I was up until 2am reading this, frustrated with my sleepiness. I started reading again with my coffee this morning. I just couldn't stop.

The central plot seems a bit silly now because we know that there were no murderous satanic cults sacrificing babies at Day Care Centers, the chick from Cannibal Holocaust is still alive and well, Guinea Pig was done with special effects, etc. It all became sickeningly real with the advent of the Internet and easy/cheap digital recording, but in the late '80s it was nothing but an urban legend.

But, child exploitation and pornography was a nasty little problem then (and now), Block got that exactly right and it was enough to hold the central premise of the book.

I usually dislike it when authors throw two plots together and try to make them stick. Most authors do this poorly and it just seems lazy. Block did it brilliantly by keeping the focus of Scudder's investigation within a small part of the city and within the same profession. That made it believable. Working in NYC is the same as working anywhere else - Everybody knows, or has heard of, everyone else. Names, faces and resumes float around in a limited area and people's names live on the edge of your memory and the tip of your tongue. (This was even true when I was in social work in NYC.)

The same is true for people who live in your neighborhood, especially if you see them every day.

So, I was really impressed with the way that Block pulled this book together.

I am absolutely loving this series. I just can't stop reading. ( )

This was surprisingly good, and I kept laughing out loud. Some of the conversations between Scudder and his cop friend, discussing the case, are freaking hilarious. It has nothing to do with a slaughterhouse, it has to do with an ex NYC detective looking to prove that a husband killed his wife. His, the husband's story, was that they walked in on a burglary, hit the husband and wife, tied them up and raped and killed the wife. But she had money, and a hefty life insurance policy. Along the way, Scudder runs into a pair who create and execute snuff pornography videos, and he wonders if he can possibly tie the two cases together. I'll be reading more of this series. ( )

Matt Scudder allies with gangster friend to eliminate otherwise unreachable murderous couple

I was up until 2am reading this, frustrated with my sleepiness. I started reading again with my coffee this morning. I just couldn't stop.

The central plot seems a bit silly now because we know that there were no murderous satanic cults sacrificing babies at Day Care Centers, the chick from Cannibal Holocaust is still alive and well, Guinea Pig was done with special effects, etc. It all became sickeningly real with the advent of the Internet and easy/cheap digital recording, but in the late '80s it was nothing but an urban legend.

But, child exploitation and pornography was a nasty little problem then (and now), Block got that exactly right and it was enough to hold the central premise of the book.

I usually dislike it when authors throw two plots together and try to make them stick. Most authors do this poorly and it just seems lazy. Block did it brilliantly by keeping the focus of Scudder's investigation within a small part of the city and within the same profession. That made it believable. Working in NYC is the same as working anywhere else - Everybody knows, or has heard of, everyone else. Names, faces and resumes float around in a limited area and people's names live on the edge of your memory and the tip of your tongue. (This was even true when I was in social work in NYC.)

The same is true for people who live in your neighborhood, especially if you see them every day.

So, I was really impressed with the way that Block pulled this book together.

I am absolutely loving this series. I just can't stop reading. ( )

The crimes in this mystery are pretty intense, and Scudder's reactions to them equally so. I don't think this is Block's strongest Scudder story, because it relies on fairly improbable coincidences, but it is different from most of the series, and I liked seeing Scudder's character stretched. ( )