Scan barcode
A review by mandalor3960
In the Midst of Death by Lawrence Block
2.0
This book explored Scudder's personality much more than the previous books. A lot more was revealed in his tastes and his opinions regarding sex and women, as well as him slightly having a change of heart about drinking at the end of the story. It did though feel better than 'Time to Murder and Create' but didn't live up in it's plot line to that of 'The Sins of the Father'. I'd consider it having a decent plot line considering the mystery of why Broadfield was charged by a prostitute seems like a great start for a book but the actual suspect and outcome of the story seems far more anticlimactic than the previous books.
Rating Update 3/12/2019 - 3 to 2 stars. I can bet that I didn't like it and it doesn't deserve 3 stars.
Rating Update 4/6/19 - 2 to 1 stars. I can bet that I didn't like it all together.
Update 2 June 2019
With the adoption of my new rating system, a one star rating is befitting. I cannot recall the contents of the book but I remember being bored and disappointed with its contents. A one star rating is a safer rating than a two star rating.
December 29, 2019
Rating Update
One star to two star-rating. I have raised the rating for two reasons. The first is that I believe that the original review reads as though the book followed a two star-rating plot and then had a bland, anticlimactic ending that could warrant a one star-rating.. The second reason is that at this point in reading mystery books, I do not believe I was tired of the genre, seeing that I read mystery books (specifically Matt Scudder books) for a prolonged period of time after this book. I did not mind long buildups and found them to be OK. My previous lowering of the rating was likely because of my current dislike for mystery books.
March 1, 2020
Update
Further support for the two star-rating comes from a memory when I had rented both this book and A Stab in the Dark: A Novel of Suspense from the library. I had placed both books on my night table and recalled their small size and length in pages (both only 192 pages). I believe I was fine with these books because of those reasons. This is a two star-rated feeling. I also finished both books relatively quickly.
April 9, 2020
Update
I have changed the 2R rating type's description from stating that this type includes a "bad one star-rated ending" to rather a "disappointing ending, that could be rated at one or two stars". I have done this because the original review states that the ending was anticlimactic, and I am not sure if this is rated at one or two stars, but I suspect either of them because anticlimactic sounds negative.
May 3, 2024
Update
Based off of what I’ve written, it’s possible this book should receive a 1.5 star-rating. The lack of memory for how I felt towards the book, this absence noted in the previous updates as early as the first one, do make me wonder if to remove the rating all together since I’ve forgotten, but I’ll consider this rating a “legacy rating” of sorts.
I’ve changed the empty and green colored “exact rating” cell in the “Goodreads 5.0.xlsx” spreadsheet to yellow and with the number “2” inside it, to reflect the uncertainty and current choice of rating.
Update 2 June 2019
With the adoption of my new rating system, a one star rating is befitting. I cannot recall the contents of the book but I remember being bored and disappointed with its contents. A one star rating is a safer rating than a two star rating.
December 29, 2019
Rating Update
One star to two star-rating. I have raised the rating for two reasons. The first is that I believe that the original review reads as though the book followed a two star-rating plot and then had a bland, anticlimactic ending that could warrant a one star-rating.. The second reason is that at this point in reading mystery books, I do not believe I was tired of the genre, seeing that I read mystery books (specifically Matt Scudder books) for a prolonged period of time after this book. I did not mind long buildups and found them to be OK. My previous lowering of the rating was likely because of my current dislike for mystery books.
March 1, 2020
Update
Further support for the two star-rating comes from a memory when I had rented both this book and A Stab in the Dark: A Novel of Suspense from the library. I had placed both books on my night table and recalled their small size and length in pages (both only 192 pages). I believe I was fine with these books because of those reasons. This is a two star-rated feeling. I also finished both books relatively quickly.
April 9, 2020
Update
I have changed the 2R rating type's description from stating that this type includes a "bad one star-rated ending" to rather a "disappointing ending, that could be rated at one or two stars". I have done this because the original review states that the ending was anticlimactic, and I am not sure if this is rated at one or two stars, but I suspect either of them because anticlimactic sounds negative.
May 3, 2024
Update
Based off of what I’ve written, it’s possible this book should receive a 1.5 star-rating. The lack of memory for how I felt towards the book, this absence noted in the previous updates as early as the first one, do make me wonder if to remove the rating all together since I’ve forgotten, but I’ll consider this rating a “legacy rating” of sorts.
I’ve changed the empty and green colored “exact rating” cell in the “Goodreads 5.0.xlsx” spreadsheet to yellow and with the number “2” inside it, to reflect the uncertainty and current choice of rating.