THE MAN FROM YESTERDAY — “Who Me?”
January 8, 2011
The Man from Yesterday
by Seymour Shubin
Academy Chicago Printers
$22.50, 236 pages
Why I didn’t want to like this book? I came to it in a strange way. I, John Lehman, write short stories and novels under the name “Jack Lehman,” and when I put that into amazon’s search to check on my Kindle books, it came up as a character in this mystery by Seymour Shubin. I bought it. But, far from glamorous, Jack Lehman is a retired police lieutenant in details. No one believes him and the subject now becomes his fight to prove he hasn’t “lost it.”
Is this the kind of escapism an older reader also with difficulty remembering names needs in his life? The answer is a surprising, yes. Like the classics of Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett, it is the internal mysteries mirrored by the external ones that tug at your heart. Man from Yesterday builds nicely and then climaxes like a forgotten name that suddenly comes to you. It will leave you cheering. For Jack. For yourself. For being old, but still in the game.
Order this directly from amazon (there are a variety of options and prices). Click here: Man From Yesterday: a JACK LEHMAN MYSTERY
— John Lehman, Rosebud Book Reviews.com
