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Alo Nudger #2
Nightlines
In spite of his loathing for murder cases, private investigator Alo Nudger takes on a case that draws him into the late-night telephone subculture of St. Louis in search of the psychopathic killer who brutally murdered his client's twin sister. Reprint.
- GenresMystery
282 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1984
5 people are currently reading
93 people want to read
About the author
John Lutz
234 books300 followersLibrarian’s note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
John Lutz has captivated suspense enthusiasts for over four decades. He has been one of the premier voices in contemporary hard-boiled fiction. His work includes political suspense, private eye novels, urban suspense, humor, occult, crime caper, police procedural, espionage, historical, futuristic, amateur detective, thriller; virtually every mystery sub-genre. John Lutz published his first short story in 1966 in Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine and has been publishing regularly ever since. He is the author of more than fifty novels and 250 short stories and articles.
His novels and short fiction have been translated into virtually every language and adapted for almost every medium. He is a past president of both Mystery Writers of America and Private Eye Writers of America. Among his awards are the MWA Edgar, the PWA Shamus, The Trophee 813 Award for best mystery short story collection translated into the French language, the PWA Life Achievement Award, and the Short Mystery Fiction Society's Golden Derringer Lifetime Achievement Award.
He is the author of two private eye series, the Nudger series, set in his home town of St. Louis, and the Carver series, set in Florida, as well as many non-series suspense novels. His SWF SEEKS SAME was made into the hit movie SINGLE WHITE FEMALE, starring Bridget Fonda and Jennifer Jason Leigh, and his novel THE EX was made into the HBO original movie of the same title, for which he co-authored the screenplay.
Lutz and his wife, Barbara, split their time between St. Louis and Sarasota, Florida.
John Lutz has captivated suspense enthusiasts for over four decades. He has been one of the premier voices in contemporary hard-boiled fiction. His work includes political suspense, private eye novels, urban suspense, humor, occult, crime caper, police procedural, espionage, historical, futuristic, amateur detective, thriller; virtually every mystery sub-genre. John Lutz published his first short story in 1966 in Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine and has been publishing regularly ever since. He is the author of more than fifty novels and 250 short stories and articles.
His novels and short fiction have been translated into virtually every language and adapted for almost every medium. He is a past president of both Mystery Writers of America and Private Eye Writers of America. Among his awards are the MWA Edgar, the PWA Shamus, The Trophee 813 Award for best mystery short story collection translated into the French language, the PWA Life Achievement Award, and the Short Mystery Fiction Society's Golden Derringer Lifetime Achievement Award.
He is the author of two private eye series, the Nudger series, set in his home town of St. Louis, and the Carver series, set in Florida, as well as many non-series suspense novels. His SWF SEEKS SAME was made into the hit movie SINGLE WHITE FEMALE, starring Bridget Fonda and Jennifer Jason Leigh, and his novel THE EX was made into the HBO original movie of the same title, for which he co-authored the screenplay.
Lutz and his wife, Barbara, split their time between St. Louis and Sarasota, Florida.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 12 reviews
October 8, 2011
The twin of a murdered woman hires Nudger to track down her murderer, a possible serial killer. But why is her mother trying to keep Nudger from his investigation?
Nightlines is a pretty good crime/mystery story. While part of it is solvable by the reader, it still caught napping. Parts of it are hilariously dated. The plot hinges on people using phone company service lines to hook up with strangers. Nudger uses a payphone several times. I can't talk that much about the plot without spoiling too much of it. It's a fairly standard "catch the killer before he kills again" plot but with some added wrinkles and a couple twists at the end.
There are a couple aspects of the book I enjoyed immensely. Primarily, the character of Nudger is what sold the book for me. Nudger's not your typical detective. His office is above a donut shop. He's lonely and scared a lot of the time. He doesn't carry a gun. He chews antacid tablets constantly. He throws up at crime scenes. And he's not the guy the bombshells go for. He's got so little going for him that I wanted to buy him a beer or give him a hug. His relationship with Claudia was really touching and believably done.
The other part of the book I really dug is that John Lutz is on his way to making St. Louis as much a character in the book as New York is in Lawrence Block's Matthew Scudder series. When Nudger complains about the traffic on 270 or talks about taking 44 to 55 and getting off on Memorial, it makes me smile. I'm not even that familiar with St. Louis and I recognized a lot of the places Nudger goes on his investigation. At one point, Nudger was on Kingshighway and I kept hoping he'd stop at Uncle Bill's Pancake House for lunch.
I've mentioned Lawrence Block's Matthew Scudder in connection with Nudger a few times. They have a lot of similarities, both coming from tragic pasts, but I think Nudger may be a bit easier to relate to. If they were both stray dogs, Matthew Scudder would be the one you're afraid to pet while Nudger would be the one that's had the shit kicked out of it too many times and you feel sorry for it and give it the rest of your ham sandwich.
If you're looking for good detective yarn, Nudger's got what you need. Just don't expect him to be a superhero. He's more like the guy you let crash on your couch.
Nightlines is a pretty good crime/mystery story. While part of it is solvable by the reader, it still caught napping. Parts of it are hilariously dated. The plot hinges on people using phone company service lines to hook up with strangers. Nudger uses a payphone several times. I can't talk that much about the plot without spoiling too much of it. It's a fairly standard "catch the killer before he kills again" plot but with some added wrinkles and a couple twists at the end.
There are a couple aspects of the book I enjoyed immensely. Primarily, the character of Nudger is what sold the book for me. Nudger's not your typical detective. His office is above a donut shop. He's lonely and scared a lot of the time. He doesn't carry a gun. He chews antacid tablets constantly. He throws up at crime scenes. And he's not the guy the bombshells go for. He's got so little going for him that I wanted to buy him a beer or give him a hug. His relationship with Claudia was really touching and believably done.
The other part of the book I really dug is that John Lutz is on his way to making St. Louis as much a character in the book as New York is in Lawrence Block's Matthew Scudder series. When Nudger complains about the traffic on 270 or talks about taking 44 to 55 and getting off on Memorial, it makes me smile. I'm not even that familiar with St. Louis and I recognized a lot of the places Nudger goes on his investigation. At one point, Nudger was on Kingshighway and I kept hoping he'd stop at Uncle Bill's Pancake House for lunch.
I've mentioned Lawrence Block's Matthew Scudder in connection with Nudger a few times. They have a lot of similarities, both coming from tragic pasts, but I think Nudger may be a bit easier to relate to. If they were both stray dogs, Matthew Scudder would be the one you're afraid to pet while Nudger would be the one that's had the shit kicked out of it too many times and you feel sorry for it and give it the rest of your ham sandwich.
If you're looking for good detective yarn, Nudger's got what you need. Just don't expect him to be a superhero. He's more like the guy you let crash on your couch.
April 5, 2012
My 1st Nudger novel - really enjoyed it! Vivid use of St. Louis as the setting, including a nice Busch Stadium mention. Not your typical Detective, Alo doesn't carry a gun, deals with stomach problems constantly, and, more often than not, runs from toughs that are after him (including his persistent alimony-seeking ex-wife). Glad that Lutz is concise, my favorite mysteries run about 200 pages.
June 29, 2023
Nightlines is a fun medium-boiled private eye novel with an atypical protagonist, Alo Nudger. Nudger has a bad stomach, feels fear (almost all of the time), and he doesn't carry, or even own a gun. The mystery, which is centered on the search for a serial killer, is well-plotted and surprising. The real treat of Nightlines, however, is its focus on the characters, their psychologies, motives, and eccentricities.
December 26, 2021
A story about a non-stereotypical detective. I very much needed that in my life. As the author said in the end of the book, the plot was unique at the time it was written. I get a lot of influences between Alfred Hitchcock’s works which is the Vertigo to be specific (even how I imagined it, it’s cinematically a Hitchcock film & a little bit of David Lynch’s Blue Velvet). It started off giving me a very detective serious & mysterious vibes where the main character is very much like a literal detective but he wasn’t, he’s sick, afraid but willing to take risks & a genius guy. Exploring the endless void their city faces was such a rollercoaster ride.
I love how specific the description of clothing (like really!!) and scenes are between takes of each slow paced part. Also have a brilliant vocabulary and technique.
Underrated piece.
Smelled like rain, sun, sweat, antacid & corpse. Felt very motioned and busy.
But— there are way too many characters and unnecessary words, too long and slow paced.
Final rating: 3.5
I love how specific the description of clothing (like really!!) and scenes are between takes of each slow paced part. Also have a brilliant vocabulary and technique.
Underrated piece.
Smelled like rain, sun, sweat, antacid & corpse. Felt very motioned and busy.
But— there are way too many characters and unnecessary words, too long and slow paced.
Final rating: 3.5
August 30, 2015
PROTAGONIST: PI Alo Nudger
SETTING: St. Louis, Missouri
SERIES: #2 of 11
RATING: 4.0
WHY: St. Louis PI Alo Nudger is hired by Jeanette Boyington to find the killer of her twin sister, Jenine. She is convinced that a mass murderer is at work, one that the police don't know about. Jenine was a user of a system of special nightlines used by the phone company to test equipment which are used by lonely people make contact with one another in the wee hours. After going on the nightlines, Nudger believes she may be right. Several characters really stand out, including Jeanette's mother and a police lieutenant who was a former colleague. Nudger is a bit of a wise guy, but he has a tender heart. He connects on the nightlines to a woman considering suicide, and how he handles it is remarkable. The ending of the book was terrific; often the conclusion of a book is not very satisfying but that's not the case here.
SETTING: St. Louis, Missouri
SERIES: #2 of 11
RATING: 4.0
WHY: St. Louis PI Alo Nudger is hired by Jeanette Boyington to find the killer of her twin sister, Jenine. She is convinced that a mass murderer is at work, one that the police don't know about. Jenine was a user of a system of special nightlines used by the phone company to test equipment which are used by lonely people make contact with one another in the wee hours. After going on the nightlines, Nudger believes she may be right. Several characters really stand out, including Jeanette's mother and a police lieutenant who was a former colleague. Nudger is a bit of a wise guy, but he has a tender heart. He connects on the nightlines to a woman considering suicide, and how he handles it is remarkable. The ending of the book was terrific; often the conclusion of a book is not very satisfying but that's not the case here.
May 23, 2014
A 3.5, really.
August 27, 2014
St. Louis private eye Alo Nudger investigates the murder of a twin.
March 28, 2015
Meh. Interesting (if now outdated) plot but stupid ending and overall left me disappointed. Not a total waste of time but definitely wouldn't recommend it.
November 4, 2016
This is the Alo Nudger style I better remember. It's not great literature (although well-written), but Nudger is way up there on my list of favorite detectives.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 12 reviews