Terror Town

Abe Lieberman #9

by Stuart M. Kaminsky

Carl Zwick is an aging Chicago Cubs baseball player. Sometimes he feels like he's spent his life hitting into double plays, but he's finally gotten onto the right track. Then tragedy strikes him out.

Anita Mills is a pretty single black mother just trying to get by. A random act of brutality in one of Chicago's rougher neighborhoods permanently ends her struggle.

Richard Allen Smith walks the streets of ChiTown saying God has sent him. He has an unusual, rather nasty way of getting converts to see the light.

What do these people have in common?

Nothing, it would seem, except they are all part of Detective Abe Lieberman's very long day. Lieberman, a sad, baggy-eyed spaniel of a man with the patience of Job and the wisdom of Solomon is trying his best to make his beloved Chicago a better place.

But when Lieberman and his partner, Bill Hanrahan, encounter these three very different situations they find that there are ties that bind and ties that can cut a man's heart out. Abe Lieberman faces a Gordian knot that he must somehow untangle—and if he makes a mistake, someone very near to him could die.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Crime

272 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 24, 2006

About the author

Stuart M. Kaminsky wrote 50 published novels, 5 biographies, 4 textbooks and 35 short stories. He also has screenwriting credits on four produced films including ONCE UPON A TIME IN AMERICA, ENEMY TERRITORY, A WOMAN IN THE WIND and HIDDEN FEARS. He was a past president of the Mystery Writers of America and was nominated for six prestigious Edgar Allen Poe Awards including one for his short story “Snow” in 1999. He won an Edgar for his novel A COLD RED SUNRISE, which was also awarded the Prix De Roman D’Aventure of France. He was nominated for both a Shamus Award and a McCavity Readers Choice Award.

Kaminsky wrote several popular series including those featuring Lew Fonesca, Abraham Lieberman, Inspector Porfiry Petrovich Rostnikov, and Toby Peters. He also wrote two original "Rockford Files " novels. He was the 50th annual recipient of the Grandmaster 2006 for Lifetime Achievement from the Mystery Writers of America.

Received the Shamus Award, "The Eye" (Lifetime achievement award) in 2007.

His nonfiction books including BASIC FILMMAKING, WRITING FOR TELEVISION, AMERICAN FILM GENRES, and biographies of GARY COOPER, CLINT EASTWOOD, JOHN HUSTON and DON SIEGEL. BEHIND THE MYSTERY was published by Hot House Press in 2005 and nominated by Mystery Writers of America for Best Critical/Biographical book in 2006.

Kaminsky held a B.S. in Journalism and an M.A. in English from The University of Illinois and a Ph.D. in Speech from Northwestern University where he taught for 16 years before becoming a Professor at Florida State. where he headed the Graduate Conservatory in Film and Television Production. He left Florida State in 1994 to pursue full-time writing.

Kaminsky and his wife, Enid Perll, moved to St. Louis, Missouri in March 2009 to await a liver transplant to treat the hepatitis he contracted as an army medic in the late 1950s in France. He suffered a stroke two days after their arrival in St. Louis, which made him ineligible for a transplant. He died on October 9, 2009.

Reviews

[Eric_W · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another excellent Kaminsky novel, this one from the Abe Lieberman series. There are multiple plots, one involving a pseudo-crazy born-again who has created a nifty extortion racket, another featuring Abe's partner, Bill Hanrahan, which has a neat twist at the end, and the third, also with twist I certainly didn't see coming, involving detective Alan DuPree (who is also featured in a Lou Fonesca novel I'm reading.) In that case a prominent African-American is linked to the killing of one of his employees. Nifty resolution to that one.

Abe is the perpetual Monk-like character: five-seven, weighed a possible 140 on a good day, he wore a nearly perpetual look of resignation on his spaniel face." His wife worries constantly about his cholesterol and so everything he likes to eat is forbidden. He partners with an Irishman, Bill Hanrahan with whom he has a loyal and humorous relationship. Abe is the rabbi; Hanrahan the priest, as they refer to each other. Both are raising second families and Abe's daughter Lisa has a prickly relationship with her dad.

A constant, so far at least, is the strong family life of each of the characters, refreshing to say the least.

[Mark · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was my first encounter with Kaminsky and his iconic Jewish cop, Abe Lieberman. I actually enjoyed much of the non-crime writing in this -- the family scenes at Lieberman's home, the breakfasts at the deli with the garrulous alter cockers and the back stories of some of the characters.

But the story -- how can I put this without spoiler alerts? I had problems with the resolution of both the main plots. The first involves a mentally ill stalker who beats his victims with a coke bottle. The second involves the killing of a young mother and her connection to a powerful businessman in the African American community. In both cases, Kaminsky uses heavy handed misdirection to resolve these two stories, in ways I thought were neither realistic nor respectful of cop morals or attitudes toward mental illness.

And as they say on one of my cooking shows, "for those reasons, we had to chop you."

[Jeanette · Rating 3 out of 5]

Changes but if anything variable from the others in the series, this one does seem to have a higher body count. We have a perp who is killing people by hitting them (without provocation at times) with a heavy glass pop bottle as produced in the day/era. From behind and usually unseen. But there are at least 3 other cases being worked on for other murderous escapades. Or assaults.

Also a girl from 3 books ago's murder was solved in serendipity to some of the other cases here and now. Le Perro's knife man of former books has his demise and funeral too. All happy news all along!

This one had too much repetition for both Abe's and Hanrahan's past situations than I like to handle. So there was points that I sped read. Iris shoots too. And another finishes him off police side.

This is the first one where I felt deeply that Kaminsky needs to move/age/progress these primes or quit the series with some finalities. Some writers can do that to excellence. This one doesn't. But he gets the ambiance of police work, humor in tragedy, and multitudes of flawed people in weird (different languages, races, loyalties, belief systems and 100 other aspects) juxtapositions quite well. And also close to real.

Lisa is such a self-centered dirge that I can't believe she is pregnant. Not a good record for the kids she has already. And Iris? That is not believable. Not then and not for a first.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favorite author with multiple series, all of which are terrific stories. This one was published 3 years before Kaminsky's death and is the next to last of the Abe Lieberman series. Lieberman is a Chicago police detective nicknamed "Rabbi" and whose partner is Bill Hanrahan, nicknamed "Father." He is world-weary and -wise, and his life is remarkably normal, from his dysfunctional relationship with his daughter to his preference for foods that are decidedly not good for him. In this novel, he and Hanrahan are in search of a homeless lunatic who is stalking an ex-Cub as well as Hanrahan's pregnant wife, for unclear reasons. Also involved is the shooting death of a young black woman who is gunned down while holding her infant daughter, and the circumstances of that killing lead to four more murders and a successful black entrepreneur in the black community. After unexpected twists the crimes are solved and evil-doers held (mostly) accountable. Wonderful story-telling by a master writer.

[John Yingling · Rating 5 out of 5]

With Terror Town, I have finished all 10 books in the Abe Lieberman mystery series, so I must reluctantly say goodbye to Abe, his wife Bess, his daughter Lisa, his grandchildren Barry and Melissa, his policeman partner Bill Hanrahan, his brother Maish, the congregation at his temple, and the group of friends at Maish's diner. The stories were realistic, gritty, and yet with plenty of heart and soul, and Abe himself was a fascinating character, with a sardonic sense of humor and a doggedness as an investigator, willing to bend the rules slightly to see justice served, and also being a very loving presence to everyone in his close-knit family. Bill was his equal as a character, haunted by his one big mistake, missing his "what might have been" football career, mourning the breakup of his marriage and his estrangement from his sons, but at the same time being a first-rate policeman, a dedicated cop and a man willing to put his heart on the line in the name of romance. This was a consistently excellent series, and I will miss not having more to read.

[Kellie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love this series. I really like the characters and the Chicago setting and the law enforcement plot is always interesting.
This book, didn't grab me like the others. There were 3 plots going on. A baseball player is being stalked by his previous attacker. A woman is killed in the street after she withdrew a bunch of money from the bank and a crazy religious man is picked up for harassment.
Of course Abe and Bill are deeply involved in all the cases. Plus, you learn more about their private lives. In this one, Maish has a heart attack. He has bypass surgery and survives. Abe's daughter Lisa comes home from California pregnant. Maybe her and Abe can mend their relationship? We are left hanging at the end knowing it's a possibility.
I always enjoy reading this series. This just wasn't my favorite.
I am sad. I think there is only one book left. I may try some of the other books by this author because I don't want to let him go.

[Rob Smith, Jr. · Rating 4 out of 5]

What the last 3 Spillane books lacked, Kaminsky's got. This book brings you in quick. I found myself engrossed and understanding the story qand curious to it's end. Something I never experienced in all 3 Spillane novels.

This volume is also better than the last Kaminsly 'be Lieberman' mystery I read. More focused on the plot and writing than wandering into side family issues. There were a few of those here, but lightly touched. The plotting is a mite messy in presentation, which I didn't understand until the end. Kaminsky should have thought out parts a little bit better.

Dialogue was really good as a wide variety of characters are covered. So were the settings, which are also wide ranging. The ending is a surprise and, unlike the 3 Spillanes, i didn't see it coming.

Bottom line: i recommend this book. 7 out of ten points.

[James S. · Rating 2 out of 5]

I like Kaminsky and I like Lieberman, but this one comes near the end (the author died 3 years later), and it shows. Much of it is a rehash from earlier novels.

Finally, I don't like the backstory behind Hanrahan and Lieberman - ie, the fact that both of them have estranged children that they make little effort to understand or empathize with (especially Lieberman). Usually when adults become estranged from their parents, there are very good reasons behind it. Here, though, it's presented as if it's the children's fault: a perspective natural, perhaps, given Kaminsky's advanced age at the time he wrote this, but nevertheless a perspective that leaves me uneasy about the two protagonists of this novel.

[Denver Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was all set up to hit a fastball! Then along comes this pitcher that throws me a curve. I never saw coming that hits me right in the head and knocks me for a loop! Story of my life and I am not sure how this author managed to get That kind of plan and put it all together the way he did! Well written, absolute amazing read.

[Wendy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Still a little in love with Abe Lieberman.

[Bookmarks Magazine]

Kaminsky was awarded the 2006 Grand Master Award by the Mystery Writers of America. One of his many creations, Abe Lieberman__a dog-eyed policeman with high cholesterol, an interest in Talmud, and a resigned attitude toward life__has endeared himself to critics yet again. Kaminsky also paints a masterly portrait of Chicago, from its ethnic neighborhoods to its crime scenes. The general consensus is that Terror Town is not the best in the series, but it will leave Lieberman fans anxious for more.

This is an excerpt from a review published in Bookmarks magazine.

[Miriam · Rating 3 out of 5]

Terror Town was one of the scariest books I ever read. The beginning and the middle was very good. Some parts were so scary that I did'nt want to know what will happen, but it was tempting. The libeberman's myster was insterething. It was vey mesterious too. I really did not like the ending becuaase it was really weak. It didn't end the way i thought it would. I wish it had a differnet ending to it. Overall, It was an okay story. I would recoment The terror town:An Aabe Lieberman Mystery to all teens and up, that like Mystery and horror goneras.

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

A solid entry to the Abe Lieberman series.

Lieberman is working on a string of cases: a con-man masquerading as a prophet, a murdered woman with a rough past, a psycho attacking people with a baseball bat. At times, the welter of sub-plots threatens to get a little convoluted, but the author manages to bring almost everything to a satisfying close at the end. The only problem I had with the book was that I found the identity of the bat-wielding psycho to be a bit unbelievable, based on a little too much second-rate psychology.

Still, the book was entertaining and well worth reading.

[Clark Hallman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Terror Town, by Stuart Kaminsky, is another very enjoyable Abe Lieberman novel. The Rabbi (Lieberman) and the Priest (Hanrahan, Abe's partner) solve several seemingly unrelated murder cases, including the the apparent murder of an aging Chicago Cubs baseball player and the murder of a pretty black single mother. Meanwhile, a homeless man, walks the streets doing God's brutal work and Iris (Hanrahan's wife) is in danger. Of course, El Perro and his gang help the Rabbi accomplish what needs to be done.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

I seldom read mysteries/detective novels and they are not a favorite genre. I also had never read a book written by Kaminsky.
So I was reasonably entertained. I don't like violence and I don't want to be inside the head of psychopaths or gang members, or professional hit men.
That being said, much of the dialogue was graceful and wryly humorous.
I must say that I read several Simenon Maigret novels recently and much prefer the lower body count and the focus on subtle psychological elements.

[Erica · Rating 3 out of 5]

A well-told mystery, but a little hard to focus on ... perhaps too many characters in choppy scenes.

[Suzanne Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love Kaminsky's style. The plot isn't without flaws but it's a great fun read.

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this until the ending which I thought was weak.

[Harry Lane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wrinkly enough plot, good characterizations. Entertaining.

[Fred · Rating 4 out of 5]

All around good tale.