Hope to Die

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Summary: Matt Scudder investigates the murder of a wealthy couple.
Review: Lawrence Block is known as a writer's writer, and for good reason. He effortlessly creates memorable characters, and his dialogue is witty, fast-paced and entertaining. Block's latest novel in the Matthew Scudder series is "Hope to Die," and it is as good as any that he has written.

At 62, Matt Scudder (a former cop and private investigator) is now a man of leisure. He has battled alcoholism for years, and even though he is now sober, he continues to attend AA meetings regularly. He is living in Manhattan with his wife, Elaine, and they have more than enough money to make ends meet. Elaine and Matt attend quite a few concerts these days, and Susan and Byrne Hollander happen to be at the same concert as Matt and Elaine one night. Susan and Byrne are a writer and a lawyer who live in a fabulous home in Manhattan. After they return from the concert, they are murdered in an apparent "home invasion." The only heir to their fortune is their daughter, Kristin, a woman in her twenties, who finds their bodies. Shortly after the murder, the two perps who apparently committed the crime are found dead in a Brooklyn apartment, in what seems to be a murder/suicide. The police officially close the case.

Matt and his droll, street-smart and computer-savvy sidekick, TJ, take on Kristin as an unofficial client, since Matt wants to dig into the case further. He believes that there is more to these murders then meets the eye. Unfortunately, as more corpses pile up, it becomes apparent that Matt is right--a psychotic killer with his own agenda is at work.

Matt uses his many contacts and his sharp mind to track down the killer, who is always one step ahead of him. This time, it seems, Scudder has met his match, since the killer is fearless, clever, and elusive. "Hope to Die" is by turns suspenseful, dryly humorous and chilling as Block skillfully unveils the truth about what really happened to the Hollanders. If you pick up this book, don't expect to put it down easily. It's a brisk page-turner and another triumph for the talented Lawrence Block.

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Summary: This book is to DIE for!
Review: New York's best unlicensed private detective, Matthew Scudder, is back after a three year absence in this very welcome, fifteenth volume in the series. Mystery lovers can only hope that it won't be the last.

Scudder might be showing his age (he's now 62!) and slowing down just a little, but his mind and his instincts are as sharp as they've ever been. He needs all of his experience and resources, too, in order to solve a brutal crime that everyone else, including the police, is satisfied to forget.

Many authors would be showing their boredom and fatigue with a character after twenty-five years, but such is definitely not the case with Lawrence Block and Matthew Scudder. The series is as fresh, exciting and brilliant as it ever was. Block truly is the master of the detective novel.

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Summary: Birth of a serial killer
Review: When a young woman finds her parents brutally murdered, the NYPD track the killers to an apartment near Coney Island.Their two bodies are found a week after the first murder, an apparent murder-suicide.Matt Scudder, a retired cop and de-licensed P.I, is somehow dissatisfied by the murder scenes, feeling that they look too "pat".With the approval of the daughter of the murdered first couple, and the assistance of his street smart assistant TJ, Matt follows a computer generated trail to get close to the murderer. Mr.Block leads the reader on a cleverly laid red herring trail first of all and then finally to the realization that this is the work of a psycopath who is getting his kicks from the sheer thrill of killing someone. Lawrence Block is a very stylish writer with such an easy flow of words that his book kept me up reading, far too late into the night.