Synopsis
A hardboiled mystery that will satisfy the most discerning thriller reader: great plot, interesting characters, vivid Manhattan backdrop, and the added spice of the exotic, ancient Egyptian game that gives the novel its name. *Author has significant cult following. *A superb homage to classic private-eye novels, the book is a great choice for fans of Raymond Chandler. *Ancient Egypt angle makes the book appealing to women who might otherwise stay away from private-eye novels. **Kotzwinkle's enormous popularity as a children's & YA author translates into a new generation of readers who have just reached the age to appreciate this title which has been out of print for several years. * Atmospheric New York City setting.*A suspense novel that ranks with the classics of the genre -- Stephen King * When a first-class mainstream writer turns his hand to genre fiction, the results are seldom mediocre...
Publishers Weekly
The Game of Thirty is an ancient Egyptian board game in which the movement of pieces, according to the casting of bone dice, foreshadows events in the lives of the players. In Kotzwinkle's ( E.T. ; Doctor Rat ) noir novel for the 1990s, Manhattan is the ersatz playing board, and antiquities dealer Tommy Rennseler is a player whose piece was moved to the square of Rebirth (``your piece dies and has to start all over again'') on the night he was injected with cobra venom and disemboweled. High-tech detective Jimmy McShane is hired by Rennseler's daughter Temple to find her father's murderer. Aided by his office mate, Ann Henderson, a chiropractor with a New Age outlook and a talent for Sherlockian deduction, McShane moves around the city/board trying to discover who his opponent is. More murders and a suspect's involvement in child prostitution seem to sidetrack the plot, but in the end, all pieces, players and moves prove necessary to Kotzwinkle's resolution. McShane, Henderson and the supporting cast are fully three-dimensional and memorably idiosyncratic. In this game of 30, the reader is the winner, no contest. (June)