''Unknown Man #89'' is a crime novel written by Elmore Leonard, published in 1977, just after his novel '' Swag'', and preceding ''The Hunted''. It is a sequel to '' The Big Bounce''.

Plot summary

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...

process server Service of process is the procedure by which a party to a lawsuit gives an appropriate notice of initial legal action to another party (such as a defendant), court, or administrative body in an effort to exercise jurisdiction over that person ...

Jack Ryan has a reputation for finding men who don't want to be found. A string of seemingly unrelated crimes leads Ryan to the search for a missing

stockholder A shareholder (in the United States often referred to as stockholder) of a corporation is an individual or legal entity (such as another corporation, a body politic, a trust or partnership) that is registered by the corporation as the legal own ...

known only as "unknown man #89," but his missing man isn't "unknown" to everyone: a pretty blonde hates his guts, and a very nasty dude named Virgil Royal wants him dead in the worst way. This is very unfortunate for Jack, who is suddenly caught in the crossfire of a lethal triple-cross and becomes as much a target as his nameless prey. Along the way, Ryan butts heads with local police, including six-shooter-carrying Dick Speed. The book is perhaps best remembered for a sequence taken straight from ''

The Godfather ''The Godfather'' is a 1972 American crime film directed by Francis Ford Coppola, who co-wrote the screenplay with Mario Puzo, based on Puzo's best-selling 1969 novel of the same title. The film stars Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caa ...

'', where thug Virgil plants a shotgun in the meeting place of his victim, in this case, the fire escape of Bobby Lear's hotel room. Also of note is homosexual wannabe gangster Lonnie, whose "superfly" haircut was emulated by several of Elmore Leonard's other characters.

Characters in ''Unknown Man #89''

*Jack Ryan – Detroit process server *Virgil Royal – nasty dude *Tunafish – Associate of Virgil Royal *Dick Speed – local police officer *Jay Walt – Collection Agency Manager *Denise Leary – Wife of Robert Leary, Jr. *Mr. Perez – Businessman *Raymond Gidre – Assistant to Mr. Perez

Notes

According to the revised edition of "Hitchcock" by François Truffaut, Alfred Hitchcock was seriously considering adapting Leonard's novel ''Unknown Man No. 89'', to which he had acquired the rights, as his follow-up film to '' Family Plot'' (1976), his 53rd and final project. He abandoned that idea and considered some other novels, but in 1978 Hitchcock closed his offices and dismissed his staff. There never was a 54th film. In 1980 Hitchcock died.

External links

''Unknown Man#89''
at Elmore Leonard.com 1977 American novels American crime novels Novels by Elmore Leonard Novels set in Detroit {{1970s-crime-novel-stub