Given to Sandi

The eighth Scudder novel shows Lawrence Block really hitting his stride. Although the follow novel actually won the Edgar Award this book is hard to beat. Tension filled with enough unknown to stretch the readers nerves. Simply excellent. ( )

Scudder faces a madman from his past

I would say this is more of a mans book. Just my opinion. ( )

"A Ticket To The Boneyard" is the eighth novel in Block's Matthew Scudder series. It is a terrific, page-turning thriller of a novel that can be read as part of the series or on its own as a standalone. I could easily see this one being made into a movie, perhaps costarring Michelle Pfeiffer as Elaine. This book contains something for everyone. There is the tenacious ex-police officer Scudder doggedly pursuing leads to a killer. There is the tender love story between Scudder and Elaine as they reunite after years of not seeing each other as he tries to protect her from the most vicious psychopath imaginable, one who Scudder can barely hold his own against.

Without giving away the story, Scudder and Elaine met back when he was a cop and she was a high-priced call girl. He took care of her. She took care of him. And, one day when a psychopath terrorized her, he dropped everything else to come to her aid and put the guy away. But, he now he's back and he has no forwarding address. No one knows where he is or where he will pop up and there are no walls and no locks that can seem to bar his way. He's almost hypnotically evil and there has barely ever been a better villain.

This is simply a top-notch novel filled with romance, terror, and dogged determination to survive. There is no possible way to find that this merits anything less than five stars. This is the good stuff. ( )