Shackles

PUBLISHERS WEEKLY 3 JUN 1988

An appearance by Pronzini's Nameless Detective is always a promising event; in his latest case, with its echoes of Geoffrey Household's Rogue Male, Nameless delivers on that promise with more punch and sensibility than ever. Kidnapped one winter night near his home in San Francisco, he is driven to a remote mountain cabin and left, chained in a leg iron, with only enough supplies to last three or four months: his masked captor has planned a slow and vengeful death. Enduring solitude and physical hardship, summoning great effort of will, Nameless survives, escapes and, as a profoundly altered man, sets off to find his would-be murderer. A complicated and unexpected resolution of near-perfect length balances the intense drama of Nameless's captivity. With his steady and reliable output as both author and editor, Pronzini has quietly established a reputation as a master of the modern mystery. Shackles, with its many satisfactions, should move right to the top.