The Sins of the Fathers

Matt Scudder is a definite son-of-a-bitch, when he needs to be. He lives in a dark, twisted world where cops are dirty because... well... because that's the way it is. When he was a cop he believed that, if someone gave you money, you took it. Only a sap wouldn't. In this novel, when he was feeling sh*tty, he acted like a mark until someone tried to mug him, just so he could beat the guy down. And then he robbed the mugger, for good measure.

Not much actually happens in this one. It's a straight forward investigation. He's hired... well, no. He's not a private investigator, he doesn't have a license. What he does is, he does favours for people and they give him "thank you" gifts. Like a high-priced call girl. So in this story, he "does a show more favour" for a man, tracking down the information to be able to provide this man with an explanation, a description, of what his wayward daughter had been like, before she was murdered. A snapshot of her life and what led up to her death. In the process, he does that and more. In the process, he ends up finding out that some whores actually do have hearts of gold. And some other people are just plain sh*t.

Scudder lives in a dark, dirty, nasty world. And it's not that world that makes him interesting. In fact, I don't think that world is what makes any hard-boiled detective fiction worth reading. It's the lens we see it through. Our tour guide. Sam Spade, Phillip Marlowe, Nick Charles, Matt Scudder... it's these men who give us a unique perspective on those dark corners of big city life.

I enjoy Scudder's perspective. By logical extension, I enjoy Lawrence Block's perspective.

Good book. Well worth the read. show less

I started re-reading the Matthew Scudder books last year and haven't made a lot of progress, unfortunately. Like al of my favorite mystery novels, Block's books are less concerned with solving a murder than they are showing us the inner workings of the main character. And what a main character. Scudder's development mirrors that of his writer in a lot of ways. When the series begins, they were both alcoholics struggling to make it through the day. We get to watch them make the first tentative steps toward recovery and then (not without some backsliding, give up drink entirely. It all plays out in one of the meaner portrayals of New York I've read. I really think that the development of the Scudder character will be counted as a show more significant literary achievement. Block just needs some critics to "discover" him the way the New Wave "discovered" Hitchcock. show less

A pretty young woman is found in a pool of blood; she’s been slashed repeatedly with a sharp instrument. Her male roommate is found on the street nearby, covered in her blood, exposing himself and babbling incoherently. Arrested for her murder, he hangs himself in his jail cell. The case is closed. But the dead girl's father has come to Matthew Scudder, an ex-cop and unlicensed private investigator, hoping for answers; he’s been somewhat estranged from his daughter and he wants to know how she came to be in this setting. Scudder begins looking into her background, and finds much more than he expected.

Wow. I’ve been a fan of Lawrence Block’s Bernie Rhodenbarr series (Burglars Can’t Be Choosers, et al) for quite some time, but show more had not read any of the Matt Scudder series until now. This series is darker than the “Burglar” books. Block is a master of suspense, and he writes a tight novel. There is nary a word out of place or an extraneous phrase.

What I really loved about the book was Scudder himself. He’s contemplative and relatively quiet, not given to macho acts of aggression (though he’s not above teaching a lesson or two to a bad guy). I like the way he deals with other people – respectful, even when he’s applying pressure. He has a strong sense of right and wrong, and while he feels comfortable rendering judgment, he recognizes the slippery slope he’s on when he takes matters into his own hands.

I’ll definitely be reading more of this series. I want to get to know Matthew Scudder better. show less

Matthew Scudder, guilt-ridden former cop, divorced father of two boys, and investigator without benefit of license, drinks his bourbon in black coffee, and tithes from the "gifts" his clients give him in lieu of fees. A bereaved father asks Scudder to investigate the last few years of his estranged daughter's life. Not her murder. That was solved--case closed almost immediately with the arrest of her blood-stained roommate and his subsequent jail cell suicide. Scudder gets involved in ways that aren't entirely necessary to his mission, and finds out things no one asked to know. A terrific beginning to the series.

I’m finally reading the first one in the series! And to my happy surprise, my favorite author Stephen King, has written the introduction to this printing! In addition to the praise for the author, he also compliments the fact that in the Scudder series, there are NO CATS! :-)

“The murder was a door starting to open for you. Now you have to know what’s inside the room.”

A man hires Scudder to find out why his daughter was killed and what had she been doing for the past three years. It begins more like a hard-boiled detective novel than any of the others I’ve read so far! And it's much more streamlined than the others I've read. I really enjoyed this raw version of Matthew Scudder without all of the supporting characters that come show more along later in the series. And even thought I myself am a friend of Bill W, the lack of AA meetings was also refreshing. Just Scudder solving the case! I liked it!

“And he was old.”
“How old?”
“I don’t know. Fifty-five, sixty.”

Nice… I’m 56! Jerk… show less

There's currently a Matthew Scudder film playing in theaters ( A Walk Among the Tombstones) so I thought it was time I acquainted myself with this series of books. I've had this one on my kindle for months, and now I'm sorry I waited so long to read it.

This is the Scudder debut novel, written in 1976. He's an ex-NYPD cop who lost his taste for police work after an off-duty arrest went horribly awry. It's clear he's fighting personal demons from guilt over the event. He's a complicated guy who likes his drink, says he's a non-believer but tithes and stops in church to light candles for the dead, but also is not above bending the rules and meting out his own form of justice. He now works as a PI who, because he's unlicensed, "does show more favors" for clients and will accept a "gift" of money.

In this case, a young prostitute is murdered and there's no question who the murderer is: her roommate is found running down the street covered in blood and admits his guilt. He commits suicide in his cell 2 days later, and the police consider the case closed. The girl's father hires Scudder to investigate not the who or how but why she was killed. The rest of the novel focuses on the investigation as Scudder uncovers the truth. I'm not yet familiar with the series as a whole, but this one was more cerebral than action-packed.

I thought the story and the character of Matthew Scudder was terrific and downloaded the second book before I'd finished this one. I've heard they only get better so I know I'm in for a treat. show less

A great start to an even greater series. This is the book that first introduced Lawrence Block's most famous creation, Matthew Scudder, to the world.

Matthew Scudder used to be a police detective, a good one by most accounts, the kind of "honest" cop who wasn't above putting a little cash in his pocket if the occasion presented itself but never went chasing after it with his hand held out. Then he was involved in an off duty shooting that resulted in the accidental death of a small child. That was the beginning of the end of his days as a cop. He left the life he was living behind - along with a wife and kids out on Long Island - and took up residence in a shabby residential hotel in the Hell's Kitchen area of New York City.

Scudder's New show more York is a place that's gradually rotting around the edges like so much overripe fruit... it still has its good parts but it's probably just a matter of time before it all goes bad. He's an unlicensed investigator who works when he wants (or when he has to) and the rest of the time he mostly does a lot of maintenance drinking. Matt is neither sinking nor swimming, he's just kind of treading water along the undercurrents of the city.

In this particular story a grieving father asks Scudder to look into the facts surrounding the recent murder of his estranged daughter. Not to solve the murder. Everyone knows who killed her and the guilty party has obliged them all by committing suicide in his cell. What the young woman's father wants is for Matt Scudder to investigate his daughter's life, to find out who she was, how she ended up living the way she had been living, if there was a reason why things happened in the way that they did. This is an all too familiar question for Scudder - a theme that reoccurs throughout the series - what is it that puts someone in a particular place at a certain time? Is it fate, destiny, or just plain dumb luck?

In the process of his investigation he will uncover unexpected things - long forgotten secrets and unpleasant truths. Somewhere around the halfway point the astute mystery reader will get a general notion of where the story is headed but not likely the exact nature of it. It's a somber story, nobody really wins and quite a few lose. There's not a lot of wiz bang action - it's introspective - the story is constant but not frenzied. It doesn't have all the answers and it makes no apologies. But in the end there is a certain amount of accountability.

Matthew Scudder isn't the standard hard boiled figure. He doesn't often crack wise - although he does get in the occasional one liner and the dialogue is ALWAYS spot on - he's not a meathead or a thug, he can handle himself but he never gives off the impression of being invincible or a caricature. He's not a religious man but he spends time in churches - they're a good place to think.

Despite almost every possible reason on Earth for him to come across as a despicable, pathetic human being Matthew Scudder is a strangely sympathetic character. A hard luck, world weary student of the human condition, an introspective guy who wonders about things like fate and the fragility of human life. When he takes on a case he often becomes consumed with it (perhaps, at least in the earliest novels, because it gives him a greater purpose in his otherwise self indulgent life) refusing to stop even when it goes against his better judgment to continue.

Originally published in 1976, The Sins of The Fathers holds up pretty well because, with a few exceptions, it avoids trendy phrases and sticks with a straight ahead story telling style (I do have to admit the first time he put a dime in a payphone it made me chuckle slightly). There's foul language, sexual situations and violence. There's some dark stuff in it, but none of it is unusually shocking by the standards of today. show less