The Girl With the Deep Blue Eyes by Lawrence Block

Doak Miller is a former cop living out his retirement in Florida.  Not content to sit on his ass and collect a pension, Doak picks up a P.I. license and takes the odd job that floats his way.  When a local sheriff comes to him with a request to impersonate a hit-man to a housewife looking to knock off her bastard of a husband, Doak takes the assignment.  But what happens when Doak falls under the spell of his titillating target?

Seeing as Block cut his teeth writing erotic yarns, it isn’t hard to believe he could write such filthy fiction.  The smut in here is about as graphic as can be but the scenes don’t feel like filler. Unlike Pelecanos’ The Double, a novel that soured me with what I perceived as unnecessary sex sessions, Block’s book makes good use of the mature material, tying it into Doak and using it to showcase his aggressive nature and desire for violence.

The plot works well within the Hard Case Crime dynamic.  Much of the story is spent inside Doak’s mind from a third party narrator giving insight into his sex-crazed ambitions as well as his plan to try and get away with murder.  Given HCC’s tendency to showcase scumbags as their novel’s protagonists, Doak fits the mold. That being said, it’s hard not to root for him after discovering the wife’s motive.

Although it took a few days to get through this one, it felt like a quick read.  The Girl with the Deep Blue Eyes is something that could easily be devoured in a few hours.  I had a hard time putting this one down.  As long as Block feels like writing new novels, I’ll keep reading them.