In this fifth entry in the Scudder series, Matt is hired by high-class hooker Kim Danniken. She is determined to leave the life, and, fearing her pimp Chance may try to stop her, she figures she may need Scudder's help. Things seem to be going well at first, but then somebody ends up dead, and Scudder realizes he has a much more complicated job on his hands.The plot is interesting, with a few twists and turns, some memorable characters (“Danny Boy” Bell, the black albino dwarf tipster; Chance th...

"You know what you got in this city, this fucked-up toilet of a naked fucking city? You know what you got? You got eight million ways to die." ~Eight Million Ways to Die Matt Scudder, how much do I love thee? Let me count the eight million ways. This is definitely my favorite of the Scudder books so far, for all the reasons captured in this review here. Eight Million Ways to Die is New York in all of its grimy splendor: murderous, amoral, seething and unsympathetic. Block creates an authentic p...

Someday I’m going to get around to putting together my list of the greatest mystery/crime novels I’ve read. When I do, this one is going to be very near the top.Matt Scudder is still working as an unlicensed private detective, and he is approached by an upscale prostitute named Kim. She wants to quit the business but is nervous about telling her pimp, Chance. Kim hires Matt to break the news to Chance and gauge his reaction to see if he’ll try to keep her working. After Matt tracks Chance down,

Every time I post a review of one of Lawrence Block's Matthew Scudder novels, my strong temptation is always to begin by saying that this is one of my favorite books in the series. The problem is that I love every last one of them and so they're all my favorites, which I guess makes Eight Million Ways to Die one of my Most Favorites.The story at the heart of the novel is fairly simple and straightforward. A beautiful young call girl named Kim Dakkinen wants to leave the business, but she's worri...

“Eight Million Ways To Die” is the fifth out of seventeen novels in Block’s Matthew Scudder series, which features one of the most unusual private eyes in detective fiction. Forget the porkpie hat, the tiny office, the breathless blonde secretary, and the guns blazing, action featured on every page kind of detective. That’s not Scudder’s world. Scudder was a former NYPD Officer, who after a shooting went bad, real bad, reconsidered what he was doing in this world, gave up his career, his family,...

Another amazing novel by Block,i kept thinking wow this is something.It was very much about Scudder himself,his struggles with alcohol that made it so strong this time too. The case was even less important than the novel before. It was complex story emotionally,i could have read 340+ pages of Matt Scudder and his problems without the crime plot,the violence. The personal struggles made it much more darker than any violence could have been. I didnt care about the fact the case,the crime plot wasn...

That's it. If I never read another Lawrence Block novel (I shudder at the thought), this book on it's own solidifies in my mind that Block is one of the best crime novelists out there. But this is so much more than just a "detective novel." It's a vividly written character study of the struggle to overcome alcoholism. In this, the fifth book in the famed Matthew Scudder series, Matt gets hired by a beautiful hooker to convince her pimp to let her get out of the life. It eventually turns into a m...

There are eight million stories in the Naked City. This has been one of the best of them.The fifth Matt Scudder takes a further dark turn in to a city plagued by demons and lawlessness, taking a pessimistic cue from the classic movie/TV show The Naked City this is the story of a dead call girl, of 2000 murders per year, of a private investigator, of an alcoholic on a path of self-destruction. During his investigation Scudder comes in to contact with all kinds of filth and degenerates, he makes a...

Number 5 and going strong- "an oldie but a goodie" 'nuf said!

Lawrence Block has quickly become one of my top favorite hard-boiled/noir writers. To date I've read 11 of his books including a couple as short stories.As you may have noticed, I've already claimed to love the pimp, Chance, in this story. Can't help myself; the guy is a real cool dude, not your stereotypical pimp. He doesn't drive flashy cars, wear flashy clothes, hang out at pubs, taverns and the such. And, he's good to his girls. He is none of those things we generally think of when we think

Fabulous. A Masterpiece of crime-noir. 5+ StarsBlock's dialogue in previous books has been good, but here he's gone nova. Wow. There are many characters with extended dialogue sequences in this book, and all of them are terrific.The plotting is deliciously complex, and the pacing is fantastic. Wonderful prose with great rhythm. Everything about this Scudder story is superb. As usual with my reviews, please first read the publisher’s blurb/summary of the book. Thank you. Matt's giant leap to the

A book about the mystery of a dead hooker becomes a book about Matt Scudder taking one day at a time, trying to save himself from alcohol. The prose was dry and matter-of-fact; the words of a police report detailing his movements and contacts. And yet the way they were arranged, their anti-drama sensibility, packed an emotional punch. Definitely my favorite Scudder so far.The synopsis: Scudder gets a visit from a beautiful dairy-maid hooker who wants his help leaving her john. A little unusual t...

What starts out as Matthew Scudder, fresh off of a drinking bender that landed him in a hospital, helping a hooker "get out of the game" turns into layer upon layer of murder and mystery in a city where people keep killing each other and there are eight million ways to die.This installment of Lawrence Block's Matthew Scudder series takes things to the next level. Things are richer, deeper; the grime is grimier- it's just more in all the right ways. Since some cleverer people have come before me

“There are eight million stories in the naked city," he intoned. "You remember that program? Used to be on television some years back.""I remember.""They had that line at the end of every show. ‘There are eight million stories in the naked city. This has been one of them.’ ""I remember it.""Eight million stories," he said. "You know what you got in this city, this fucked-up toilet of a naked fucking city? You know what you got? You got eight million ways to die”--DurkinI just read John Snyder’s

Matt Scudder, the ex-cop turned PI with a drinking problem, puts himself through the wringer in this one!Eight Million Ways to Die pairs Scudder up with an unlikely client. The very person who he suspects murdered someone hires him to find the murderer. Go figure! Scudder gets too attached to a young woman. Then he falls back on his crutch. In and out of bars. In and out of AA meetings. One life-threatening bender later and we're left wondering if and/or when the next dive down the devil's gulle...

Wow. Just wow. I can easily say this is the first "great" Scudder book. I knew I made a mistake rating the first 4 novels at 5 stars each. It's not that they're bad books, they're just not in the same league as Eight Million Ways to Die.In the 5th installment of the series, Block takes Scudder and the City of New York all the way down to rock bottom. Whether he's exposing the reader to gang violence and random murders or he's having Scudder drink himself half to death; not a lot of hope escapes

This might be my favorite of the Scudder series. A typical one starts strong, with a re-introduction to the characters, careful observations of New York, and solid, human dialog. But then most of the stories fall a little flat halfway through, overcome by the bland, formulaic mystery plot. This stays strong throughout. The characters start strong, and continue developing all the way through, with Scudder struggling in particular with his alcoholism, but learning how to handle it. The plot also s...

A hooker hires Matthew Scudder to tell her pimp she's leaving. Scudder delivers the message and everything is cool. Only the hooker ends up dead and the pimp hires Scudder to find out who killed her. Can Scudder find the killer before he ends up dead himself?Sometimes, I really struggle with rating a book. This was not one of those times. Eight Million Ways To Die is easily the best Lawrence Block book I've read yet, head and shoulders about the others. The characters are more alive than in the

I’ve read all of LB’s Matt Scudder series, most of them long ago. In fact, so many years back that I’ve long since forgotten the plots. So as Block is reaching that time of life when his writing output has reduced from a flood to a dribble I thought I’d pick off a few of them for a second time. I decided to start with this one for two reasons: firstly, it was available to me as a freebie on Audible, and secondly because it’s read by the author himself. I’d enjoyed some short stories in this form...