A seasoned veteran of the world’s favourite private detective series will look at the title of this book and think that Mr Block has outdone himself. A quintessential Scudderism, the very name of the tome encapsulates everything the series has stood for, and everything the books have talked about for so long, that the information contained within each volume of this extraordinary series has become embedded into our consciousness. In short, the book’s title is brilliant. The story itself begins (after an all-night stint at Grogan’s with buddy Mick Ballou) as an unofficial investigation into the sudden death of a long lost acquaintance of the world’s favourite PI. John Ellery, (the name of this character a tribute to EQMM?) is a former school friend of Matthew, turns out to be two years sober (twelve months longer than Matt) and after a series of run ins with the law, and narrow escapes from it, he is doing his best to stay clean, stay sober, and to stay alive. After some fascinating conversations with this character, the reader is well on the way to liking him for the steady man he is trying to be when we learn that someone put a bullet into his brain and another into his face. Scudder impresses local detective Dennis Redmond with his theories concerning the motives behind the shootings and the pair agree on what is a good place to start the investigation. Redmond is happy for the Scud to take the lead as the case is not a high profile one, and in Redmond’s words, taken from page fifty: "On the dinner plate of crime, my friend, Jack Ellery is the Brussells Sprouts." I shall say no more of the plot, apart from letting slip this rather cryptic clue: It turns out that as part of Ellery's road back to personal and social redemption, he undertook the twelve step program rather vigorously. The hunt for the killer begins here. The only negative experience I gleaned from the book probably originates with my own mis-interpretation of the series as a whole. I assumed, as this is the final book in the series, that the full cast of much loved characters would be present and accounted for. And given the events of EVERYBODY DIES - a series highlight - some characters are unexpectedly present, whilst others are painfully absent. In anyone else's hands, a book of this nature may seem dry and non eventful. But in the hands of the master of the modern day detective story, this is a compelling, riveting read. Reading a Matthew Scudder story is like jumping onto an express train travelling straight for the centre of noir-dom. Its like going on a roller coaster ride without closing the safety harness. Its like going to the zoo to see the lions and the tigers and the bears (oh, my!) and you notice that the cage door is hanging wide open. Its like walking across the grand canyon on a tightrope and you look down only to see yourself falling, falling, falling and it turns out the grand canyon is a giant bottle of scotch and in reality we are nothing but individual drops of the hard stuff in question. But of course that is just my opinion. Read it, and recognise greatness. BFN Greggorio! A new Matt Scudder mystery is a great thing indeed. This had an air of finality about it though and I certainly hope that isn't the case.It's presented as a flashback to an early case and does a great job of both revisiting popular themes from Matts past as well as introducing new readers to the character and the series recurring themes, places and secondary characters. For fans of the series this works as a nice feeling of nostalgia with Matt looking at paths taken and not taken, his alcoholism, his early sobriety and of course the murder that he eventually has to solve. In this case, the death of an AA friend. Gritty, fatalistic and hard boiled detective fiction at it's best I really can't get enough of Lawrence Block. Thankfully he is fairly prolific.
What do You think about L'Ottavo Passo (2011)?
Excellent story about a former cop who is a recovering alcoholic turned private eye.
—James1214
At what he does, you cannot beat this guy, and you cannot beat this series. Period.
—suman
I have not read a Matthew Scudder book in a long time. Always worthwhile.
—Jana
Alcohol -- AABad copNot as many pithy observations as the Thief series
—Sheeba
