Everybody Dies (1998)

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Lawrence Block doing what he does best! This is an excellent example of why the author is a Mystery Writers of America Grand Master and multiple winner of both the Edgar Allen Poe and Shamus awards.

Several things I should mention right up front: I am a huge Lawrence Block fan -- particularly his Matthew Scudder series -- I think Mick Ballou is one of THE BEST secondary characters ever created (seriously, the guy is well worth a series in his own right) and I've always been more fond of the early Matthew Scudder who hadn't quite found the road to sobriety and was a little more edgy.

This is the 14th book to feature detective Matthew Scudder and it finds him at something of a crossroads in his life. Long past are the days of bar hopping and blackout drinking. He no longer lives in a residential hotel. He's married to a woman he loves and, wonder of wonders, he's actually gotten around to becoming an officially licensed private investigator! After all these years he's starting to become downright respectable.

Except respectable people don't have best friends like legendary criminal Mick "The Butcher Boy" Ballou... so when Ballou asks his friend to investigate the possibility that some unknown nefarious entity is attempting to permanently put him out of business Matt is reluctant to take the case. He's not sure how far he can go before he is no longer able to tell himself that, even though one of his nearest and dearest friends in the world is a notorious lifelong criminal, he's basically on the side of the law.

But friends, real true friends, are few and far between, and these particular men share an uncommon bond that neither can quite describe, so Scudder agrees to look into it with the understanding that if it begins to lead in a direction he doesn't like he can walk away with no hard feelings.

After a little bit of nosing around it becomes obvious that all roads lead in a direction that Scudder would just as soon not follow. Not even for Mick. So he tells Mick he's out of it, no hard feelings. Unfortunately, someone else has other ideas, so, when a contract killer sent to "eliminate" the respectable licensed private investigator who has been making inquiries on behalf of Mick Ballou mistakenly kills another friend of Matt Scudder's all bets are off! He's in it up to his ears and he couldn't get out of it even if he wanted to... and Matt's not so sure he wants out.

This book is faster paced than a lot of the later Scudder books, even though Scudder is struggling with ideas of who he is and what he stands for he is less retrospective then usual because of the urgency of the case.

There are some instances of graphic violence and the occasional use of offensive language.

One of the things I have often admired about the Scudder novels is that Matt Scudder is not trapped in time. He is constantly evolving, learning, aging, readjusting to his life and the changes that have come with it. As a result these books have always been multi-layered, there's what's happening in front of you and the depths that run underneath.

In this story you can see how Matt Scudder has to finally come to terms with just how far he can cross the line he has been walking for years -- the line between good and bad, right and wrong -- in the process he has to create a new line between who he used to be, who he is today and who he will become.

This is very good stuff with several twists and turns. Some mystery, one huge surprise and a very satisfying conclusion. Long time readers of the Scudder novels will be particularly surprised and drawn in to what is revealed as the story comes to a conclusion.

Minor quibbles: I've never really been a fan of Matt's protege TJ, mainly because I find his rhyming phrases to be annoying and I think it comes across as a lame attempt at trying to give the appearance of being streetwise rather than actual experience in the street (maybe that's the point, to show that TJ isn't as street as he pretends but it's still lame and annoying).

Since the appearance of Elaine (who I do like) there are more and more instances where instead of the narrative informing what Scudder is thinking he has conversations with Elaine that often come out as stilted and unnatural. Exposition for the sake of exposition that brings everything to a crawl. Those instances are few in this book but they're still there.

You can't go wrong with this book. As always I suggest starting as early in the series as you can and going through them in order, it still works well as a stand alone novel but it works SO much better if you know more of the history between the characters. ( )

14th in the terrific Matthew Scudder series ( )

I re-read most of the Scudder books a couple of months ago. They're terrific. ( )

Taking up where I left off in Block’s Matt Scudder series about eight years ago, thanks to my neurotic need to read a series of books in order. I’ve been looking for this one for awhile so I could resume the series, and it delivers. Scudder’s one of the great underrated characters of the hardboiled mystery genre – the ex-alcoholic ex-cop with the dirty past trying to get his life in order – but Block doesn’t let it get too dark, as usual. Still, it’s dark enough. And quite good. ( )