Me Tanner, You Jane

By Lawrence Block

It's a jungle out there.

Literally. At least for Evan Tanner, eternally sleepless sometime superspy, who finds himself in Africa on the trail of the AWOL ruler of tiny Modonoland. It seems the petty despot's gone missing, and he's taken the state treasury along with him.

No stranger to impossible missions and international peril, Tanner's been in over his head before. This time, however, he's in imminent danger of being buried alive. And it all has to do with the CIA, white supremacists, moderate revolutionaries . . . and a blond jungle bombshell named (no joke!) Sheena. Tanner's always been a sucker for a pretty face and a curvaceous body, especially one that's wrapped in leopard skin. But this red hot renegade daughter of a local missionary is a maneater.

Which means this time Tanner's goose is well and truly cooked.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Release date: Oct 13, 2009
• ISBN: 9780061851988

Lawrence Block

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.

Reviews for Me Tanner, You Jane

[blatherlikeme · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Well, I've now read all of the Tanner series. Sadly they did not continue to as entertaining as the first few.

This one is tied with the Scoreless Thai as the worst. Not for any reasons that many people might site - like sex with minors, making terrorism a sort of good guy thing. Because like all things of that nature - it really is a subjective race to hell.
Not even for the unrealistic elements - like Tanner's insomnia or his last frozen time traveling thing. After all, I didn't pick them up for gritty realism, I picked them up for escapist fun.

No my problem with them was they got boring and drafty. I pick up a book like this not because I want great literature. I pick it up for the same reason I watch Action Flicks - to lose myself in something that has no relationship with my life. I can't do that if it's boring.

And when its boring, I start to pick up on the annoying stupid stuff. Like Block apparently thinks only blondes are worthy of being Tanner's sex partner. All of them, whether they are caucasian or not - blond. Its a bit more than weird, but not really a reason to hate it.

I like things to move along and not get bogged down in exposition of all the possible angles of thought, or opinions that go on for a page and a half or long lists of things that one sees around one. So the last few novels had several parts that were skimmed rather than read.

And then he lost the humor somewhere. I mean I guess it was attempted but I didn't notice it like I did in The Cancelled Czchek or The thief who couldn't sleep.

I enjoyed the trips for the most part. I read them all, and I'm apt to put down a book if it bores me too much. But they definitely lost the bloom for both him and I about half way through the series.