Status
Available
Series
Genres
Collection
Publication
Bantam (2000), Edition: Revised, 304 pages
Description
Fiction. Mystery. Suspense. Thriller. HTML:From the bestselling author of the Bone Collector novels, soon to be an NBC series Five feet two inches of slick repartee, near-purple hair, and poetic imagination, twenty-year-old Rune hasn't been in Manhattan for very long. But she's crafty enough to have found a squatter's paradise in an empty TriBeCa loft, and a video store job that feeds her passion for old movies. It's a passion she shares with her favorite customer, Mr. Kelly, a lonely old man who rents the same video over and over. The flick is a noir classic based on a real-life unsolved bank heist and a million missing dollars. It's called Manhattan Is My Beat. That's the tape Rune is picking up from Mr. Kelly's shabby apartment when she finds him shot to death. The police suspect a robbery gone wrong, but Rune is certain the key to solving the murder is hidden somewhere in the hazy, black-and-white frames of Mr. Kelly's beloved movie. But as Rune hits the mean streets of New York to find answers, she gets caught up in a dangerous adventure more chilling than anything Hollywood could dream up. As her story draws to its terrifying conclusion, Rune's final close-up may include the killer of a co-star.… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member riverwillow
Not as good as the Lincoln Rhyme series but still very readable and interesting. Rune, not her real name, has purple hair, lives a fantasy life filled with fairy tales, spends her days working in a video rental shop when one of her customers is murdered. She's grown close to the customer, who has
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rented the same video an old film entitled "Manhattan is my Beat" which retells the true story of a $1 million bank heist where the money has never been recovered. Rune is convinced that the film holds the clue to the murder. The plot includes several of Deaver's characteristic twists and turns, and along the way a team of mafia hit men thicken the plot in this very readable book. Show Less
LibraryThing member devenish
The girl who calls herself Rune is a dreamy fantasist who resembles in certain ways the Audrey Hepburn character in 'Breakfast At Tiffanys'. She works in a video store in Manhattan and becomes friendly with an elderly man who begins to visit the store. The strange thing is that he only ever borrows
It is then that her fantasies and the cruel realities of real life collide.
Although this is clearly an early work is is much less assured than his later books,it still has a lot going for it. Certainly it kept me reading and the several surprises near the end,were well executed.
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one film - 'Manhattan Is My Beat'. The film is a old 'Bank Robbery' story that has a basis in fact. Rune decides to copy the tape and give it to the old gentleman and she calls round to see him at the address given. There she discovers he has been shot in the chest and his dead body left in a chair.It is then that her fantasies and the cruel realities of real life collide.
Although this is clearly an early work is is much less assured than his later books,it still has a lot going for it. Certainly it kept me reading and the several surprises near the end,were well executed.
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LibraryThing member CloggieDownunder
Manhattan is My Beat is the first book in Jeffrey Deaver’s Rune series. The main character, Rune, is twenty and petite. She lives in a loft with a glass gazebo and her current employment is in a video store; she loves movies. Rune’s elderly friend is murdered and she becomes convinced he has
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found the million-dollar proceeds of a bank robbery in the 1930s. Determined to pursue this, she tangles with the NYPD, copywriters, actresses, hit men for the Mafia, illegal immigrants, screenwriters with Alzheimer’s and the US Marshals. Plenty of plot twists and quite a few laughs along the way. Rune seems to be a cross between Kinsey Milhone and Stephanie Plum. Refreshing! Show Less
LibraryThing member tonile.helena
I’ve just finished Manhattan is my Beat, the first (but certainly not the last) Jeffrey Deaver novel I have read. It was brilliant! I love crime novels, and I love crime movies, and this novel effortlessly blends the two together. Add to that a really likeable protagonist and a gripping
In this novel we meet Rune, a twenty-year old woman who works in a video store and loves fairy tales. And when I say loves, I don’t mean someone who fondly looks back on Disney films. I mean someone who imagines scenarios in her head and actively narrates from a fairytale perspective. That’s cool, it didn’t bother me, but I can imagine why some people would look at Rune and think of her as irritating and childish. Moving on... Rune is a fairly existential person. She goes with the flow (a constant phrase used by her is “thems the breaks”) and doesn’t really plan for anything. This is until a customer from the video store is killed and Rune barely manages to survive intercepting the killer.
She believes clues to the murder can be found in an old movie, Manhattan is my Beat. Mr Kelly, the deceased, rented the movie 18 times before his death, and once Rune does some digging, she realises that the movie is based on a true story; a bank heist that occurred in Manhattan and involved controversy surrounding the police. With the aid of her overactive imagination, Rune decides that Mr Kelly had found where the money from the heist had been hidden. As usual, the story is far more complex than this. And this is where Deaver really begins to shine. The characters and the storylines are so well structured, so intelligent, and the twists and turns just keep coming. Quickly Rune finds herself in a desperate race to solve the mystery of Mr Kelly’s death before others with more sinister intentions beat her to it. But with a host of colourful characters along the way, Rune must learn how to tell who to trust before placing her trust in the wrong person could just be the last mistake she ever makes.
Another novel and another amateur sleuth. I think I’ve found the decade/s where my new favourite novels come from!
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storyline, and you’ve got a 1988 classic that definitely deserves to be more well known than it is. In this novel we meet Rune, a twenty-year old woman who works in a video store and loves fairy tales. And when I say loves, I don’t mean someone who fondly looks back on Disney films. I mean someone who imagines scenarios in her head and actively narrates from a fairytale perspective. That’s cool, it didn’t bother me, but I can imagine why some people would look at Rune and think of her as irritating and childish. Moving on... Rune is a fairly existential person. She goes with the flow (a constant phrase used by her is “thems the breaks”) and doesn’t really plan for anything. This is until a customer from the video store is killed and Rune barely manages to survive intercepting the killer.
She believes clues to the murder can be found in an old movie, Manhattan is my Beat. Mr Kelly, the deceased, rented the movie 18 times before his death, and once Rune does some digging, she realises that the movie is based on a true story; a bank heist that occurred in Manhattan and involved controversy surrounding the police. With the aid of her overactive imagination, Rune decides that Mr Kelly had found where the money from the heist had been hidden. As usual, the story is far more complex than this. And this is where Deaver really begins to shine. The characters and the storylines are so well structured, so intelligent, and the twists and turns just keep coming. Quickly Rune finds herself in a desperate race to solve the mystery of Mr Kelly’s death before others with more sinister intentions beat her to it. But with a host of colourful characters along the way, Rune must learn how to tell who to trust before placing her trust in the wrong person could just be the last mistake she ever makes.
Another novel and another amateur sleuth. I think I’ve found the decade/s where my new favourite novels come from!
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LibraryThing member she_climber
For one of Deaver's first books the writing was pretty bad but the concept was definitely there and it's no wonder that he's a best-selling author today. I think that his main character, Rune, didn't give him enough room to work with. I wanted to like her but I just couldn't. I really just wanted
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this book to be over so I could read something else more interesting and exciting. If I don't already have the other 2 books in this trilogy I can't imagine that I'll bother, even though I know what a great writer he is today. Show Less
LibraryThing member Andrew-theQM
⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2. This was an enjoyable read. It had a feel of a YA book. It was the first book Jeffery Deaver wrote and it is clear he had not yet fully honed his craft, especially when compared to the excellent The Bone Collector. It had a good few twists in the story at the end of the book,
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and I will read the other two books in the series if I come across them. Show Less
Subjects
Awards
Edgar Award (Nominee — 1990)
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
1988
Physical description
6.9 inches
ISBN
0553581767 / 9780553581768