Customer Reviews

Enough Rope

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Fans of Block's series characters will find plenty to enjoy here, including nine Matt Scudder stories, three featuring burglar Bernie Rhodenbarr, and five with hit man Keller. They have all appeared elsewhere at one time or another, but unless you're a Block completist, you're unlikely to have seen several of them before. Even if you have read some of them, this book is still an invaluable addition to your collection, as it includes all of the stories and presents them in chronological order, something impossible to find prior to this.

Perhaps the best thing about "Enough Rope," though, is the inclusion of a dozen new works, most of them fairly lengthy for short stories, all of them superbly crafted and delightful little reads. A few in particular, like "Almost Perfect" (about a murderous baseball game) and "Points" (about a father and son) stand out for their quality and inventiveness. Even after half a decade of writing short fiction, Block is still trying, and succeeding at, new things. (For historical value, if nothing else, the author's first published story is included as well.)

"Enough Rope" is a hefty book, containing eighty-three stories that run almost 900 pages. That represents virtually every published story by this prolific writer. It is a testimony to the popularity of Block and the quality of his writing that his publisher would take such a gamble and produce such a large, handsome volume. "Enough Rope" is a real treat.

Reviewed by David Montgomery, MysteryInkOnline.com

I discovered Lawrence Block when he was writing a monthly column for "Writer's Digest" magazine back in the late 70's. His contribution was always the highlight of each issue, so I began reading his novels and short stories. Now almost all of his shorter pieces, over a 40-year career, are in this volume...885 pages worth. For the price, you can't get another book that will give you as much enjoyment as this one, and teach you about well-crafted writing to boot. All his tales have a twist, and he wastes no words. Block is as good in his own way as Dick Francis and Robert B. Parker are in theirs. I had read many of these older stories in the 80's, but forgot the details until encountering them again in this volume. He'll occasionally make you laugh, more often give you a shiver, but always, his people resonate, even the darkest characters. If you know Block's work from his mystery/detective/humor series, you already know that you want to own this. If you haven't started the LB habit yet, this is "Enough Rope" to tie you up in him for years.

Those of us who have followed the redemption of Matt Scudder, the moral musings of post modern hit man Keller, and the hapless Bernie Rodenbhar series, know the letdown you feel when you have read them all, and must wait till the next new release!
Well, here is a great sampler of many new, and many classic short stories about the quirky continuing characters of Lawrence Block that you probably haven't read yet. . Just the right length for a quick fix of Block irony, and arranged by character, this is a great beach book or airport companion. You may have read a few of these, but I found some new stuff well worth the price...I consider it the canon of an earlier Block and a whale of a paperback!

The first four stories of Enough Rope were bad enough for me never to buy a book written by Mr. Block again. His writing is pedestrian and he clumsily tries to spice it up by throwing in polysyllabic words. Finally, I began picking stories at random to see whether there would be any improvement. It was an utter waste of time.

Dang near every story ran the same course, which was, the "client" turns out to be the "killer". Every single
story was predictable. I found none of them to be original or special.

Mr. Block, along the line of Elmore Leonard, has a gift for dialoge but his stories are dull and repetitious.

And the book itself was so bloody heavy it was a pain to comfortably read.