In the Midst of Death by Lawrence Block
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Third book in the Scudder series, and so far we’re three for three with suicides. Yeah, that’s a spoiler, but this book was written more than 40 years ago, and I ain’t gonna say who it was or why. Besides, if you’re going to read this third book, it’s because you’ve read the other two already. And if you’re not, you won’t bother with them either. I ain’t spoiled nothin.
More of the same is what we have here in this novel: Matthew Scudder drinks all the time, although he doesn’t get drunk very often. One of the things I like about Lawrence Block’s writing, though, is that when Scudder IS drunk, you can tell without being told– its a simple matter of word choice and sentence length. Its subtle and subliminal.
Scudder himself goes with his gut and trusts his instincts, so it’s kind of nice how a reader can do the same thing, reading these novels. Block has a precise touch. And it’s used to describe a depressing world full of bad cops and dive bars. You can’t win for losing in a Matthew Scudder novel.
For what it’s worth, suicide aside, there’s a tiny bit of happiness for ol’ Matt in this one, for a change. Not much, and it doesn’t last, and that’s not a spoiler either, that’s just another trope Block’s trying on for size. What’s it all for in the end? I don’t know. You never know you’ve had too much until you’ve had too much.