Over time, THE CAPTAIN begins to loathe staff members who mistreat and abuse the elderly patients. He manages to obtain his gun and decides to take an active role as an avenging angel. His first victim is Nurse Kay Latimer, who he feels is nasty and malignant. He next kills landlord Leonard and his spouse for cruelly evicting senior citizens. The police and the media search for a serial killer, but no one would suspect the helpless Captain.

THE CAPTAIN is a reprinting of a classic who-done-it that centers on elder care, a very pertinent issue for baby boomers. The story line is crisp and exciting as THE CAPTAIN takes things into his own hands to revenge abuse and neglect even as no one suspects he is capable of being the killer. Seymour Shubin's story still sends shock waves up and down the reader's spine as it retains, perhaps even more so, its freshness.

Harriet Klausner

As I've become older, it has been increasingly rare that a mystery novel holds my attention beyond a chapter or two. Usually I give up and try something different. Often when goaded, with the promise that the "good stuff" is yet to come, I push on, sometimes happy that I did, more often disappointed. THE CAPTAIN is not one of those books. When Seymour Shubin's THE CAPTAIN arrived, ill-timed though it was amid the confusion of tax preparations, once I started reading I honestly could not put it down. As a mystery writer of sorts myself, I'm impressed, perhaps amazed, at Seymour Shubin's mastery of shifting points of view. Not only do we see the story from different visual perspectives, we are privy to the thoughts of such broadly dissimilar characters as doctors and patients, cops and victims. But Shubin doesn't stop there. Instead, he takes us into the very soul of the characters so that we, the readers, can walk away with an understanding of the motivation behind their conduct, no matter how repugnant, reprehensible, or superficially good. The novel's real strength, however, lies in area that has become somewhat neglected in contemporary mystery writing. Theme. Shubin takes uncommon risks by writing about a subject few of us wish to even think about. He does so with compassion and skill. Without going into details, I will only say that once you've read THE CAPTAIN you may decide to cash in your long-term care policy. And finally, just when you think there will be no more surprises, the knockout final sentence, which sums up what THE CAPTAIN is really about, will leave you thinking about it for a long time to come. Publisher's Weekly had this to say about THE CAPTAIN, "A towering novel that builds to a heart-clutching peak and leaves one profoundly affected." Which may or may not tell you anything; but this I can say for sure, once you read Shubin's novel, you will never forget The Captain.

Here is a story that from the first chapter catches at our fading memories. And something more. Because the mind works in strange ways, many times suppressing or erasing the bad times, the things we did as a child of which we are ashamed, or a little mbarrassed about. If we pick at those memories, sometimes what we discover, is that the reality of those events of years ago are not exactly what we remember.

And sometimes, sometimes, participants in those old memories come back to haunt us. From the very beginning, Shubin's prose takes us first by the hand, and then by the throat. Ben Newman returns to his old neighborhood when his brother's wife dies in a tragic accident. As the spiral tightens and mistakes and missteps by Ben's brother bring police focus to the possibility that the woman was murdered, Ben begins a voyage of discovery. It's a voyage with increasing tension and suspense because Ben begins to discover that perhaps the woman was murdered, not by her husband, Ben's brother, but by someone from Ben's elementary school past. And it appears a killer is stalking Ben's former classmates in an effort to repay an old debt.

The book is properly called psychological suspense, and it is a thriller. Anyone who reads this engaging novel will come away with a different understanding and perhaps an altered perspective on their golden youthful days in elementary school.

At his sister-in-law's funeral, Ellen Strickland informs Ben that an old classmate of theirs, Gerry Havers committed suicide three weeks ago. The next day, Ellen is found dead from a supposed car accident. Another classmate soon dies too. Ben concludes that someone has targeted his elementary school class and he feels he must discover who is the culpriit before anyone else dies.

Seymour Shubin is a gifted storyteller who creates a chilling psychological suspense tale. The tension builds in this work to a degree that readers will feel they ran a three-minute mile by the time they reach the finish line. Mr. Shubin turns his villain into a pitiable person rather than a hard-core evil soul, which leads to conflicting emotions on the part of the audience. No one will complete the novel feeling dissatisfied except with the fact that there is no more pages to read.

Harriet Klausner

The insecure and offensive Sam alienates subordinates, as he fears one of them will take his job. However, he loses his position in a more dramatic style as his corpse is found floating in the Pawtoni River. The police lean towards suicide, but Tom thinks otherwise after going through his boss' files and finding implications that murder might have occurred. Unable to resist, especially when his former employer shockingly offers him work, Tom makes inquiries that lead to more people dying to keep a deadly secret silent.

Though very typical of the medical conspiracy novels, A MATTER OF FEAR is an engaging amateur sleuth tale because readers will like the stubborn high morality of the hero. In spite of the plot not being any different than the usual pharmaceutical company hiding the results of the latest miracle drug that cures by killing, the story line engages the audience who root for Tom to uncover the truth. Because of Tom trying to do the right thing, conspiracy buffs will enjoy Seymour Shubin's tale of medical chicanery.

Harriet Klausner

In a 1970s era setting, Tom Loberg, age 28, lands a job with a vanity arm of a medical publishing house. The imprint issues books the editors don't think will sell particularly well, but that doctor authors will pay to have in print. Tom, though he doesn't like the job or respect his supervisor Sam Glennie, is glad to get a position that will possibly lead to better editorial jobs elsewhere. In the meantime, he meets a girl and falls in love--and acquires a manuscript through her connections. All is day-to-day routine at work until Tom's boss Glennie turns up drowned in the river--a suicide. But maybe not. Maybe Glennie had every reason to live. When Tom begins to think the death was murder, he tries to work out who and why against a peculiar background filled with odd, yet thoroughly believable characters.

Shubin's greatest gift to his readers with this book is his authenticity. The realness of his people and their environment set fire to the suspense, and we, along with Tom, feel for Glennie and the bereaved wife and want to find out how such a thing could have happened. We're carried along right with our protagonist in no uncertain terms. Tom is purely sympathetic, from his reactions to his job, to his growing relationship with Tina, to his identification with Glennie whose life was sucked dry by this terrible workplace.

Tom is a wonderful character, a young man who is wise to the world and growing weary, but who can be caught by the genuineness of a new love and who has a wonderful sense of humor he isn't afraid to exercise.

Shubin, who has had many prior successes, has triumphed with this one, the pages of which readers will scarf up like potato chips. This is a fast and riveting read, different from the numerous pre-plotted stories that have proliferated in the marketplace over the last decade or so. I would definitely suggest this one to real crime fiction fans. No, it's not a cozy, nor is it hardboiled--neither cats nor bloody corpses spoil the fun. G. Miki Hayden, author of Writing the Mystery, a Macavity winner and Agatha and Anthony nomination.

After spending a day at her mother's house in Buffalo, Matt and Laura Kern return to their New Jersey home. However, to their shock, they find that someone broke into the place. Though trashed, very few things seem missing, making Matt wonder why. Matt reflects back to three years ago when Laura and him, and their buddies Vic Caprutti and his girl friend Stacey concocted a scheme. They advertised in a Philadelphia based tabloid: "I will send you my picture for $3.00 ..." Matt thinks the break-in is tied to that previous stunt.

Matt soon learns that Vic is missing. This frightens him as Vic would never disappear on his twin daughters. Matt goes back to the old file containing everything related to that silly advertisement including nasty letters. He begins his own investigation, not knowing the danger that awaits him until he learns that an assailant murdered Vic.

MY FACE AMONG STRANGERS is a strange, but intriguing tale that readers will enjoy due to its mounting suspense. The relationships to Matt of the two prime women in his life seems a bit stretched and unreal. Still, the characters as individuals and their other relationships remain well defined. However, it is the simple story line that grows in tension until the reader feels they cannot cope with any more, only to realize that Seymour Shubin propels the audience further into his grip. Amateur detective fans will quickly recognize Mr. Shubin's name for providing interesting, seemingly mundane, yet entertainingly different tales impacting "Everyperson".

Harriet Klausner

Shubin is a highly talented writer and this novel proves that once again. Look for his other books as well- Anyone's my Name, Never Quite Dead, and The Captain are all excellent reading choices.

As Paul digs deeper into the weird world of the killers he writes about, he himself begins to emulate the behavior of his subjects. Soon Paul becomes the target of a police man hunt. However, his descent does not become complete until a writer of true detective stories wants to tell Paul's story to the world.

Originally published in 1953, ANYONE'S MY NAME was written over a decade before the Supreme Court's Miranda ruling. However, unlike many of the books and movies of that era, this novel not only holds up well in the nineties, it feels as if it has been written from today's headlines. Readers have the rare opportunity to see what makes a killer tick before, during, and after the fatal event. This novel is not just a good detective story, it is a great criminology tale that uses the psychology and philosophy of murder as its basis. If you have not had a taste of Seymour Shubin, one of the all time greats, try this novel. Subsequently, the reader will clamor for more of his literature.

Harriet Klausner

With a tragic enough plot, frighteningly conscience-ravaged antagonists, a relatable hero in David Kyle, and a terrifying climax, Never Quite Dead works as a novel. It is, in fact, a good book. As a murder mystery, it takes a misstep, though. Shubin parallels Kyle's story with the story of the party that is responsible for the murder. However, clues are not presented in a linear fashion and the facts of the murder do not become increasingly apparent throughout the story. Three-quarters of the way through the book, the reader's knowledge of what happened that night is limited to what he/she knew in the first fifty pages of the book. Until final confessions, in fact, the reader knows only which characters are, in some vague way, involved in the death of the boy. Never Quite Dead is at once cold and desolate and again passionate and reaffirming. Ultimately, it is a gratifying read.