Shackles: A "Nameless Detective" Mystery

Rating:
Summary: "Nameless" at His Best
Review: I have read the works of Bill Pronzini for years and love the "Nameless" series. Shackles is by far the best! As this story begins, "Nameless" is kidnapped by a masked man and taken to the Lake Tahoe area where he is shackled to the wall of a small cabin and left, not to die, but to contemplate his death over an agonizingly long period of time. The kidnapper has left him the essentials of life: food, water, books, heat, and a radio. It is only through strength of will and determination that "Nameless" not only survives this one but prevails. This is an intense personal drama that reaches to the soul of this unusual detective to let the reader know just exactly what makes this man tick. The way he plans his daily routine is fascinating. He never lets his predicament overwhelm him. His only question is, "Will he escape before his supplies run out?". My only question is, "Why is this wonderful novel out of print?" Every reader of the Pronzini series should have access to this one.

Rating:
Summary: Pivotal Beginning for the New Nameless
Review: In the prior 16 novels in this more than 25 novel series, Nameless is one type of character. In the middle of Shackles, Nameless becomes someone else . . . someone he doesn't like as much, but who will be with him for years to come. Anyone who has enjoyed the novels since 1988 will want to be sure to read this book to understand how the current Nameless character was formed by the events in Shackles.

Most of us live constrained by the "mind-forged manacles I hear" as William Blake put it. In Shackles, Nameless finds out what it is like to live constrained by a shackle on his leg that keeps him in an isolated mountain cabin for months while he carefully husbands a dwindling supply of food, beverages, heat and batteries. Nameless finds himself in this situation after being kidnapped in San Francisco. His unnamed abductor obviously hates Nameless very much, but Nameless cannot place him. The period of captivity reminded me of tales from the Gulag. Day by day, Nameless deals with his predicament and his need to retain his sanity. The story builds on a complex foundation of Nameless's reactions to the adversity.

One thing keeps him alive -- the desire to locate his captor and bring him to justice.

Shackles is at once a great story of psychological and physical duress, and a great adventure tale. There certainly is some detection in the story, but the psychological development and physical action are the real reasons to read and enjoy Shackles. At its best, Shackles will remind you of the haunting Jack London story, "To Build a Fire."

When you find out who abducted Nameless and what the source of the abductor's grudge was, you will probably enjoy many of the ironies that Mr. Pronzini built into the ending.

As I read Shackles, I was reminded of the Biblical story of Joseph when he faced his brothers who had sold him into slavery in Egypt. How would you react to such an abductor?

Rating:
Summary: Pivotal Beginning for the New Nameless
Review: In the prior 16 novels in this more than 25 novel series, Nameless is one type of character. In the middle of Shackles, Nameless becomes someone else . . . someone he doesn't like as much, but who will be with him for years to come. Anyone who has enjoyed the novels since 1988 will want to be sure to read this book to understand how the current Nameless character was formed by the events in Shackles.

Most of us live constrained by the "mind-forged manacles I hear" as William Blake put it. In Shackles, Nameless finds out what it is like to live constrained by a shackle on his leg that keeps him in an isolated mountain cabin for months while he carefully husbands a dwindling supply of food, beverages, heat and batteries. Nameless finds himself in this situation after being kidnapped in San Francisco. His unnamed abductor obviously hates Nameless very much, but Nameless cannot place him. The period of captivity reminded me of tales from the Gulag. Day by day, Nameless deals with his predicament and his need to retain his sanity. The story builds on a complex foundation of Nameless's reactions to the adversity.

One thing keeps him alive -- the desire to locate his captor and bring him to justice.

Shackles is at once a great story of psychological and physical duress, and a great adventure tale. There certainly is some detection in the story, but the psychological development and physical action are the real reasons to read and enjoy Shackles. At its best, Shackles will remind you of the haunting Jack London story, "To Build a Fire."

When you find out who abducted Nameless and what the source of the abductor's grudge was, you will probably enjoy many of the ironies that Mr. Pronzini built into the ending.

As I read Shackles, I was reminded of the Biblical story of Joseph when he faced his brothers who had sold him into slavery in Egypt. How would you react to such an abductor?