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Type of bind: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.6
EAN num: 9780446678704
ISBN number: 0446678708
Label: Mysterious Press
Manufacturer: Mysterious Press
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 320
Printing Date: February 02, 2003
Publishing house: Mysterious Press
Sale Popularity Level: 809643
Studio: Mysterious Press
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Product Description:
Retired detective William Riskin is more or less waiting to die, until he comes across the obituary of his ex-partner, Jean Goldblum. A one-time war hero and concentration camp survivor, Goldblum had become a morally corrupt detective with a ruthless instinct for spotting guilt. But Goldblum had just started working on the most important case of his life, and out of loyalty to his memory, Riskin decides to finish it. Following a dangerous string of clues, Riskin finds himself in hot pursuit of a little-known World War II criminal named Dr. Petoit, who, after promising sanctuary to hundreds of fleeing Jews in occupied France, led them to death in his own home. As Riskin uncovers Goldblum's own guilty part in these crimes, he himself comes face to face with the ultimate evil.
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Rated by buyers 
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It's important to point out before reviewing this novel that this is Siegel's very first published novel and he has written two masterpieces after this being Derailed and Detour, as well as although not as good as those two, a worthwhile read with his fourth book Deceit. Epitaph is slow paced (it does have a 70 year old main character so obviously scenes involving him won't be as fast paced as action scenes in the other books) but Siegel does take a little bit too long describing scenes and even William, than was needed. If this is your very first book of Siegel's don't let it put you off or paint a picture of how this great author can write.
In Epitaph, William Riskin is a lonely old man who has no one to interact with and whose highlight is pretty much doing stuff like reading the obituaries. He has a painful bullet stuck in his shoulder from a night quite some time ago as a security guard where the owner upon walking on the scene screamed at him about the security firm hiring useless old men. One day through the obituaries he finds that his old partner from the Three Eyes Detective Agency has died, so decides to get on public transport and pay his last respects. Along the way humiliated by street punks he realises he is an old defenceless joke so when he is forced to take possession of a box of his old partner's possessions he learns there is a case Jean never finished and to prove he is still worth something decides to pick up where Jean left off, only he doesn't know exactly where that is.
If you like novels with an old aged person as the hero also check out Gerald Hammond's novel On the Warpath.
Rated by buyers 
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Ok, ive read enough that i should be into it....Im not!!! reading the other reviews i hear a few saying its worth it in the end....ok.....ill keep going, but im disappointed at how slow it is, it started good.....but it hasnt gone back to the very first character since she was mentioned!!! I loved the very first two ive read by him.....so i wont give up yet..
Rated by buyers 
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Having read Derailled and Detour I thought I would try Siegel's earlier book. It is very different and painfully slow paced. A retired detective (William) reads about a former co-worker's death in the newspaper and decides to go to his funeral. When he gets there and looks in the casket, he sees something about his friend (Jean) that makes him want to visit his friend's apartment house.
At the funeral he meets Jean's super who tells him he has a photo he wants William to have. He goes to the super's apartment and something about the photo makes William track down some information that was in a box of Jean's personal effects which later makes William talk to Jean's neighbor (Mr. Weeks) who gives him a file. Jean decides to track down a bunch of names of people listed in the file to addresses in Florida.
As the book progresses William keeps following one lead after another to seemingly dead ends for no apparent reason. Obviously the reader knows there is a reason because that is why there is a book but the reason never manifests itself till about 300 pages into the book.
The book may be slow paced but it interesting just the same. It shows that someone with a detective's sense should trust their instinct to help them discover clues and be relentless in pursuing them. It is only because of the slow pace that I didn't give the book 5 stars.
Rated by buyers -
Okay, I would LOVE to know who the author killed to get this dog published. Nothing is slower than masses of interior dialoge, with the exception of back story ... and Epitaph is all interior dialoge about back story!! I struggled up to 50 pages and dropped it in the trash. I didn't care about William or his aches and pain or his memory loss or...well any of it. It was BORING!
Rated by buyers -
I certainly admire Siegel for wanting to write a story that had an seventy year old as its hero. The reaffirmation that being elderly doesn't mean being dead is a good intention. However, in EPITAPH, William is so low in self-esteem and has little literary energy, so the plot moves at a snail's pace, and one can't feel the urge to finish what could possibly be a good book? I don't know cause midway through, I got tired of William and the rambling lack of action, so I didn't finish it. You'll have to decide...
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