SOURCE: "Balloon in the Wind," in Los Angeles Times Book Review, June 14, 1992, p. 12.

In the following review, Harris emphasizes the theatrical aspect of Black Novel.

In New York City, an expatriate Argentine writer named Agustin Palant buys a pistol for protection. One evening he takes a walk on the wild side. Among the pimps and drug pushers lurking in doorways is a mysterious man who gives him a ticket to one of the theaters that honeycomb the slums. An actress in the play he sees invites Palant to her apartment. The script seems to call for seduction, but instead Palant shoots her in the head.

Why? The question, like the echo of the shot, reverberates in Palant's mind and almost shakes it apart. This is murder without a motive. Nothing in his life, he thinks, has led up to it. He takes refuge in the home of his...