Tuesday 23 September 2014

2 BY HERBERT LIEBERMAN

Herbert Lieberman is the author of over 10 novels, most of which reside on the shelves of my library. My first encounter with him was when I read CITY OF THE DEAD (1976) sometime in the 80’s. It’s a novel concerning a medical examiner in New York whose daughter has been kidnapped. My memories of the book are dim and fuzzy and probably less than totally coherent, but I can vaguely recall being amazed, enthralled and absolutely terrified as I read it. Enough so that I was moved to collect most of his other books over a period of time. CITY OF THE DEAD is scheduled for a re-read at some point as is CRAWLSPACE. If I’ve read any of the others, I can’t really recall them.





Lieberman, born in 1933 and now in his 80’s is still with us living with his wife in Los Angeles according to Fantastic Fiction’s website. He may have been well on the road to becoming a forgotten author but Open Road Media have republished most if not all of his books in the past year or so in Kindle editions.





















THE CLIMATE OF HELL


"They say I'm dead. - Shot in a cafe in Asuncion. Lured into Brasil and mown down by an Israeli assassin team. dredged out of the Iguacu Falls, my throat slashed." : Words spoken by the Death Angel of Auschwitz - Dr.Grigori - who lives and thrives in the corrupt, crumbling dictatorship of Paraguay where he continues his murderous, inhuman experiments. One man still pursues Grigori, though. A man of cold persistence, a man of violence...









CRAWLSPACE

In this novel of mounting suspense from award-winning author Herbert Lieberman, a terrifying surprise waits beneath a couple's New England home
Albert and Alice Graves live a normal, if monotonous, domestic life. They've never had children; they spend their days tending to their home and enjoying their time together. One day, when the oil man, Richard, is refilling their furnace, Alice invites him to dinner, never suspecting that a casual act of charity will lead to a horrifying, morbid discovery in the crawlspace underneath their beloved house.

The Graves take Richard into their lives, becoming attached to his presence as though to the son they never had. Their town, though, is not nearly so welcoming. When the locals lash out against the Graves and their strange houseguest, the contented household is irrevocably drawn into a darkness they could not have imagined.

8 comments:

  1. Col, I'm familiar with Herbert Lieberman as an author but not as a reader, not yet anyway. I have actually read a spy fiction involving Mossad and liked it, so I'll probably opt for "The Climate of Hell."

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    1. Prashant, I think a couple of his are about the pursuit of Nazis post WW2. I need to dig them out for next year.

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  2. Col - These do sound like very engaging thrillers. I'll be keen to know what you think of them.

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    1. Margot, I have had them for a fair few years now and keep shuffling them away from the top of the pile. I am making a do-able list of 2015 reads - some things ought not to be ignored for too long! Lieberman is one of my priorities I think.

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  3. Well, they sound interesting, and I think Crawlspace is a splendidly discomforting title. But as ever, will wait till you give a full report before going any further.

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    1. Ok, can't tempt you today. We'll see after it's been read.

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  4. These do sound interesting but I don't think I want to read something that is going to terrify me. So you can read them for me.

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    1. No problem, I think that some of his others might interest you, but perhaps I ought to get to them first.

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