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A review by daezarkian
A Walk Among the Tombstones by Lawrence Block
4.0
A drug dealer's wife is kidnapped and brutally murdered. The killer or killers have done this before, and they'll do it again.
This was my first delve into Lawrence Block's Matt Scudder mysteries (I picked it up after having seen the film, which I thought was excellent), and I have to say I'll be coming back for more.
Atmospheric, creepy, and perfectly paced, Block's writing is utilitarian almost to a fault, but the narrative propels forward at just the right pace, the bad guys are suitably nasty and the protagonist is wonderfully developed and very real.
The actual plot seems to stray from time to time (a few too many dead ends, even for a mystery), and at times the dialogue feels overly explanatory (which is odd, because most of the time said dialogue is quite good, at times hilarious), but overall I can see why Mr. Block's novels have attracted such a huge body of followers over the years, and I now count myself among them.
This was my first delve into Lawrence Block's Matt Scudder mysteries (I picked it up after having seen the film, which I thought was excellent), and I have to say I'll be coming back for more.
Atmospheric, creepy, and perfectly paced, Block's writing is utilitarian almost to a fault, but the narrative propels forward at just the right pace, the bad guys are suitably nasty and the protagonist is wonderfully developed and very real.
The actual plot seems to stray from time to time (a few too many dead ends, even for a mystery), and at times the dialogue feels overly explanatory (which is odd, because most of the time said dialogue is quite good, at times hilarious), but overall I can see why Mr. Block's novels have attracted such a huge body of followers over the years, and I now count myself among them.