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3.89 AVERAGE
3.89 AVERAGE
Matthew Scudder hunts down an occasional kidnapping but mostly serial killing duo in the vein of Lake/Ng or Bianchi/Buono in what's one of his more interesting detective tales but, for mine, the Scudder books are more about the personalities, characters and Matt's constant struggle with alcoholism and depression than the crime stuff and this book is a bit lacking in that regard. Still a great read though, and if it were a new author I'd have given it 5 stars.
Dropped off in chapter 6/18. Just SO slow with the narrator. Felt unfortunately generic in a world of thousands of episodes of NCIS equivalents. Story wasn't compelling enough to keep me when my detective is dull as dirt.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Drug use, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Antisemitism, Islamophobia, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Deportation
Such a good book.
Granted I only heard of it once I saw the trailer for the film.
I did go into it thinking it was a who-dunnit, so was quite taken aback that you find out who the killers are quite on.
But none the less it was a thrilling read.
Though a mild warning the movie deflects a lot from the book.
A good movie yet once again they unnecessarily changed bits and have taken away charaters.
Granted I only heard of it once I saw the trailer for the film.
I did go into it thinking it was a who-dunnit, so was quite taken aback that you find out who the killers are quite on.
But none the less it was a thrilling read.
Though a mild warning the movie deflects a lot from the book.
A good movie yet once again they unnecessarily changed bits and have taken away charaters.
Extremely good. Scudder continues to gain depth with every book.
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Worth staying up late to finish, but damn, it’s gonna suck when my alarm goes off in a few hours.
I'm trying to think of reasons to give this less than five stars. Because it was different to the movie? The movie added a bit, threw out one outdated computer subplot and added another, made TJ sickle-cell anemic. In the book TJ even jokes 'if this was a movie then...' and then he does it in the movie! Layers of meaning!
Another possible reason to lop off a star is the image I have of body parts being removed with various sharp objects. Less layers of meaning there, but there's some.
When I realised the book was set in 1992 I got excited because I thought Lawrence Block predicted Y2K, but I think it's easier to just say "the internet" rather than explain how he found everything. Kids these days never seen a payphone.
Another possible reason to lop off a star is the image I have of body parts being removed with various sharp objects. Less layers of meaning there, but there's some.
When I realised the book was set in 1992 I got excited because I thought Lawrence Block predicted Y2K, but I think it's easier to just say "the internet" rather than explain how he found everything. Kids these days never seen a payphone.
A good, solid detective story. It’s hard-boiled in all the right ways and soft when it needs to be.
Some of the characters are a little dated and tropey but that may be a result of when it was written rather than prejudice by the author. I can’t say for sure cause I don’t know a whole lot about the author though so keep it in mind.
Also, it’s not the kind of mystery book you can solve along the way. It’s more like a thriller you follow along with. This isn’t a complaint just a heads up for genre preference purposes.
Some of the characters are a little dated and tropey but that may be a result of when it was written rather than prejudice by the author. I can’t say for sure cause I don’t know a whole lot about the author though so keep it in mind.
Also, it’s not the kind of mystery book you can solve along the way. It’s more like a thriller you follow along with. This isn’t a complaint just a heads up for genre preference purposes.