Lori

Bloch, whose professional career is now in its 55th year, still manages to write with the same enthusiasm and in the same voice he used in the novels of his prime (c. 1954-1964). A master of pulp fiction, Bloch always sets up an intriguing premise. In this case, a recently orphaned young woman whose parents have died in a mysterious fire discovers a school yearbook older than she is--with her picture printed in it. Bloch piles mystery upon mystery, adds unsavory characters, false leads and several violent deaths, before resolving the whole thing in a typically complicated and unbelievable fashion. Despite, or because of, all this, it's great fun--the thrills and the puzzles keep the reader engaged all the way through, and the prose is befittingly purple. (Aug.)