- Paperback: 240 pages
- Publisher: Orion; New Ed edition (6 July 2000)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0752834517
- ISBN-13: 978-0752834511
- Product Dimensions: 11.1 x 1.5 x 17.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 607,448 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
A Stab in the Dark: Matthew Scudder Series, Book 4
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Product Description
Product Description
Eight girls died at the hands of a psychopath armed with an ice-pick but the killer has never been brought to justice, even though nine years have passed. Scudder is hired to track the maniac down, but does following a trail that old mean that the killer is long gone, or just waiting in the scenes?
About the Author
Lawrence Block was awarded the CWA Cartier Diamond Dagger in 2004. He is also a Grand Master of the Mystery Writers of America. He is the author of many novels and short stories and has won numerous awards for his mystery writing. He lives and works in New York City.
Inside This Book
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First Sentence
I didn't see him coming. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
I didn't see him coming. Read the first page
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Concordance
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Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I have to admit that I came to this novel as a real fan of crime fiction, though I had never read any of Lawrence Block's books before. Having read this, one of a long series of novels featuring the unofficial private detective and ex-cop, Matt Scudder, I can say that it certainly won't be my last.
Matt Scudder himself is an excellent character, worthy of appearing in a series of novels. An ex-cop who left the force for personal reasons and now battles as much against the bourbon bottle as he does against criminals on the mean streets of New York City. This is just the kind of intelligent, well-written, dark crime writing that raises the genre up toward the status of genuine contemporary literature.
The plot in this novel is very interesting as Scudder re-opens an old case which involved a serial killer murdering young women with an ice pick. One of the victim's parents hires Scudder because he thinks maybe his daughter was killed by a copycat instead of the man convicted.
One other enjoyable aspect of the book is the portrait of the Big Apple it gives us. As you travel the city with Scudder you really have the feeling of being there.
Other novels in the series await my investigation, and hopefully yours too.
Format:Paperback
Why is Lawrence Block not rated as one of the greatest detective novellists ever? Scudder is a creation of geniuis. On the whole, not much of a man. A drunk, a former slightly bent copper, a lousy husband and father, a drop out, a killer when necessary and yet a man you can't help liking. An intelligent tenacious detective and a man you'd want to have on your side in a crisis. He has his own morality and i think what i like about him is that although not completely divorced from society he sort of rubs along in parrallel with it, doing what's necessary to get him through life a day at a time. As the Scudder series progresses he gets himself on a much more even keel and becomes fairly respectable but he never loses the edge and is never more than a step away from the underbelly of New York.
I have never been to New York so cannot judge, but i believe Blocks portrayal of the city may be very accurate. I am also not an alcoholic but i used to be a fairly regular drinker and have associated, from both sides of the bar, with people who were well on the way to alcoholism, so I believe very strongly that the portrayal of the transition from drunk to sober with the lapses in between is probably spot on. The Scudder stories are not comfortable, gentle country house murders with little old ladies or improbable belgian detectives with unlikely moustaches solving crimes committed by, on the whole, a rather refined class of villain, they are hard, gritty, sometimes vicious stories from a world that most of us can be thankful that we're no closer to that its periphery. The stories are all good, mostly very good, but it's really more the character study of the man that is so fascinating.
I have never been to New York so cannot judge, but i believe Blocks portrayal of the city may be very accurate. I am also not an alcoholic but i used to be a fairly regular drinker and have associated, from both sides of the bar, with people who were well on the way to alcoholism, so I believe very strongly that the portrayal of the transition from drunk to sober with the lapses in between is probably spot on. The Scudder stories are not comfortable, gentle country house murders with little old ladies or improbable belgian detectives with unlikely moustaches solving crimes committed by, on the whole, a rather refined class of villain, they are hard, gritty, sometimes vicious stories from a world that most of us can be thankful that we're no closer to that its periphery. The stories are all good, mostly very good, but it's really more the character study of the man that is so fascinating.
Format:Paperback
essentially overall it was a good book but i found it very hard to keeo everybody straight and who was involved with who. and i never really followed the investigation very well so when the guilty guy was revealed i had no idea where that had come from.
so unfortunately this is why i found this book average
so unfortunately this is why i found this book average
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