Customer Reviews

Sins Of The Fathers

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book serves as a means of introducing Matt Scudder to us. We learn that, while he works as a private detective, he's not licensed and will do investigative work in return for "gifts". We find out why he left the police force and the bulk of his personal life. We also find out that he's rarely without a drink in his hand. Apart from the character introduction, we are treated to a mystery that firstly, is more than it first appears, and secondly, displays Scudder's dogged determination perfectly.

To start off the Matt Scudder series, he is asked by a man to investigate why his daughter was murdered. Not how, not who, but why. Her killer was her male room-mate who subsequently hanged himself in his prison cell after he was arrested. The father just wants to know why she died to set his own mind at rest.

This is not a terrifically complex thriller that involves a lot of action sequences, rather it's a gritty hardboiled mystery that gradually uncovers facts while we get to know the protagonist. It serves it's purpose well as an introduction to the series and promises to hook you as a Matt Scudder fan.

. Matthew Scudder is Lawrence Block's remarkable private investigator. He's a former NYPD detective who left the force after an accident left a child dead in a crossfire. Because he is unlicensed you can't "hire" him. Instead he does you a favor by taking your case and solving the crime. In exchange for the favor the client returns the favor by giving him some cash. Scudder is an alcoholic. Rarely do you find him without a drink in has hand or at one of has favorite watering holes. "Sins of the Fathers" is the first in a series of books about Matthew Scudder. There are about a fourteen others as of this writing. Scudder is hired by a father to look into the murder of his daughter. The assignment is not to solve the crime because the girl's gay roommate has been arrested and was found dead in his cell. He has hung himself and this "proves" he did it. But did he really? We find the daughter is a hooker and was loved like a sister by the alleged killer. So who did it? Makes exciting can't put the book down reading.

If you're a fan of realistic, hard-boiled detective fiction, you've found a hew hero in Matthew Scudder. Scudder's character has all of the grit of Sam Spade, all of the finesse and cunning of Travis McGee, and all of the street smarts of Harry Bosch.

Block is perhaps the finest living writer of the series character in the mystery genre. His gift for dialog, characters, and credible plot lines are simply astounding. Block is really quite a discovery for those who appreciate a well crafted tale and read mysteries to steep themselves in a world where justice is always the ultimate outcome-regardless of the form it sometimes takes.

This title introduces the series character of Matthew Scudder. A former New York city police officer, Scudder has retired to a life of unlicensed private detection, where he will solve crimes as favors to newfound friends who return the favors with "gifts" of their choosing. Block's attention for detail grows with each passing episode in this series, and we watch Scudder as he develops as a detective, wrestles with chronic alcoholism, interacts with the underbelly of The Big Apple, and takes decisive-and sometimes questionable-action in the pursuit of the "solve."

This particular episode has Scudder hired by a father, who has recently lost his estranged daughter to a brutal murder. The likely suspect is incarcerated, but the father's quest is to learn *why* she was killed...not by whom. Scudder tackles the unusual assignment by means of a plodding determination and relentless pursuit of facts that reveals a credible story that invokes that most enjoyable of reading companions-the reader's own imagination.

_The Sins of the Fathers_ relies on few conventions in the genre outside of the bare minimum. It's as if Block, distrusting the currency, has coined his own, and Scudder represents one of the most wonderful discoveries for the avid mysery reader: a series character of pure gold. This first book is bound to sink the hook in deep, and that's a sweet trap for any reader to trigger. I unconditionally recommend Lawrence Block's Scudder series to anyone interested in mysteries or detective fiction. This is first-rate fiction, drafted by someone with a real genius for the written word.

In the mid-1970s, P.I. Matthew Scudder was a lot differnt than the man he would come to be. In his series debut, Scudder has not yet admitted that he has an alcohol problem. Lawrence Block introduces us to the man who quit the NYPD because he just wasn't up to being a cop anymore. Scudder's first case (literary case, anyway) is fairly conventional by the standards of the series. Scudder is hired by the estranged father of a murdered girl not to find the killer, who is already dead, but so the father can begin to understand her life. The story is brief, clocking in at only 186 easy to read pages in trade paperback form. It has little of the narrative complexity that would later serve Block so well. And, you can see the ending coming well before it gets there. Nevertheless, it is still stylish noir with the right mixture of loniliness, cynicism and despair. And as with all Scudder novels, the actual violence is kept to a relative minimum. Overall, not Scudder's best but worth it for fans of the series.

I had read several of Lawrence Block's books and found the writing to be excellent, so I looked forward to reading the first (copyright 1976) of the Matt Scudder series. I was not disappointed. In Scudder, Block gives us a worn, lonely man, retired from the New York City police force, and finding consolation in alcohol. Gritty describes the man and the streets of New York that he haunts. Scudder picks up money doing investigative work, and this is the kernel of the story. Cale Hanniford hires Scudder to find why his daughter was murdered by the man that shared her apartment, a man that then hanged himself in his jail cell. As Scudder systematically peels away layer after layer of mystery surrounding the murder, we find that the crime was completely different from the initial picture. The slow, deliberate work of Scudder has a realistic feel that you don't get in many mysteries. Block is also a master at describing the streets and bars and characters in New York. The story should keep you fascinated to the end.

The first Matthew Scudder novel impressed me with its fine, spare writing that sketches the outline of the characters and and then lets their action fill in details. A gripping mystery full of sad but gritty integrity. Scudder is dogged in pursuit of the unpleasant truth on behalf of a father who wants to know what is he "doesn't want to know". The series starts off well and gets better.

The first book in the Matthew Scudder series.

Prior to this first book, Scudder had been a married with kids decorated police officer (detective) for fifteen years. One night, while in a bar, Scudder stopped a robbery attempt. Unfortunately, one of his bullets hit a seven year old girl, and killed her. Scudder had retired from the police force immediately afterwards, even though he received a department commendation for the action. Scudder also is separated from his family (divorced from wife, barely sees the kids), and as much as possible, from the human race without becoming a hermit. All of this back-story occurred before this first book in the series, and Scudder has still not gotten over the death. Now Scudder does "favors" for people, though he stresses that he is not a licensed private investigator.

The book opens with a Mr. Cale Hanniford and Matthew Scudder in a bar. Hanniford wants to hire Scudder to investigate his daughter's life, though not necessarily her death. Mr. Hanniford had not had any real contact with his daughter Wendy over the past three years, and wants Scudder to fill in the details of her life. Mr. Hanniford isn't looking to find Wendy's killer, because the guy covered in blood found outside the apartment had already been caught, and had already committed suicide in jail (the roommate). Right around when Mr. Hanniford learned that his daughter was dead, the "killer" is caught and dies. He didn't have time to process his daughter dying, and get angry with the murderer. He just wants to find out about Wendy and her life. Scudder is aware of the case and agrees to look into Wendy's life.

The copy of the book that I have is a short 276 pages in paperback. The pace is relatively slow, though the action occurs over mere days. The action mostly takes place in NYC and Utica NY.

- Michael S. Briggs -

One of the best things about what I seem to be doing (reading a lot of crime novels in an attempt to determine where my books are going to be placed within the wider pantheon of crime literature) is that there is just so much out there. Some of these writers, like Block, are so big, they transcend the genre. That is, I knew the name "Lawrence Block" before I even picked up the very first Hard Case Crime story ever published, Block's Grifter's Game. Since then, I have learned that Block is most famous for two creations, Bernie Rhodenbarr (AKA "The Bulgar") and the Matt Scudder novels. Being a stickler for reading these series characters from the beginning, I recently found the first books from each of these series. Don't know why but I read Scudder first.

We meet Scudder, where else, in a bar, sitting opposite a client. Scudder is not a licensed PI; instead, he does 'favors' for people. And, in the best tradition of old-school PI novels, Block gets right to the point. A bereaved father wants Scudder to learn about and report on the last days of his daughter's life. Specifically, he blames himself for not reaching out to her and he wants to know if what the papers have printed about her--that she's a prostitute--are true. Scudder agrees and takes the man's money.

The first thing that jarred me about this character--and immediately gave him depth--was that Scudder tithed 10% of his fee. Crime fiction that I am familiar with tends to be somewhat secular. I know there are PI series out there with priests and whatnot; I just haven't read them. And for a PI, down on his luck, divorced, with two boys he seems not to know what to do with, semi-alcoholic, who lives in a hotel, to give up 10% of his hard-earned cash is something remarkable. And he does it more than once. It's one of the neatest aspects of Scudder, that he knows there is a God and that he, Scudder, strayed though he is, is one of the sheep.

On the cover of nearly every copy of a Block book, invariably, there is a quote about Block's prose. I got the one from Martin Cruz Smith who considers Block to be a direct descendant of James M. Cain and Dashiell Hammett. I haven't read Cain yet...but he's dead on with the Hammett reference. Block uses nice and tidy prose. There is no fat. My copy of the novel is 186 pages and seventeen chapters. But, considering Chapter 17 is only three pages long, Block tells his entire story in sixteen chapters and 183 pages. My current novel is on chapter 18 and I'm on page 125. Boy, do I envy Block's writing. To cite the last sentence of the Martin Cruz Smith quote, "He's that good."

Again, not knowing anything about Scudder, the second jarring thing he did came after this sentence: "I went back to Armstrong's, but it was the wrong place for the mood I was in." There had not been hardly any violence in the novel up to that point (p. 127) and I honestly didn't see what was coming. It jarred me. In fact, I put a sticky note on that page so I could quickly return to that place in the book. I expected it to be important and it was. Going back to the tithing aspect of his character, I couldn't help but see an angelic--not the good kind--coming out in Scudder's actions.

In my ongoing education in crime literature to date, I have met a lot of one-time characters: Angel Dare, Swede Nelson, Joe Hope, Cay Morgan, Jack Stang. Even Nick and Nora Charles, in literature, are one-time characters. Matt Scudder is the first ongoing character to whom I have been introduced. I want to taste a lot of different writers before I settle down and plow through an entire series. It is going to take a act of will not to buy the second book in the Scudder series tomorrow. He is intriguing. He is deep. He is, to appropriate the above quote and apply it to Scudder, that good.(excerpted from scottdparker.blogspot.com)

With the 15th Matthew Scudder book due out December 2001 from Lawrence Block, I thought it would be a good time to re-read all of the initial 14, beginning with this, the first in the line. It's interesting to note that unlike many other extended series, Scudder holds true to the initial details set down by the author. He is not yet an admitted alcoholic, but the signs are beginning to show. He is willing to bend the law to suit his own set of moral values, which he has forever continued to do. There is a personal violence in this initial episode which is more self-controlled later on, but it is a progression that is realistic. There are a few unnecessary pages introducing the Elaine character which has nothing what-so-ever to do with this mystery and seems like simple filler to make the book an appropriate length. But, in future books, Elaine becomes a major participant. Could it be that Block already had her future role mapped out for her when he wrote this first book? The mystery isn't that good, I had it somewhat figured out about two-thirds into the story. But the grisly details are vividly described, the dialogue is hard boiled, and there is a feel for the locale that has become a trademark of the Scudder books. If you are Scudder fan, this is a must read. But, on whole, it is a little weak and maybe why Block himself suggests you read another book in the series first -- possible to better whet your appetite for more.

Block's Scudder series is serious business, though his characterizations are phenomenal in all his series. The other two: Burglar/Rhodenbarr and Tanner are much lighter, fun, less serious reading. This particular Scudder was his first. This is readily apparent to readers who have read many of the others in this series before reading this one. Some of the items might seem irrelevant, but are not in light of the books that follow. Scudder is an interesting character, an alcoholic ex-cop who is empathetically portrayed as a tragic hero type. He's all too human. Block also includes many memorable lines (which I add to my quote collection) such as: "Something I learned long ago. It is not necessary to know what a person is afraid of. It is enough to know the person is afraid" on page 84. If this is your first Scudder book, please read on--they get much better.