Customer Reviews

A Stab in the Dark (Matthew Scudder Mysteries)

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

In this fourth novel of the Matt Scudder series, Scudder is hired to investigate the murder of a young woman that happened nine years ago. The police assumed that the Icepick Prowler, a serial killer, had murdered her, but they recently caught him, and he confessed to all the other murders, but swore he did not do this one. Although the murder showed the characteristics of the Icepick Prowler's work, Scudder notes enough differences to make him think that a copycat killer did it and is still loose. This leads us on Scudder's plodding, careful investigation through streets (and bars) of New York. It's a gritty picture, but the author gives us clues that help to identify the killer. Otherwise, it's a surprise. Block's writing is outstanding, and his descriptions of the dark streets and alleys of New York are priceless. This is a great book to keep your attention on a long flight.

Lawrence Block took his Scudder books to a new level in "Stab in the Dark". The first three books were good enough to keep me reading, but they were not anything special. In the other books the only thing that kept me interested was Block's style and Scudder's character. The mysteries were never that interesting. This book however has a wonderful plot and has a wonderful supporting cast. Everything about this book surpassed the previous entries. While Scudder, himself, has always been a good character this entry allows the reader to probe inside his mind a little more. Hopefully this was Block's stepping stone and the rest of the series is on par with this one. It is a must read for any P.I. lover.

The fourth novel in the Matthew Scudder series shows our hero's drinking starting to spin out of control. Eventually, this would lead him to AA, sobriety and a more upbeat outlook. But back in the bad old days, he investigates a compelling mystery in which the supposed victim of a serial killer turns out to have been the victim of a copycat crime. This is made more complicated by the fact that the murder happened nine years before. Though the story is relatively brief at a mere 180 pages in trade paperback form, it is well written and contains enough suspense to keep you on edge. Scudder wasn't a happy guy before he dried up. And this is one of the best of his early "wet" adventures.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone looking for a good thrill Lawrence Block has a style like no one else. It will keep you glued to every page. Needless to say i loved it

Scudder, informal private eye and working drunk is hired to solve a nine year old murder of a young married women. Scudder finds it doesn't quite match a serial killers hits of the same time period but that gives him the clue he needs. Absolutely realistic in people and places the reader feels he is on the street with the detective every moment. Scudder finds a partner in love, and drink, but this turns sour as she decides she needs sobriety more than Scudder. The book ends with Scudder seeing the possiblilities of sobriety himself in AA

This is the 4th book in the Matt Scudder series and is a very appropriately titled book, with Scudder investigating a stabbing murder that happened 9 years ago. He doesn't particularly look forward to the case but, with nothing better to do, he begins to sift through old ground in between cups of bourbon-laced coffee.

The Matt Scudder character is the important feature of this book as we follow his tortured journey around New York City chasing up clues in a long-dead case. He unearths clues and leads as a good detective should, but it's his battle with the bottle that proves the most fascinating story. He finally gets a good hard smack across the chops in this book which may help put him on the road to sobriety, at least, it scares him enough to consider he may need help.

This is another fine example of an outstanding modern hardboiled mystery, just part of an outstanding hardboiled series.

. 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. "A Stab in the Dark" is 4th in the Matthew Scudder series. There are 14 dozen more to read and enjoy. Scudder is hired to solve a nine year murder of a young woman. There had been a series of ice-pick killings. This one doesn't quite match the others. Scudder needs to find the psycho killer who may no longer be in New York. The book is exciting from start to finish. We also find him with female partner who also loves to drink. In Stab in the hard hitting private eye looks towards the possibility of sobriety as he considers AA. An afterthought: Matthew Scudder is a realistic, likeable character. In the early books we find that after he left the NYPD he took up drinking and left his wife and two sons. From time to time she asks Scudder to send more money because "we need it." Scudder generally obliges. Although not living with his family Scudder is not distant from them. He speaks to his boys on the phone and brings them into the city for a ball game. For some reason that Scudder doesn't know finds himself visiting churches and leaving a donation, tithing, ten percent of money recently received from a client. Scudder says Catholic churches receive donations for than others because they are generally open at late hours. Although he's not a religious man he finds peace and solitude in the almost always empty sanctuary he visits.

Nine years ago, there was a series of killings in New York City by some unknown lunatic whom the papers dubbed the Icepick Prowler, because of the weapon used. Then they stopped. The killer "went out of business," and the cops put it. One of the murders was of a young mother named Barbara Ettinger, and her bereaved father finally got used to the idea that her killer would never be found. Then, out of the blue, after almost a decade, a guy gets picked up who has been in a mental hospital for years, and he has an ice pick in his pocket and the police question him about it. And he cops to the killings nine years earlier -- all but one. He didn't kill Barbara Ettinger, and he has an ironclad alibi for that one. It appears it was killed for a specific reason, and by someone she knew, and her father now has a new nightmare to try to deal with. And so he comes to Matthew Scudder, ex-cop, unofficial private detective, and alcoholic, to see what he can turn up on the very cold case. Matt handles all his cases the same way. He walks or takes the subway around the city, he talks to lots and lots of people, and he sits in the handiest bar and thinks about things. He has good instincts and he generally gets things right -- eventually. Was the woman killed by her philandering husband? By her own unknown lover? By the woman she worked for at a day car center, who later became a part-time lesbian? Her sister? The woman who became her widowed husband's second wife? Actually, the investigation carries on right down to the last couple of pages without Block tipping his hand. I could make a case for several of the suspects but I had no idea, really, whodunit. Like all the first few Scudder novels, it's not a terribly long book, barely 150 pages. Call it a novella, or a novelette. But it seems just the right length for the story. And while it doesn't have the depth or the heft of the later books in the series, it's a perfectly satisfying afternoon's read.

These early Matthew Scudder books, written in the late 70s and early 80s, feel like a window into another world. Scudder isn't so much a private investigator as he is "a guy who does favors and sometimes takes some money in exchange for them". He solves his mysteries without the aid of computers and databases and cell phones -- his tools of the trade are footwork, conversation, and public libraries. He spends a lot of time knocking on doors and dropping dimes(!) into pay phones. Unfortunately, he also spends a lot of time in the bottle, a trait that follows him through the series. In this book, a man has been arrested for a series of murders several years earlier. The problem is, he couldn't have killed the final victim. That victim's father is looking for answers, and Scudder is going to try to find them. I enjoy these books because they're short, gritty, and to the point.

The earlier Matthew Scudder noves are the best. They are dark, gritty and realistic. In later novels, Block marries off Scudder, why? Marrying the detective off makes him as Mr and Mrs North. Here he is still free to adventure and screw up. Block fleshes out all of the characters and we know them. We may not like them, but we know and understand them.
This is one of the best of the series, and I have read them all.