„There are eight million ways to die, and among them there are a lot that are appropriate for those who want to do it on their own. No matter how bad subways look, they do their job when one jumps before them. And the city has plenty of terraces and windows on the upper floors, and the shops are open twenty four hours per day and they sell razor blades and ropes and sleeping pills.”
Welcome to Matt Scudder’s world, a private detective. The hero in Eight million ways to die written by Lawrence Block is a „veteran” of the streets. One can say he has experienced everything. As a retired police officer, authorization-free private detective, AA member, Scudder accepts to help a prostitute get out of the system. What he doesn’t know is that in 48 hours, Kim will be found dead in a hotel.
From this moment on, Matt Scudder feels guilty for the prostitute’s fate and will do his best to find the killer. What really drives him is the fact that he becomes the client of the former pimp, Chance, who wants the exact same thing. Scudder lives in the city where there is nothing else but death and ignorance. But that will not stop him from finding the killer.
I don’t like going in too much in the plot of Eight million ways to die and that is mainly because a detective novel can’t be narrated. But I can congratulate the publishing house for their thriller& mystery collection which gave me the opportunity of getting to know one of Lawrence Block’s characters. But what has to be said is the feeling I had when reading Block: do you remember those movies in the 50’s or 60’s where private detectives solve every possible case? At first, this was the impression Eight million ways to die gave me. But soon, coming back to present day has made me come to life and recognize the style that is so captivating.
The action is told by the character/ narrator Matt Scudder, who apparently appears in many other novels. The reader finds out even Scudder’s thoughts between dialogues, and this brings more authenticity. Practically, the reader steps in the crowded city and follows the leads together with Matt Scudder.
Another thing that I liked was this incongruity with the ideal image of the hero-private detective. Lawrence Block’s Scudder is a former police officer, now an alcoholic who not only fights shady characters on the street, and faces crime, but he also has to face his urge to drink. The description of the character’s state of mind while drinking a glass of alcohol at the AA meetings is actually what makes him so real.
Characters in Eight million ways to die are common people and that is because they are built just as they would appear before our eyes. I just want to add that I am not a fan of detective mysteries, I haven’t tasted this kind of literature too much. But this novel made up my mind: Lawrence Block deserves all the prizes he received for his literary activity.
I could tell you more about the plot or about Matt Scudder but I would hate making you miss the pleasure of discovering this detective, his angst, Chance, the pimp with the dead employees and the rest of the characters that run their existence in Eight million ways to die.
Enjoy!
Written by Cristina