Leonard Marks

He's getting old... Old men shouldn't fall in love. Certainly old men who've spent their lives avoiding emotional entanglements shouldn't fall in love. Especially not with hookers. Most especially not with drug addicted hookers. You know this, I know this and John Board knows this. God knows how old he is and God knows how many years he's spent on the streets surrounded by hookers and pimps and strippers and con men and every other type of predator. But it doesn't matter. Nothing matters. Well, maybe some things matter. He has killed people in the past. So some things do matter.

This is it, folks: the last Board book. I don't know what to say about it or about him but I've followed him, written about him, tried to understand him, tried to lead him to a better life - always unsuccessfully - and at some point you just have to say good-bye. So...good-bye John Board, John Puddle, Wayne, Aaron, Blackie York, Tricia, Jake, J.M., everyone on the streets of Mid-town at night, those trying to make a buck, those trying to survive, those who simply have nowhere else to be. And you readers: you joined them in the cold and on the streets, in the bars and diners and strip joints. Thank you all. It's been a hell of a trip.

Rottweillers are dangerous. They're not cute, they're rarely playful and if you come across one it's best to have a chain link fence between you and it. This is the twelfth book in the John Board series. He's older, tired, less friendly and more likely to bite.

This is the eleventh book in the John Board series and focuses once again on John Board, an aging drifter in New York City who's comfortable in furnished room, strip joints and on the streets. Whatever it is that drives him-and he has no idea-it continues to get him into difficulties, some deadly. And has him facing-albeit reluctantly-the question: Is he simply a rather strange and possibly unique form of a...john?

This is the ninth book in the John Board series but is about a different type of drifter, one who drifts across the United States in his vehicle. Not all that different from Board, his territory is the open road, cheap motels and quick food diners and the people he meets are truckers, motel based hookers, crooked cops and others like him. Not overly honest but a person who can survive. And live in a different jungle.

This book is about a Jew, a courier who works in Eastern Europe during the early years of the Third Reich and World War II, facing the anti-semitism and racial hatred that was to become such a hallmark of that area and the times. He survives by his wits. This is a book of violence and suspense that paints a picture of that world as only a victim of it could see it.

Jake the Snake - not quite a con man, more a hustler trying to make a buck and keep his head above water in the seamy life that is Midtown New York at night. In trouble with the pimps, with the cops and with those whose tastes lead them into trouble as well.

This is the city tourists don't see and most New Yorkers - the ones with jobs, the ones with money, the ones who own homes - don't even know about. It's the city where the hookers and pimps and strippers live and survive, where the predators exist and prey on the rest of us and on each other, the city where violence is commonplace and nearly always present. It's midtown Manhattan where visitors come to see shows and eat in fancy restaurants and sleep in expensive hotels but it's also where the furnished rooms and SRO's are, where the chicken hawks work the streets and docks, where weapons are always close to hand and the police write off murders and assaults. It's the world of John Board and John Puddle and others like them. This is the fifth in an exciting and almost unbelievable series of books about life in the underbelly of New York City, a place populated by strippers and pimps, prostitutes and predators. The author was a New York State parole officer for thirty years and lived the life he writes about. His characters come alive, their problems become your problems and their adventures will be felt and experienced by you. The story is told by a man who barely survives each day but does manage to do so. He is violent but some people depend on him and trust him with their lives. It's a book that you will probably have difficulty putting down and may read more than once.

This is the city tourists don't see and most New Yorkers - the ones with jobs, the ones with money, the ones who own homes - don't even know about. It's the city where the hookers and pimps and strippers live and survive, where the predators exist and prey on the rest of us and on each other, the city where violence is commonplace and nearly always present. It's midtown Manhattan where visitors come to see shows and eat in fancy restaurants and sleep in expensive hotels but it's also where the furnished rooms and SRO's are, where the chicken hawks work the streets and docks, where weapons are always close to hand and the police write off murders and assaults. It's the world of John Board and John Puddle and others like them. This is book number three of twelve. The first, the Man With The Pointy Stick, introduced John Puddle. The second, John Board, focused on Board, this one continues the story. If you liked or were intrigued by the first two you'll like this as well.