Everybody Dies

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful book, can't put it down
Review: I was happy with the burglar series by Lawrence Block when it started, but getting really bored with it lately. When this Mattew Scudder book came out, I was so glad that I bought the hard cover book. And it did not disappoint me. I stayed up all night reading it. Absolutely wonderful.

Rating:
Summary: Block's a hit, everyone will love him
Review: The books editor handed me a package. "Deal with this by next week. The usual arrangements." I'd done this before. The shape of the package felt like there were two books inside. "Who is it? Anyone I know?" "You'll know him by this time next week." Then he turned way, ready to make other calls and other arrangements. Him. In the car I slit open the package. There was no photo, only a name: Lawrence Block. I made some enquiries. It turned out Block was on to a good thing in his line of work. He wrote crime novels, and he didn't waste time. Matt Scudder was the cash cow. Everybody Dies was the fourteenth Scudder mystery. Fourteen? I was already thinking the recipe could be staler than a forgotten bagel. I was in for a surprise. Practice is making this guy Block perfect. His man Scudder was a cop. Now he's a private eye in New York, working in the area where law ends and disorder begins. He has cop friends and criminal friends. One of the bad guys is Mick Ballou, and he's as bad as a three-dollar note. How bad? One time he got rid of a rival crime boss and afterwards carried his head from bar to bar in a bowling bag, inviting people to buy the head drinks. Not the sort of friend with whom you should mix business and pleasure. It turns out Scudder has no choice. Someone is trying to muscle in on Ballou's patch, with a lot of shooting. Friends of Ballou's are meant to go the same way as the crime boss: face down and not breathing. But who has taken such such exception to Ballou? No-one knows, but Scudder is determined to find out and see it through to the end. Scudder is smart. As the story builds he puts on a bullet-proof vest as a bit of insurance against the fearsome number of bullets being sent his way. In the end, everybody dies. Excellent work by Block. I make a mental note to investigate the previous Scudder novels and see what else he's had to do. One down, one to go. Next was Hit Man. Same city, different guy. Block isn't happy with just Scudder. Hit Man is a one-off, about a man named Keller who lives in New York but frequently travels because of his line of work. Keller makes problems go away. He might use a gun, a garrote or his bare hands. Whatever the method, he's good at his job. The problems get solved and stay that way. But Keller's a nice guy. He gets a dog and really loves it - until the dog walker walks off with it. He likes some of the little towns he visits in the course of his work. He'll always drop in on real estate agents and price houses before he makes the problem go away. Not every job is simple. Keller sometimes has to change plans at the last minute. But whatever the challenge, he's up to it. He's a lonely, quiet, polite, unremarkable man. He develops an interest in stamps. He's a psychopath. He reminds me of another guy I met once: Tom Ripley, Patricia Highsmith's anti-hero, who quietly and efficiently made problems go away. The Ripley novels are some of the best crime fiction ever written. Block is no slouch when it comes to this writing caper, that's for sure I returned the package to the books editor with a note: 'Block is a hit. Everybody will love him.'

Rating:
Summary: sharp turn away from the ususal scudder novel
Review: cops and robbers in the old west. doesn't sound like the typical scudder novel. transport your favorite characters to manhattan, add a psycho revenge killer and the murderous mick ballou and you have the ingredients for this pastiche of a scudder novel. die-hard fans will be happy there is a book available - those who appreciate block's usual subtle touch will be amazed. Block was not wearing his scudder cap when he wrote this.

Rating:
Summary: [e-mail]
Review: Sizden Düzenli Olarak Rapor Rica Ediyoru

Rating:
Summary: Another great Scudder novel from Lawrence Block
Review: Lawrence Block's previous Matt Scudder novel, Even the Wicked, was arguably the best in the series. His newest, Everybody Dies, equals that praise. One wonders if the title is a harbinger of either the end of the series or a house-cleaning so Block can take the character in a new direction. Is it to be read like a shrug, as if Block is excusing the occurrences in the book by saying "You know, Everybody Dies, eventually." Or is it a mandate, as in a Spanish or Greek Tragedy, "EVERYBODY DIES!"   Throughout, even until the climax, Block keeps the reader wondering. Often you'll find yourself thinking, "He wouldn't kill Scudder, would he? How can he? Scudder's the narrator, how would he end it? And if not, he wouldn't kill this character or that character, would he?"   Frequent readers of mystery fiction often find it predictable, because you can only have so many twists and turns and stay true to your character or formula. But Block is one of few writers who, while sometimes predictable in very formulaic ways, still satisfies when the moments come. He even uses a few situations that, in a lesser writer's hands, would be cliche. But we accept this from Block because of his presentation.   This is perhaps not the best book for a first-time Scudder reader. I would suggest  the first (Sins of the Fathers) or one in the middle of the series (Ticket to the Boneyard) to introduce new readers. But for Scudder fans, Everybody Dies is one of the best.

Rating:
Summary: Lawrence Block's best effort
Review: I am a big Robert Parker fan. I think he writes the best dialog of any of todays active mystery writers, but LB's latest two novels seriously challenge Parker's preeminence. What truly amazes me is that LB somehow manages to convey to the reader that a character is lying or suspicious without presenting obvious contradictions. It is as if you are in the mind of the protagonist wondering "Why did he say that? Why would he want to know that? What else is going on here?" And LB does this with a brevity of words that should make Robert Parker jealous.

Rating:
Summary: Scudder drinks from a fire hydrant
Review: A roller coaster ride into the dirty underworld and upper world of trying to do right. Scudder finds himself between walking away from a bad thing and diving in full force. Guess which path he chooses! A damn good read! I found myself only reading a few pages a day as so not to end the adventure too soon. All the characters you've learned to know are here. You won't be disappointed!

Rating:
Summary: Best Scudder since "A Walk Among the Tombstones".
Review: The first third of the book is a bit slow, but it develops into a real page-turner. The plot provides some of the best suspense I've seen in a Block mystery. There is great continuity from earlier Scudders. Scudder spends more time on the other side of the law in this one than in any other, but it is not unprecedented. We've seen him cross this line before in Ballou's company and on his own. I believe it was in "A Dance at the Slaughterhouse" where Scudder participates in an armed robbery with Ballou. On his own, in either "A Ticket to the Boneyard" or "Out on the Cutting Edge", I forget which, he exacts the severest form of revenge when he knows that justice will never be served properly. One of the charming things about Scudder is that he often does things, sometimes repeatedly, with the admission that he really doesn't understand why he does them. Sitting alone in churches and "tithing" by stuffing poor boxes or handing large sums to the homeless come to mind. Here, Scudder explains quite clearly his deep feeling of kinship towards Ballou, so I find it unsuprising that we see him on the other side of the law as a by-product of his loyalty. His degree of loyalty blinds him to the image that others may have of him. "When the Sacred Ginmill Closes" and "A Walk Among the Tombstones" remain my two favorites in this series, with "Eight Million Ways to Die" a close runner-up. I would consider this a close runner-up to the latter. Nice work, Mr. Block!

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: Not bad, not great.
Review: I would recommend this book for fans only. I was actually hoping for something a little darker than this. A few friends of Matt's (and several others) do die, but this novel was lacking the excitement (even with the shootouts) and great writing of the earler books which got me hooked on this series. And I thought the ending (the very last page) was pretty lame. Not a book I would recommend to somebody new to the series, though I look forward to the next one.