Gravetapping by Ben Boulden
Posted: 21 Sep 2014 06:38 AM PDT
Unknown Man No. 89 is Elmore Leonard’s 13th published novel. It was originally published in the U. S. in 1977 by Delacorte Press, and in the U. K. by Martin Secker & Warburg. The edition that caught my eye is the recent U. K. edition published by Phoenix. It is a collage of sorts, with a muted water color-like wash, and, even better, it features a 1970s Mercury Cougar. The cover image is by Tim Marrs.
The opening lines:
“A friend of Ryan’s said to him one time, ‘Yeah, but at least you don’t take any shit from anybody.’
“Ryan said to his friend, ‘I don’t know, the way things’ve been going, maybe it’s about time I started taking some’”
Unknown Man No. 89 is a follow up to Elmore Leonard’s 1969 novel The Big Bounce. According to the Wikipedia entry forUnknown, it was optioned for film by Alfred Hitchcock—it would have been his 54thfilm—but was never made.
That is a very cool cover. I read Unknown Man when it came out, and have reread it since. It is one of my favorites, and was glad it was included in the new LOA Elmore Leonard edition.
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