Available:*
Library | Call Number | Status |
---|---|---|
Searching... McMinnville Public Library | Block, L. | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Sheridan Public Library | Block Matthew Scudder v.10 | Searching... Unknown |
Bound With These Titles
On Order
Summary
Summary
Block's last Scudder mystery, A Dance at the Slaughterhouse, was called smoothly paced, deftly plotted, outstanding by the Chicago Tribune. Now Block is poised to break through with his hottest, freshest look at the Big Apple's dark side. A heroin wholesaler haggles with kidnappers over his wife's ransom, and she comes back in pieces. But Scudder is on the killers' trail in no time.
Author Notes
Lawrence Block is the author of the popular series' featuring Bernie Rhodenbarr, Matthew Scudder, and Chip Harrison. Over 2 million copies of Lawrence Block's books are in print. He has published articles and short fiction in American Heritage, Redbook, Playboy, GQ, and The New York Times, and has published several collections of short fiction in book form, most recently Collected Mystery Stories.
Block is a Grand Master of Mystery Writers of America. He has won the Edgar and Shamus awards four times, the Japanese Maltese Falcon award twice, as well as the Nero Wolfe award. In France, he was proclaimed a Grand Maitre du Roman Noir and has been awarded the Societe 813 trophy twice. Block was presented with the key to the city of Muncie, Indiana, and is a past president of the Private Eye Writers of America and the Mystery Writers of America.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (4)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Hammer proves a good choice as reader of this top-notch noir thriller, first published in 1992 and recently adapted into a major motion picture. When the wife of drug trafficker Kenan Khoury is kidnapped, held for ransom, and then brutally murdered, he asks Matt Scudder-the troubled ex-NYPD detective, recovering alcoholic, and unlicensed PI-to find out who did it. Scudder reluctantly takes on the case. With the help of his street-smart computer wiz protégé, T.J., some old NYPD contacts, and a lot of good old-fashioned gumshoeing, Scudder uncovers a slew of killings that may be connected to the murder of his client's wife. The audio edition of Block's hardboiled tale is plagued by poor editing with overly long pauses between paragraphs and dialogue. Still, if the listener is able to grow accustomed to the pacing, Hammer has a great feel for the material and takes full advantage of Block's atmospheric prose to paint a rich portrait of early 1990s New York City. His gruff, gravelly voice fits perfectly with Scudder's world-weary first-person narration, and he brings the book's wide range of characters to life with distinctive, individual voices. A William Morrow paperback. (Sept.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Kirkus Review
Earlier this year, the mystery community paid tribute to Block's extraordinary Matt Scudder series by awarding 1991's A Dance at the Slaughterhouse--not quite the series' finest--an Edgar for Best Mystery. Scudder's new outing, his tenth, lives up to the honor as the brooding, alcoholic p.i. takes on a pair of sadistic thrill-killers. Block opens with some stylistic flash, intercutting third- person narration of the abduction-murder of a Brooklyn drug- dealer's wife with Scudder's account of his own mundane doings the day of the crime. The p.i.'s voice takes over entirely, explaining how the dealer's brother, a fellow AA member, asked him to look into the killing--a particularly vicious crime, with the victim, despite a ransom payment, returned in butchered pieces. Slowly--the action takes a while to boil--Scudder sniffs up leads with much help from his pals--not gangster Mick Ballou, who dominated the p.i.'s last three cases but who's now visiting Ireland, but other series veterans, including lover/call-girl Elaine and T.J., a spunky young hustler. And a pair of newcomers, the Kongs, teenage outlaw hackers whose midnight ramble through the phone company's computers provides a welcome light note as well as valuable clues. The case breaks when another drug-dealer's daughter is snatched, leading to a skin-prickling showdown with the killers at a Brooklyn cemetery, and to a grim and vicious blood-revenge. The story concludes, though, with Scudder fumbling toward a new alliance with Elaine, and with an alcoholic's suicide--affecting examples of the frailty, courage, and moral uncertainty that are Block's real subjects. The Edgar Award merely confirmed what Block's fans already know--that Matt Scudder is the most appealing and richly human p.i. working today. And this exciting, moving, immensely satisfying case proves it.
Booklist Review
Matthew Scudder, Block's refreshingly amoral private detective, returns to assist high-level drug dealers whose family members are being kidnapped for ransom and returned in shopping bags. Scudder, who once carried a police detective's gold shield before falling victim to alcoholism, divides his time between AA meetings and stalking the stalkers through all means fair and foul. How does Block get people like drug dealers to come off looking like the good guys? By contrasting them with human monsters even worse. This book is sure to give a reader's value system a tweak or two. Classically executed hard-boiled detective fiction in the noir tradition, by the winner of Edgar, Shamus, Nero Wolfe, and Maltese Falcon awards. ~--Elliott Swanson
Library Journal Review
The kidnapped wife of New York drug dealer Kenan Khoury is brutally murdered, despite payment of ransom. Khoury hires former NYPD detective Matt Scudder to find those responsible. Using well-honed detective skills, street smarts, and connections within the NYPD, Scudder uncovers the awful truth. The killers, who first acted out of blood lust, turned to extortion and now target the families of the city's drug underworld. They have captured the daughter of a Russian gangster, and Scudder races against time to save the girl. Longtime fans of the series will recognize many of the characters appearing here, including cops, shady streetwise types, alcoholics, and junkies, though Block provides enough background to inform newcomers. Scudder's own battle against alcoholism winds throughout the story, along with his ongoing relationship with a call girl. Narrator Mark Hammer does an excellent job presenting the story. Verdict This reissue of the 1992 book coincides with the release of its film adaptation; highly recommended to all mystery and police procedural fans.-Stephen L. Hupp, West Virginia Univ. Parkersburg Lib. © Copyright 2015. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.