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bitterindigo's review against another edition
4.0
I was so happy to see this because I loved this series SO much and was so sad when it ended. I didn't realize it was a novella, which was a tiny bit disappointing. I also would have loved a denser, twistier mystery. Other than that, I was just happy for a peek at the later lives of Matt and Elaine. I liked the meditative spinning out of their conversations and daily routines. It was sort of melancholy and elegaic, and I really enjoyed it. It made me want to read the whole series again, and look for a few short stories that I think I've missed.
theangrylawngnome's review against another edition
3.0
Sadly, this is a Matt Scudder novella that probably shouldn't have seen the light of day. This is no [b:A Walk Among the Tombstones|162938|A Walk Among the Tombstones (Matthew Scudder, #10)|Lawrence Block|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1348692667s/162938.jpg|74255], [b:A Drop of the Hard Stuff|9547675|A Drop of the Hard Stuff (Matthew Scudder, #17)|Lawrence Block|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1328016886s/9547675.jpg|14434101] or (especially) [b:When the Sacred Ginmill Closes|132111|When the Sacred Ginmill Closes (Matthew Scudder, #6)|Lawrence Block|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1408930722s/132111.jpg|1203196]. And if you're in the mood for something shorter, as this one is probably a bit too short for novel status, get your claws on the short stoyr collection [b:The Night and the Music|12962488|The Night and the Music|Lawrence Block|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1532522590s/12962488.jpg|17883032]. Go read any of those. Better yet, go read all of 'em.
But this is one you can take a pass on if you're not invested in this series as your personal favorite all time number one detective series yes you're pathetic to the point you confuse it with the reality that is New York City level of cringiness. Not that I know anyone like that. Ahem.
None of the characters that made the books memorable appear, though they might get brief mentions: Danny Boy White, Mick Ballou, Joe Durkin, TJ, his sons Michael and Andrew. Even the stuff that made the books memorable -- if slightly incomprehensible to non-NYC residents -- what subway to take to get to the outer boroughs, what bus connections you need to make to really get there and so on. Also, I vaguely remember Joe Durkin announcing he would never retire to Florida in an earlier book. Guess where he is in this one? I guess people do change their mind, but Scudder doesn't even remark on it.
Here's a joke for you:
Q: What was Jesus's greatest miracle?
A: Reaching the age of 30 and having twelve friends.
Maybe Block is trying to make a similar point, that everyone drifts away over time leaving you lonely and a bit isolated as you age? Maybe? The problem is, without these characters the story became generic. The villain certainly was, the kinda, sorta client he took on was, and given the shorter length we didn't get those NYC interludes/side rambles that make the novels so damn readable.
I'm recommending this hardcore Scudder completionists, people who don't mind reading generic detectives and can get it from the library and ... eh, I guess that's it. Block can still turn out very readable prose, so the book isn't awful per se. It just seemed to lack whatever it might be that would make something a Matt Scudder Mystery.
But this is one you can take a pass on if you're not invested in this series as your personal favorite all time number one detective series yes you're pathetic to the point you confuse it with the reality that is New York City level of cringiness. Not that I know anyone like that. Ahem.
None of the characters that made the books memorable appear, though they might get brief mentions: Danny Boy White, Mick Ballou, Joe Durkin, TJ, his sons Michael and Andrew. Even the stuff that made the books memorable -- if slightly incomprehensible to non-NYC residents -- what subway to take to get to the outer boroughs, what bus connections you need to make to really get there and so on. Also, I vaguely remember Joe Durkin announcing he would never retire to Florida in an earlier book. Guess where he is in this one? I guess people do change their mind, but Scudder doesn't even remark on it.
Here's a joke for you:
Q: What was Jesus's greatest miracle?
A: Reaching the age of 30 and having twelve friends.
Maybe Block is trying to make a similar point, that everyone drifts away over time leaving you lonely and a bit isolated as you age? Maybe? The problem is, without these characters the story became generic. The villain certainly was, the kinda, sorta client he took on was, and given the shorter length we didn't get those NYC interludes/side rambles that make the novels so damn readable.
I'm recommending this hardcore Scudder completionists, people who don't mind reading generic detectives and can get it from the library and ... eh, I guess that's it. Block can still turn out very readable prose, so the book isn't awful per se. It just seemed to lack whatever it might be that would make something a Matt Scudder Mystery.
clambook's review against another edition
2.0
Hardly vintage Scudder. Felt like Bloc was a) emptying his notebook of a half-finished plot and b) writing up a threesome fantasy he's been carrying around for years. Highly marginal stuff.
kjcharles's review against another edition
A very late entry in the Matthew Scudder series. I must have started reading these twenty years ago, following Scudder through growing alcoholism, AA, various relationships and friendships and traumas. I don't know if I could read them all again, because the level of violence esp sexual violence against women is high and pretty appalling at points, but the strongest parts were always the personal ones anyway. Scudder's moral evolution, the rambling conversations, the secondary characters, the evolution of New York over decades and of one man's life.
Scudder is retired now, comfortable with Elaine, and this novella doesn't make the mistake of showing any regret for the dying of the light. It's not elegiac, or, worse, a smashing up of their hard-won happiness which would be a betrayal of all the reader's emotional investment because we *worked* for that along with Scudder. Instead we see the old man heave himself out of retirement, on a case that isn't particularly challenging (we never actually see the bad guy on page), more or less as an excuse to find out what happened to TJ and Mick Ballou and Ray Galindez and the rest.
If you don't know who they are you probably won't see the point of this novella. If you do it's a lovely, relatively gentle (in terms of this series) return to a world I lived in for a long time. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Scudder is retired now, comfortable with Elaine, and this novella doesn't make the mistake of showing any regret for the dying of the light. It's not elegiac, or, worse, a smashing up of their hard-won happiness which would be a betrayal of all the reader's emotional investment because we *worked* for that along with Scudder. Instead we see the old man heave himself out of retirement, on a case that isn't particularly challenging (we never actually see the bad guy on page), more or less as an excuse to find out what happened to TJ and Mick Ballou and Ray Galindez and the rest.
If you don't know who they are you probably won't see the point of this novella. If you do it's a lovely, relatively gentle (in terms of this series) return to a world I lived in for a long time. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
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