Resume Speed

In this quietly suspenseful novella from MWA Grand Master Block, a man on the run boards a Trailways bus in Galbraith, N.Dak., and gets off in Cross Creek, Mont. Under a new name, he settles down in Cross Creek, where he lands a fry-cook job, rents a room, and flirts with the town librarian. He also drinks, but only in precise moderation. Too many drinks, and he may have to run again. The law in Texas is still after him for killing a woman when he was blackout drunk. But did he kill her? He just doesn’t know. This return to long-held thematic material harks all the way back to a man on the run for his wife’s murder in Block’s first crime novel, Sinner Man. Block reflects once more on the ravages of alcoholism, as he does so often in his Matthew Scudder series (A Drop of the Hard Stuff, etc.). For Block’s fans, this is a minimalist version of one of his early paperback original novels. (Dec.)