The Cancelled Czech
by Lawrence Block

This is the second in Lawrence Block's long out-of-print Tanner series, and features a new introduction by the author. Tanner is 34 years old and hasn't slept a wink since shrapnel destroyed the sleep centre in his brain during the Korean War. Tanner loves lost causes and beautiful women. The FBI has a thick file on him; the CIA taps his phone and a super-secret intelligence agency wants him to be their man! Tanner, enlisted by an undercover agency, so secret it doesn't have a name, heads for Czechoslovakia where he engineers the kidnap of a dying man. But first he finds himself leaping from a moving train, tangling with an amorous blonde and acting as the featured speaker at a neo-Nazi rally.

It's all in a morning's work. Nights too, of course. Basically this is James Bond stuff, but as amusing as only Block can make it. Tongue glued to inside of cheek, this is about as funny as Block gets (which is very) and if you like the Burglar series you should check these out now.

Reviewed by Robert Galbraith