RARA-AVIS: New Lawrence Block

From: William Denton ( buff@pobox.com)
Date: 23 Apr 2005


There was some talk a few weeks ago about the new Matt Scudder book by Lawrence Block, ALL THE FLOWERS ARE DYING. Some folks really liked it and one or two didn't.

As I said, I didn't like the previous Scudder, HOPE TO DIE (2001), at all. I got the new one at the library and gave it a read, and I don't dislike it as much, even though it's another one where the serial killer has his own chapters in italics (the same guy as from the last book). It's graphically violent, enough to repel some people.

What disappointed me was that for all the action in the book, nothing new happens. Same evil genius villain, same TJ, same Danny Boy drinking vodka, same Mick Ballou, same situation at the end of the book as happened years earlier. It ends with questions about the future, but will the next book turn still further inwards? I like Block's writing and Scudder telling the story, but that New York is getting very cramped. Maybe the next one could do way with any crime and just be a story about Scudder and Elaine and their regular daily lives. That would be the same old stuff but in a new way, and a change from the stasis the series is in.

Bill

-- 
William Denton : Toronto, Canada : http://www.miskatonic.org/



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This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : 23 Apr 2005 EDT