โ Scribed by Lawrence Block
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
You would think that by the 14th novel in a series, an author might become a bit bored with his characters, a bit sloppy in his writing. Thankfully, Lawrence Block is no such writer. Matt Scudder, in his 14th appearance, is as sharp and entertaining as he is in such mysteries as Eight Million Ways to Die and A Dance at the Slaughterhouse. Scudder is one of the few dicks out there with a fully fleshed-out personality; he's not insensitive to the mayhem around him, and his fears are well founded and realistic. After all, as the title boldly states, we live in a world where everybody dies.
Settled into married life, sober, and finally a legit private eye (the state granted his license), Scudder is prepared to become a respectable high-priced detective working for New York City lawyers. But when his old buddy, Mick Ballou, comes to him because two of his runners end up murdered, Scudder finds himself sinking back into the muck of the underworld. While dodging thugs who are out to put a stop to his investigation, Scudder must figure out who has it in for Ballou.
The writing in this novel is elegant--equally supple in describing the gibbous moon as it is in sorting out Scudder's feelings on the murder of a close friend, or when recounting a rather gory eye plucking. The dialogue is snappy and true to life. Lawrence Block once again proves he's worthy of the title Grand Master of Mystery. So be sure to set aside a chunk of time before you sit down to read this novel, because you're not going to be able to tear yourself away. --Jenny Brown
The body count is indeed high in this latest Matt Scudder tale, which is also the best since A Walk Among the Tombstones (1993)?resonant, thoughtful, richly textured and capped by a slam-bang windup. At the center of the case is Matt's old buddy, Mick Ballou, the murderous and hard-drinking Irish mobster with a deeply philosophical streak who is one of Block's most enduring creations. Two of Mick's henchmen have been killed in what should have been a routine liquor hijacking. After Scudder helps Mick bury the bodies at the mobster's upstate farm, he finds he has been targeted himself. Two hoods try to rough him up on the street, then an old friend, Matt's sponsor at Alcoholics Anonymous, is gunned down in a restaurant after being mistaken for Matt. It soon becomes clear that someone from Ballou's past is aiming to destroy him, and Matt, caught in the crossfire, has to try to determine who's behind the mayhem. He does so in his usual ruminative way, working it out with wife Elaine, streetwise sidekick TJ and old cop comrades who are now, because of his friendship with Ballou, against him. In the end, Matt has to stand alone with Ballou to put a stop to the vendetta in a blaze of gunfire. Block's seamless weave of thought and action, and his matchless gift for dialogue that is true, funny and revealing, have seldom been on more effective display. The pages leading up to the climax have an almost Shakespearean feel for human resignation in the face of mortality.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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