Product Description

Sometime spy Evan Tanner has accepted impossible assignments for many reasons: money, thrills, to have something to occupy his waking hours (twenty-four of them every day, in fact, since battlefield shrapnel obliterated his brain's sleep center). But this might be the first time he's put his life on the line . . . for love.

Tanner's agreed to smuggle a sexy Latvian gymnast—the lost lady love of a heart-sick friend—out of Russia. With the Cold War at its chilliest and the Iron Curtain slammed shut, this will not be easy, especially since everybody in Eastern Europe, it seems, wants to tag along, including a subversive Slav author and the six-year-old heir to the nonexistent Lithuanian throne.

But that's not the biggest hurdle. The gymnast refuses to budge unless Tanner rescues her eleven delightfully limber teammates as well—and that might be raising the bar too lethally high for even the ever-resourceful Evan Tanner to clear.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #88787 in Books
• Published on: 2007-07-12
• Original language: English
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 240 pages

From AudioFile
Upbeat. Fun. Idealistic. These are words not often associated with a secret agent thriller. But Evan Tanner is no run-of-the-mill secret agent. He works for an unnamed agency that seems to be at constant odds with the CIA and others. His boss sends meeting notices scribbled in the inside of gum-wrappers. Tanner is basically a do-gooder at heart, 75% Boy Scout and 25% James Bond, out to make the world a better place. Reader Nick Sullivan is just the ticket. With a perfect balance of dialect and diction, he moves this fast-paced story along at a comfortable rate, clearly letting tongue-in-cheek humor leak through at every opportunity. He is a wonderful match for this material. Although SWINGERS was written in 1967 and contains many Cold War references, it still delivers a message of commitment and love of freedom. More importantly, it presents the idea that at least one secret agent can complete a mission without killing or maiming a host of the enemy. T.J.M. © AudioFile 2000, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine

About the Author

Lawrence Block is one of the most widely recognized names in the mystery genre. He has been named a Grand Master of the Mystery Writers of America and is a four-time winner of the prestigious Edgar and Shamus Awards, as well as a recipient of prizes in France, Germany, and Japan. He received the Diamond Dagger from the British Crime Writers' Association—only the third American to be given this award. He is a prolific author, having written more than fifty books and numerous short stories, and is a devoted New Yorker and an enthusiastic global traveler.

Customer Reviews

Tanner's back for another trek across Europe. A delight.
. Tanner is back in the third of eight books in the series. This one is much better than the first two. Again Tanner leaves NYC to trek across Europe, sneak across boarders. This time the trip takes him from home to Yugoslavia north to Russia. Keeping in mind this adventure as wells as the two others takes place before the brake up of the Soviet Union and the problems and war with the breakup of Yugoslavia. Block's historical accounts are excellent and add to the excitement of the book. It's well paced and I look forward to the others in the series. At this point in time they are on backorder at amazon.com.