Status
Series
Genres
Collection
Publication
Description
Fiction. Literature. Mystery. HTML:Twenty-five years ago, Mystery Writers of America Grand Master Lawrence Block introduced his acclaimed unlicensed private investigator to the New York crime scene. Today Matthew Scudder remains one of the most complex, richly human protagonists in noir fiction - as he pursues a faceless adversary with a unique talent and taste for murder. When Byrne and Susan Hollander are killed in a brutal home invasion, the whole city catches its collective breath. A few days later the killers turn up dead behind a locked door in Brooklyn. One has killed his partner, then himself. The city sighs with relief. The cops close the case. Matt and Elaine Scudder were in the same room with the Hollanders hours before their deaths. In spite of himself, Scudder is drawn to the Hollander case. The closer he looks, the more he senses the presence of a third man, a puppet master who manipulated his two accomplices, then cut their strings when he was done with them. The villain who looms in the shadows is one of Block's most inspired creations, cold and diabolical, murdering for pleasure and profit. Nobody but Scudder even suspects he exists - and he's not done killing. He's just getting started.....… (more)
User reviews
Scudder investigates the killing, burglary and rape of the Hollanders. He’s approached initially by Byrne Hollander’s niece who has suspicions that their daughter, Kristin, was somehow involved. Nothing seems to point in that direction but the discovery of the bodies of the two burglars, dead from an apparent murder/suicide seems a bit too coincidental for Scudder. Good investigation despite the rather thin motivation for the complicated killings.
Something I found a bit discomfiting was the italicized thoughts of the killer, outlining and discussing his actions. I may be wrong, but I don’t remember that kind of interposition in the other Scudder books I’ve read.
"