruction is self-inflicted, and the blue-eyed woman is the tool he chooses to use to destroy himself. In an homage to Jonathan Cain, it is a skewed version Double Indemnity, but here, the man is predator and the woman his willing accomplice. The book admirably plays off the old black and white film noir without losing its own identity and interest. Its plotting is disturbing because nothing is out of place or unresolved. There is an extremely heavy dose of erotica (at a level I was not expecting – this is pulp noir after all) and not a single likable character.
I really like and enjoy these books from the Hard Case Crime imprint, reprinting many of the out-of-publication classics, and interspersing them with new works by authors like Block, Stephen King, and many others. This one fits in perfectly amongst the classics: it’s sassy and dirty like you would expect.
October 8, 2018
The Girl with the Deep Blue Eyes is a new original novel by Mystery Writer's of America Grandmaster Lawrence Block. As far as I know all of Block's other Hard Case Crime works have been reprints of obscure novels originally written by him under various pseudonyms over a many decades long career, so this was something special. The perfect read for noir Sunday. Delighted to report the end of this book genuinely surprised me. This was fast paced and owed a lot to Double Indemnity and The Postman Always Rings Twice but Block is clever enough to find a way to freely tip the hat to those noir classics and a few others as well. Good stuff.
October 7, 2015
10 chapters was 10 to many to read
I gave up on reading this book after 10 chapters. I found the writing style to be tedious and at times annoying. The so-called background filler information on the main character was obnoxious, puerile , and the so-called sex scenes infantile and childish. Unfortunately, I accidentally purchased this book when I thought I had sent just a sample to my Kindle reader. I wish I had sent the sample correctly, instead of accidentally buying the book.
I gave up on reading this book after 10 chapters. I found the writing style to be tedious and at times annoying. The so-called background filler information on the main character was obnoxious, puerile , and the so-called sex scenes infantile and childish. Unfortunately, I accidentally purchased this book when I thought I had sent just a sample to my Kindle reader. I wish I had sent the sample correctly, instead of accidentally buying the book.
April 17, 2023
A quality pulp crime novel.
Hard Case Crime has become an imprint I read on sight and this book did nothing but reinforce that notion.
Here Lawrence Block does what he does best. Sleek, sexy, sleazy writing with plenty of violence and plenty of classic crime tropes thrown in for good measure.
A fun and exciting pulp crime novel.
Note: My original review vanished into thin air so you'll have to make do with this thrown-together effort.
Hard Case Crime has become an imprint I read on sight and this book did nothing but reinforce that notion.
Here Lawrence Block does what he does best. Sleek, sexy, sleazy writing with plenty of violence and plenty of classic crime tropes thrown in for good measure.
A fun and exciting pulp crime novel.
Note: My original review vanished into thin air so you'll have to make do with this thrown-together effort.
March 23, 2022
A hard boiled noir tale with a LOT of kinky sex! I've read Lawrence Block's Matt Scudder series but this standalone is a work of good old fashioned pulp fiction at its finest..
November 23, 2015
There were many things to like in this new novel by Lawrence Block. I will start by admitting my bias: Block's Matthew Scudder series is my favorite private investigator series ever.
What distinguishes this novel is the character development of the main character Doak Miller, the delightful movie list Block provides the reader by means of having Doak watching a series of classic film noir movies, and the rather explicit sex scenes. I have to admit these scenes reminded me of some of the films where attractive nubile young women fall in love with older men made by aging French directors, fulfilling the fantasy life of the author.
I am still wondering about the ending of the book, but I think it works as a twist on the film noir convention.
What distinguishes this novel is the character development of the main character Doak Miller, the delightful movie list Block provides the reader by means of having Doak watching a series of classic film noir movies, and the rather explicit sex scenes. I have to admit these scenes reminded me of some of the films where attractive nubile young women fall in love with older men made by aging French directors, fulfilling the fantasy life of the author.
I am still wondering about the ending of the book, but I think it works as a twist on the film noir convention.
March 1, 2022
A modern day noir that lacks the mystery, intrigue and charm of the stories that take place in the more classic era. The overall story arc is as straightforward and is as by the numbers as it gets. For a short read, it felt like it took longer than it should’ve to get the ball rolling and the lack of likable or rather interesting characters made it difficult to feel engaged.
Also, I enjoy some sex romps in my stories but some of the stuff that took place here just felt off and came across as kind of forced.
I did enjoy the ending though, that much I can say.
Also, I enjoy some sex romps in my stories but some of the stuff that took place here just felt off and came across as kind of forced.
I did enjoy the ending though, that much I can say.
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