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Title: Everybody Dies by Lawrence Block, Robert Forster ISBN: 0-7871-1800-1 Publisher: Dove Books Audio Pub. Date: October, 1998 Format: Audio Cassette Volumes: 4 List Price(USD): $25.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.21 (48 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Listening to stories
Comment: Matt Scudder walks and Elaine goes to the gym for exercise. Mick Ballou is a notorious criminal and Grogans, in Hell's Kitchen, is his bar and headquarters. Mick is an unlikely friend for a private detective to have.
Matt is faced with the mystery of two deceased persons, formerly of the North of Ireland, and a substantial amount of twice stolen whiskey. Mick believes he has an enemy. Matt Scudder still attends AA meetings. He usually fits in two or three a week. He enjoys listening to the stories.
On Sunday evenings he eats dinner with his sponsor. When he and his sponsor go out to dinner, by coincidence, they are dressed in similar garb. The sponsor becomes another victim while Matt is using the lavatory. Matt knows his sponsor would destroy his guilty thoughts by pointing out that Matt is just an alcoholic. Matt finds himself explaining to the investigating officers the role of a sponsor in the AA program.
Matt is saved from danger by Mick. Gary Alan Dowling is the son of Patrick Farrelly, a man who had operated in opposition to Mick Ballou. He may have some involvement in the recent matters of conflict. This is an exceptionally dark tale in the Matt Scudder series.
Rating: 4
Summary: violent, but good book
Comment: Lawrence Block's book is violent, and sometimes unintentionally humorous, but interesting. As read by Mr. Forster, whose accent is not bad, but a bit over the top (in places) as it gets more violent at the end. Overall, it is a pretty good introduction to his writing. This is the first book of his I've listened to and have bought the paperback. I will probably look for more of these.
Rating: 3
Summary: Not Everybody Died
Comment: "Everybody Dies" represents author Lawrence Block's attempt to reintroduce the edge that the great private detective Matthew Scudder lost in the previous novel, "Even the Wicked." In "Wicked," Scudder turned into super-sleuth, solving three high profile cases while never coming remotely close to courting physical danger. The result was the weakest novel of the 14 (and counting) in the series. "Everybody Dies" tries to be different. Right off the bat, Scudder is viscously attacked on the street, his AA sponser is killed by a hired gunman who mistakes him for Scudder, and his gangster buddy Mick Ballou's bar is firebombed, which kills a dozen people including Scudder's former mistress. The rest of the novel concerns Scudder and Ballou's search for those responsible in order to take revenge.
All of this sounds exciting, and yet it is curiously rather sterile. In the best Scudder books, the threat is always lurking in the background, including the threat that Scudder might fall off the wagon. Here it seems over the top and not particularly plausible. The leading badguy seems as if he'd be incapable of being organized enough to take on Ballou the way he does and the climatic battle has surprisingly little tension. One problem, I think, is that Scudder has become far too domesticated with his stable marriage and stable life. As a character, he needs to return to the edge. Otherwise his stories will continue to be safe and predictable, rather than daring like the best of the series, no matter how many minor characters Block kills off in the process.
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Title: A Long Line of Dead Men: A Matthew Scudder Mystery by Lawrence Block ISBN: 0380806045 Publisher: Quill Pub. Date: 06 April, 1999 List Price(USD): $12.50 |
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Title: The Devil Knows You're Dead by Lawrence Block ISBN: 038072023X Publisher: Avon Pub. Date: 01 October, 1994 List Price(USD): $7.50 |
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Title: Even the Wicked: A Matthew Scudder Novel by Lawrence Block ISBN: 0380725347 Publisher: Avon Pub. Date: 01 February, 1998 List Price(USD): $7.50 |
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Title: A Dance at the Slaughterhouse by Lawrence Block ISBN: 0380713748 Publisher: Avon Pub. Date: 01 August, 1992 List Price(USD): $7.50 |
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Title: A Walk Among the Tombstones by Lawrence Block ISBN: 0380713756 Publisher: Avon Pub. Date: 01 November, 1993 List Price(USD): $7.50 |
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