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bundy23's review against another edition
4.0
Much better than the first Matthew Scudder book, I can see myself flying through the rest of these...
sonofthe's review against another edition
4.0
Scudder is approached by an old confidential informant of his. He’s worried that someone’s out to get him and, in case he shows up dead, he wants Scudder to solve his murder.
More hard-boiled goodness from Block. I’m glad there are so many of his books for me to go through.
Alan Sklar continues as an excellent narrator.
More hard-boiled goodness from Block. I’m glad there are so many of his books for me to go through.
Alan Sklar continues as an excellent narrator.
hpuphd's review against another edition
4.0
Reviewers here refer to the Scudder novels as escapist or as “mindless entertainment” perhaps because they are genre novels or because they were popular. Block’s attention, however, seems to be more on the main character and his damaged state of mind than on the plot and its resolution. Scudder wants to hang on to whatever integrity he still may have, and he seems to see that as connected somehow to his loneliness. This is a good entry and worth reading, but overall it is less than the first and third books.
boleary30's review against another edition
4.0
A very good follow up to the first of the series, the main character is very strong and will keep you reading.
nocto's review against another edition
As in SOTF the plot here is a bit obvious, but I enjoyed the book all the same. Another short and sweet read.
roe_'s review against another edition
3.75
a lot of fun to read. the plot was maybe not the best i've ever seen in a detective noir novel, but Scudder is a great character and i never got bored
nantoka_neko's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
jakewritesbooks's review against another edition
4.0
About ten years ago, I spent a summer working an internship and living with three other people. During the week, I bided time until the weekend, when I could go hang out with my then girlfriend, who lived about an hour away. But until then, there wasn’t much to do where I was at and the four of us were all broke interns. So I killed time reading and doing other stuff.
The job I was at had a cart full of random books. One day, I grabbed a Lawrence Block novel to waste away an evening. Wasn’t bad. Didn’t move me much one way or the other.
About eight years later, I grabbed another Matthew Scudder book on a whim. Killed a lazy afternoon with it. Again, not bad.
Recently, I was jonesing for a gritty crime tale set in 70s NYC. Inspiration struck and I decided to look up another Matthew Scudder novel. I realized that I had read the first and third in the series but not Time to Murder and Create, which is number two. So I dived in.
Again, not bad. Maybe slightly better than the other two? The case itself was more interesting than what I remember from the other two. The book has too many cliches (What’s more cliche than an alcoholic ex-cop PI?) but it’s an easy read and better than most PI fare. Has an interesting resolution too on the morality that Scudder is always grappling with.
I have a feeling I’ll look up one day and realize I read the entirety of the series with a string of “not bad” reviews.
2023 re-read:
This is the second time I've come out of a Matthew Scudder re-read with a better impression than the first time I read it.
How it bodes for the rest of the series, I don't know. Originally, I thought the first three books fine, if a little familiar and derivative.
But upon rereading this, #2 in the series, you can already see how Block is trying to subvert the genre, making Matt more than just an alcoholic PI and armchair philosopher. These are great New York books because they never let you forget how New York traps people like flies to flypaper: the allure, the glory and the crushing depression of the 1970s.
Maybe it's because I'm getting into dad-lit more (guilty as charged) or perhaps because I know Scudder's fate, I can appreciate what Block was doing with these earlier in his career. Nevertheless, this was another winner, which makes me curious how I'll feel about more favored novels in the series as I revisit them.
The job I was at had a cart full of random books. One day, I grabbed a Lawrence Block novel to waste away an evening. Wasn’t bad. Didn’t move me much one way or the other.
About eight years later, I grabbed another Matthew Scudder book on a whim. Killed a lazy afternoon with it. Again, not bad.
Recently, I was jonesing for a gritty crime tale set in 70s NYC. Inspiration struck and I decided to look up another Matthew Scudder novel. I realized that I had read the first and third in the series but not Time to Murder and Create, which is number two. So I dived in.
Again, not bad. Maybe slightly better than the other two? The case itself was more interesting than what I remember from the other two. The book has too many cliches (What’s more cliche than an alcoholic ex-cop PI?) but it’s an easy read and better than most PI fare. Has an interesting resolution too on the morality that Scudder is always grappling with.
I have a feeling I’ll look up one day and realize I read the entirety of the series with a string of “not bad” reviews.
2023 re-read:
This is the second time I've come out of a Matthew Scudder re-read with a better impression than the first time I read it.
How it bodes for the rest of the series, I don't know. Originally, I thought the first three books fine, if a little familiar and derivative.
But upon rereading this, #2 in the series, you can already see how Block is trying to subvert the genre, making Matt more than just an alcoholic PI and armchair philosopher. These are great New York books because they never let you forget how New York traps people like flies to flypaper: the allure, the glory and the crushing depression of the 1970s.
Maybe it's because I'm getting into dad-lit more (guilty as charged) or perhaps because I know Scudder's fate, I can appreciate what Block was doing with these earlier in his career. Nevertheless, this was another winner, which makes me curious how I'll feel about more favored novels in the series as I revisit them.
iniya's review against another edition
3.0
My first matthew scudder and i am not disappointed... short and pacy, I didn't guess the killer correctly bcos I thought that was too obvious, but well..!!