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Two Way Toll
Detective Matt Jacob returns to a seedy part of Boston, the End, to investigate a murder that has remained unsolved for twenty years, only to fall in love and stumble upon an elaborate conspiracy
- GenresMystery
Unknown Binding
First published January 1, 1991
81 people want to read
About the author
Zachary Klein
9 books10 followersI'm the author of the critically acclaimed Matt Jacob mystery series, which includes Still Among the Living, Two Way Toll, and No Saving Grace. I think of myself as a “serial careerist." I've worked as a Vista volunteer and a private counselor for individuals, couples, and groups. I was a founder of the People’s School in Uptown, Chicago, a school for high school dropouts. I also worked at Boston’s Project Place when it was a worker-run social service collective that provided free crisis intervention and other community services. And, I served as the Clinical Supervisor for one of Boston's methadone clinics.
For the past decade and change, I’ve consulted with various national attorneys as a trial and jury consultant.
E-book versions of Still Among the Living, Two Way Toll, and No Saving Grace are currently available via Amazon, Barnes & Noble, SmashWords, and other major sites. A new Matt Jacob mystery, Ties that Blind, is also on the way. It will be available as an E-book and via print on demand (POD). In Ties that Blind, Matt becomes entangled in the dysfunctional family of his father-in-law's new love interest. As Matt deals with drive-by shootings and suspicious accidents, he struggles with his own fears about the growing attachments to the people in his life.
In addition to writing new Matt Jacob mysteries, I've been learning music and the sax with a very tolerant and supportive teacher, and I play in an eight-person ensemble. I live in Boston with my partner, Susan E. Goodman, a children’s book author (http://www.susangoodmanbooks.com), and have two sons, Matthew and Jacob, and a daughter-in-law, Alyssa.
Find me on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/ZacharyKleinA...
Visit my blog at: http://www.zacharykleinonline.com
For the past decade and change, I’ve consulted with various national attorneys as a trial and jury consultant.
E-book versions of Still Among the Living, Two Way Toll, and No Saving Grace are currently available via Amazon, Barnes & Noble, SmashWords, and other major sites. A new Matt Jacob mystery, Ties that Blind, is also on the way. It will be available as an E-book and via print on demand (POD). In Ties that Blind, Matt becomes entangled in the dysfunctional family of his father-in-law's new love interest. As Matt deals with drive-by shootings and suspicious accidents, he struggles with his own fears about the growing attachments to the people in his life.
In addition to writing new Matt Jacob mysteries, I've been learning music and the sax with a very tolerant and supportive teacher, and I play in an eight-person ensemble. I live in Boston with my partner, Susan E. Goodman, a children’s book author (http://www.susangoodmanbooks.com), and have two sons, Matthew and Jacob, and a daughter-in-law, Alyssa.
Find me on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/ZacharyKleinA...
Visit my blog at: http://www.zacharykleinonline.com
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
February 26, 2019
Die Kritik an der Gesellschaft (der 1990er) und an der Menschheit schlechthin ist bestens gelungen, ohne moralinsauer zu werden. Allerdings wird das Gekiffe, Gesaufe und Depressivsein zunehmend zum langweiligen Lückenfüller. Wenn Matt Jacob nicht clean wird (oder nur noch im stillen Kämmerlein ohne Beisein des Lesers seine Chemikalien reinzieht), habe ich keine Lust auf einen weiteren Fall von ihm.
July 23, 2011
"Lew Archer never worked a mall."
That’s how PI Matt Jacob berates himself when he starts working security at a local mall. Sure, it gets him off the couch and distracts him from thinking about his problems. But he’s bored and feeling more than a little useless prowling for shoplifters all day.
Two Way Toll is the second novel featuring the troubled detective. Matt’s still smoking too much dope and drinking too much whiskey, trying to dull the pain of losing his family. Unfortunately, the sharp edges of his past keep slicing through the haze. This time, the past comes at him in the form of a cracked-toothed thief named Blackhead.
Blackhead asks Matt to look into a death that happened 20 years ago, in a desecrated part of Boston known as The End. Filled with sidewalk sleepers, abandoned buildings, and hopelessness, The End is a place Matt once called home. It’s where, as a social worker, he fought for those who couldn’t fight for themselves. It’s also where he began his doomed marriage to his first wife, Megan.
Before Matt even begins investigating, Blackhead inexplicably tells him to drop the case. But driven by memories of Megan and by sheer curiosity, Matt drifts into The End one night and starts asking questions. His curiosity rattles too many chains, and soon, a group of teenage thugs attacks him, making it clear he’s no longer welcome there. The attack leaves him bleeding but undaunted; determined to keep digging. He admits: “Warnings always held a fascination I found hard to resist.”
In this novel, character development and plot are expertly intertwined. We learn more about who Matt was and what his life was like before the accident that killed his family. As he digs deeper into the case he was warned to forget, he struggles to deal with feelings he can’t forget, left over from his marriage to Megan. Those feelings are stirred by his growing involvement with Melanie, a life-long resident of The End. When Matt finally uncovers the truth, he wishes he had never sought it in the first place.
Most of the characters from Still Among the Living reappear in Two Way Toll, and there’s a wonderful scene in which this motley group—including Matt’s ex-shrink, drug dealer, and sedate father-in-law—gather around a table for Thanksgiving, stifling Matt with their care and concern. Matt’s painfully aware of how his inability to deal with his emotions is alienating him. “Life hasn’t exactly prepared me for family ties,” he says at one point. It’s this awareness, and his striving to reconcile the past—even as he runs from it—that make him such a compelling character.
Two Way Toll is a complex, well-crafted story. Klein does a great job of gradually revealing the heartaches in Matt’s life, showing us why he’s more comfortable in alleys than on the polished tile floors of a mall. Throughout, Matt’s cynical but humorous voice keeps the action moving forward. His voice engages you, stays with you, and makes you grateful that there’s another book in the series to turn to after you’ve finished reading this one.
That’s how PI Matt Jacob berates himself when he starts working security at a local mall. Sure, it gets him off the couch and distracts him from thinking about his problems. But he’s bored and feeling more than a little useless prowling for shoplifters all day.
Two Way Toll is the second novel featuring the troubled detective. Matt’s still smoking too much dope and drinking too much whiskey, trying to dull the pain of losing his family. Unfortunately, the sharp edges of his past keep slicing through the haze. This time, the past comes at him in the form of a cracked-toothed thief named Blackhead.
Blackhead asks Matt to look into a death that happened 20 years ago, in a desecrated part of Boston known as The End. Filled with sidewalk sleepers, abandoned buildings, and hopelessness, The End is a place Matt once called home. It’s where, as a social worker, he fought for those who couldn’t fight for themselves. It’s also where he began his doomed marriage to his first wife, Megan.
Before Matt even begins investigating, Blackhead inexplicably tells him to drop the case. But driven by memories of Megan and by sheer curiosity, Matt drifts into The End one night and starts asking questions. His curiosity rattles too many chains, and soon, a group of teenage thugs attacks him, making it clear he’s no longer welcome there. The attack leaves him bleeding but undaunted; determined to keep digging. He admits: “Warnings always held a fascination I found hard to resist.”
In this novel, character development and plot are expertly intertwined. We learn more about who Matt was and what his life was like before the accident that killed his family. As he digs deeper into the case he was warned to forget, he struggles to deal with feelings he can’t forget, left over from his marriage to Megan. Those feelings are stirred by his growing involvement with Melanie, a life-long resident of The End. When Matt finally uncovers the truth, he wishes he had never sought it in the first place.
Most of the characters from Still Among the Living reappear in Two Way Toll, and there’s a wonderful scene in which this motley group—including Matt’s ex-shrink, drug dealer, and sedate father-in-law—gather around a table for Thanksgiving, stifling Matt with their care and concern. Matt’s painfully aware of how his inability to deal with his emotions is alienating him. “Life hasn’t exactly prepared me for family ties,” he says at one point. It’s this awareness, and his striving to reconcile the past—even as he runs from it—that make him such a compelling character.
Two Way Toll is a complex, well-crafted story. Klein does a great job of gradually revealing the heartaches in Matt’s life, showing us why he’s more comfortable in alleys than on the polished tile floors of a mall. Throughout, Matt’s cynical but humorous voice keeps the action moving forward. His voice engages you, stays with you, and makes you grateful that there’s another book in the series to turn to after you’ve finished reading this one.
September 10, 2012
I received this book as a giveaway in Goodreads'First Reads program. The author was kind enough to send me a first printing hardcover copy, from 1991 when it was first published, autographed with a small personal letter. Little touches like that do make me feel more invested in a book when I pick it up, I will admit.
My sensibilities from 1991 to now have changed some with the passage of time, but I would like to think I would have enjoyed this book as much back then as I did when I read it now. Matt Jacob is an actual human being, with all of a human's faults and problems. He does not shy from drug abuse nor lust nor slothfulness. He's someone who made a difference at a younger age, and is now trying simply to hang on to what semblance of life he now has.
Matt gets caught up in events taking place in his old stomping grounds, bringing with his return a flood of memories, some best left forgotten. As Matt tries to piece together events from years ago which may be related to his current case, he also needs to find his way through his relationships with those close to him.
After this book, I'm officially a Matt Jacob, or Zachary Klein convert.
This is a detective that I want to find out about more and go along on his cases with him. I'm very glad I won this book and found about about this character and the author who created him.
My sensibilities from 1991 to now have changed some with the passage of time, but I would like to think I would have enjoyed this book as much back then as I did when I read it now. Matt Jacob is an actual human being, with all of a human's faults and problems. He does not shy from drug abuse nor lust nor slothfulness. He's someone who made a difference at a younger age, and is now trying simply to hang on to what semblance of life he now has.
Matt gets caught up in events taking place in his old stomping grounds, bringing with his return a flood of memories, some best left forgotten. As Matt tries to piece together events from years ago which may be related to his current case, he also needs to find his way through his relationships with those close to him.
After this book, I'm officially a Matt Jacob, or Zachary Klein convert.
This is a detective that I want to find out about more and go along on his cases with him. I'm very glad I won this book and found about about this character and the author who created him.
July 26, 2012
I am sorry to say, I found very little in this author's writing to feel it worth my time to read his work.
There was far too much profanity and constant drug usage. I wasn't sure if he was promoting his book or pushing drug usage and condoning a lower level of life-style.
The story line perhaps would have been OK if the constant language and drug usage hadn't detracted so much.
I appreciate the generosity of the author in offering his book to a giveaway and I am certain he is a good person, but I feel it would enhance his success in writing if he would limit these to problems and use more creativity in his writing.
I won this book but I doubt I will ever read another of his books.
There was far too much profanity and constant drug usage. I wasn't sure if he was promoting his book or pushing drug usage and condoning a lower level of life-style.
The story line perhaps would have been OK if the constant language and drug usage hadn't detracted so much.
I appreciate the generosity of the author in offering his book to a giveaway and I am certain he is a good person, but I feel it would enhance his success in writing if he would limit these to problems and use more creativity in his writing.
I won this book but I doubt I will ever read another of his books.
June 20, 2011
Strong characterizations, a sympathetic protagonist who adopts some genre conventions but rejects others, and intelligent, literate prose. However, the story is too thin and Klein meanders too much early in the novel.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews