Review
"There's nothing like a few rounds with old friends like Matt to take the edge off. " (KirkusReviews.com )
"The deftly handled nostalgic tone this time around adds to the appeal. Fans will certainly appreciate this entry, which recaptures the feel of the best Scudder mysteries of the 1980's and fills in part of the series chronology. That said, it will also likely work as an introduction to the detective for new readers." (Library Journal )
"Scudder fans, and there are many, will enjoy both the mystery and the history, glimpsing characters who did (and didn't) make it into the later story line. And the prose, as always, is like the club soda Scudder sips in the opening pages: cool, fizzy, and completely refreshing." (*Booklist* (starred review) )
"Block is the modern hardboiled master." (George Pelecanos )
Product Description
"The Matthew Scudder novels are among the finest detective novels penned in this century."-Jonathan Kellerman
Matthew Scudder is facing his demons. Forced out of the NYPD, he's given up the drink. He's thinking seriously about his relationship with sometime girlfriend Jan. Then he runs into "High-Low" Jack Ellery, a childhood friend from the Bronx. They're two sides of the same coin: Scudder once solved crimes as a detective. Ellery committed them. In Scudder, Ellery sees the moral man he might have become. In Ellery, Scudder sees the hard-won sobriety he hopes to achieve.
Then Ellery is killed, shot once in the mouth and once between the eyes, presumably while attempting to atone for past sins. Is it what he saw or what he said that got him killed? Ellery had no family, no friends to press for justice. Scudder reluctantly begins his own investigation, with just one lead-Ellery's Alcoholics Annonymous list of people he wronged. One of them may be a murderer, but that's not necessarily Scudder's greatest danger. Immersing himself in Ellery's world may lead him right back to the bar stool.
Exploring themes of loss, nostalgia, and redemption, for Lawrence Block, A DROP OF THE HARD STUFF circles back to how it all began, reestablishing why the Matthew Scudder series is widely regarded as one of the pinnacles of American detective fiction.
Formats : EPUB, MOBI