Rating: 
Summary: Lots Of Action But Only A Fair Plot
Review: In Everybody Dies Lawrence Block provides lots of action but the plot tends to ramble at times, is somewhat disjointed, and is fairly predictible. Overall, Everbody Dies will maintain your interest, although it is not a book that will keep you glued to your seat. Further, it is not in quite the same class as many of the earlier Scudder books -- e.g. When The Sacred Ginmill Closes, A Dance At The Slaughterhouse, and Sins Of The Fathers. Like some other reviewers, I'm starting to be concerned that Block is losing some of his edge in this series. Scudder continues to be one of my favorite fictional characters and I'll remain a loyal reader of this series with the hope that Block will return to his earlier form.
Rating: 
Summary: One of his best Scudder novels!
Review: After many years of Matt Scudder, unlicensed PI, he has finally become licensed. As Matt, himself puts it he is on his way to becoming respectable and a high-priced detective. "Everybody Dies," is one of the best in the series of 14 novels in the series written by one of America's best detective novelist, Lawrence Block. I have read all the books in the series, except "In the Midst of Death," have enjoyed them all with exception of "Even the Wicked," and look forward to number 15 when ever its published. Over the years we follow Scudder from being an alcoholic with always a drink in hand, through this meetings of AA as a recovering alcoholic to the present, a sober alcoholic. We live with him as his relationship with call girl Elaine Mardell, who gives up the profession, grows. They live together and become a married couple a novel back. Block introduces TJ, the street wise African-American. TJ assists Scudder, at first, and later becomes as disposable as his right arm. By the close of "Everybody Dies," TJ has become Matt and Elaine's surrogate son. (Matt was married before, divorced and is the father of two sons, now grown. Friend Mike Ballou can't tell the officials about the two men who broke into his New Jersey storehouse, the stolen booze and their murder. Mike enlists Matt to help bury the two on his upstate New York farm. The two deaths lead to many others as the title suggests and threats on Matt's life. It's another can't put-it-down suspense novel. I truly enjoy reading Lawrence Block. Not only have I read all the books in this series but the Bernie Rhodenbarr "The Burglar Who..." series as well. Block has several other series which I will "attack and devour" next before going on to his stand alone novels. Thank you Lawrence Block!
Rating: 
Summary: Listening to stories
Review: 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:
Summary: One of the best of a great series
Review: I've never quite understood what it is with Block's Scudder novels. Here we have a series of tightly plotted, beautifully written novels from a writer with a gift for creating interesting characters and great dialog; these are the novels Robert Parker would write if he could. Somehow, though, they never seem to break through (just compare the Amazon sales ranking for this book with those for Kellerman's "Billy Straight" or even Cornwell's incoherent "Point of Origin"). Perhaps it's because Block can seem like several writers sharing the same name - the author of the Evan Tanner series vs. the author of the Matt Scudder series vs. the author of the Bernie Rhodenbarr series - so readers may not know what to expect when they see the latest Block on the (real or virtual) bookstore shelf. If they pass this one up, though, it's their loss. This is hard-boiled detective fiction done to absolute perfection, and ranks up at the top not only of Block's output (although "Eight Million Ways to Die" still finds a soft spot in my heart), but among the great works of the genre going back all the way back to Hammett and Chandler. Hyperbole? Perhaps. Buy it anyway.
Rating:
Summary: Scudder's back, but where's his conscience?
Review: In EVERYONE DIES, Matthew Scudder is back for his 14th visit and Lawrence Block writes in his peerless fashion. The action is intense, the dialogue is dynamic, and the characterizations are tightly and realistically drawn. All seems well and Block seems to have recovered from the uninteresting and dull Scudder presented in the last novel of the series, EVEN THE WICKED. Scudder, in the earlier novels, was an enigmatic protagonist, driven by a clear and appropriate sense of good and evil, even while struggling with personal demons of alcoholism, loneliness, and despair (read A TICKET TO THE BONEYARD or A WALK AMONGST THE TOMBSTONES). In the more recent offerings, Scudder has sobered up, gotten married, and become a much less riveting character. Block has elevated the action in this story of murder and revenge as Scudder helps his criminal friend, Mick Ballou, fight back against enemies who mean to destroy him and his criminal enterprise and who target Scudder for death. However, despite the action and plot, the nature of Scudder seems to have become less noble, and he is more willing to allow the choice of evil as a part of his life. Scudder has settled into an existential place where he lives, now with a less appropriately defined sense of justice, and is willing to allow Ballou any measure of revenge, no matter how morally lacking. He is resigned to an inevitable march to death, and is carried along rather than driving the story. It may be that this is the necessary character development, given previous plot developments, but we personally liked the binge-drinking, lonelier and more profane Scudder, and hope that he will some day return.
Rating:
Summary: violent, but good book
Review: 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:
Summary: Not Everybody Died
Review: "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.
Rating:
Summary: Scudder is back!!!
Review: After a huge dip -- lasting three books -- in the quality of this detective series by the very talented Lawrence Block, it's great to see Matt Scudder return in true form. The terror, the horror, the hard edge is all here. Some of the best dialogue of the genre has been a trademark of the finest works in the Scudder mysteries, and it has returned at full strength. The fear and antipation that Block is so skilled in creating is also in full force here. It's a first class mystery, terror at its chilling best, bloodbath horror that has no fictional equal. Thank you for returning Matt to his roots, Mr. Block. Welcome back, Mathew.
Rating:
Summary: scudder rises again
Review: great news for all matt scudder fans, bolck is back in top form. This time he's out help put old pal mick ballou, one of the great charactors in this sereis. The dialouge is great and the the nove is loaded with suspense. Thsi and Michael Fox's Luck to lose wer my two favorite novel's of the year
Rating:
Summary: Another extraordinary mystery from the Master.
Review: This latest entry in the Matt Scudder seires is a haunting powerful tale of life, death, and loss. Scudder, the private investigator and reformed drunk, is older now; perhaps not wiser, but clearly interested in slowing down. He's married, he actually has a license from the state, he's not the carefree man he was ten or twenty years ago. Scudder's life, though, will not necessarily allow him to just walk away. In particular, his close friendship with organized crime "boss" Mick Ballou proves very troublesome. Some unknown gang is attacking Ballou and his associates, and Matt finds himself caught up in the middle of it. Despite his ties to Ballou, he still tries to stay out of it. Friendship will only carry him so far. But when his own life is threatened as well, he is left with little choice. The plot is interesting and suspenseful, the mystery entertaining as Block's always are. But more than that, this is a moving book, a book that touches you and makes you think. The title Everybody Dies may be more figurative than literal, but there is still enough death and pain in this book to reach even the coldest heart.
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