Quotes
“One of the best writers now working the beat, Lawrence
Block has done something new and remarkable with the private eye novel.” Wall Street Journal
“Matthew Scudder has evolved into the perfect noir hero.” Entertainment Weekly
“Masterful fiction…Skillful and imaginative.” Atlanta Journal-Constitution
“Superb…Block writes better than all of them…He gets better
and better all the time.” Village Voice
“Ingenious…Consistently strong.”
Baltimore Sun
“A superior storyteller…Block has an awareness of the pain
and pleasure of living. It is a gift that not all authors have.” San Antonio Express-News
“An intelligent detective story that plays fair with the
reader and yet will keep you guessing until the very end.” Rochester Post-Bulletin
“Block takes this absolutely wonderful premise and makes the
most of it. Like all the best hard-boiled writers in the post-Chandler era,
Block knows that character and ambience are the heart and soul of crime
fiction, but unlike so many of his brethren, he also maintains a healthy respect
for plot. When you read a lot of mysteries, you come to feel a numbing
inevitability about literary murder: there are only so many motives and so many
ways to kill somebody, and we’ve seen them all. Hence the pleasure of
encountering a new Block novel and realizing again the joys of a fresh premise.” Booklist (starred review)
“The newest Matt Scudder novel by the blessedly prolific Block is right
up to his usual standards…His ex-call girl companion, Elaine, is her
usual comforting self, and there’s a brilliant portrait of an offbeat
New York lawyer, obviously modeled on William Kunstler, who specializes
in representing the underdog. The scene where the lawyer and suspicious
ex-cop Scudder get to know and like each other is alone worth the price
of the book.” Publishers Weekly