Rating: 
Summary: The first of 14 in the Matthew Scudder series...a winner!
Review: . Matthew Scudder is Lawrence Block's remarkable private investigator. He's a former NYPD detective who left the force after an accident left a child dead in a crossfire. Because he is unlicensed you can't "hire" him. Instead he does you a favor by taking your case and solving the crime. In exchange for the favor the client returns the favor by giving him some cash. Scudder is an alcoholic. Rarely do you find him without a drink in has hand or at one of has favorite watering holes. "Sins of the Fathers" is the first in a series of books about Matthew Scudder. There are about a fourteen others as of this writing. Scudder is hired by a father to look into the murder of his daughter. The assignment is not to solve the crime because the girl's gay roommate has been arrested and was found dead in his cell. He has hung himself and this "proves" he did it. But did he really? We find the daughter is a hooker and was loved like a sister by the alleged killer. So who did it? Makes exciting can't put the book down reading.
Rating:
Summary: The first of 14 in the Matthew Scudder series...a winner!
Review: .Matthew Scudder is Lawrence Block's remarkable private investigator. He's a former NYPD detective who left the force after an accident left a child dead in a crossfire. Because he is unlicensed you can't "hire" him. Instead he does you a favor by taking your case and solving the crime. In exchange for the favor the client returns the favor by giving him some cash. Scudder is an alcoholic. Rarely do you find him without a drink in has hand or at one of has favorite watering holes. "Sins of the Fathers" is the first in a series of books about Matthew Scudder. There are about a fourteen others as of this writing. Scudder is hired by a father to look into the murder of his daughter. The assignment is not to solve the crime because the girl's gay roommate has been arrested and was found dead in his cell. He has hung himself and this "proves" he did it. But did he really? We find the daughter is a hooker and was loved like a sister by the alleged killer. So who did it? Makes exciting can't put the book down reading.
Rating: 
Summary: Nice start: showed Block improved as he wrote
Review: Block's Scudder series is serious business, though his characterizations are phenomenal in all his series. The other two: Burglar/Rhodenbarr and Tanner are much lighter, fun, less serious reading. This particular Scudder was his first. This is readily apparent to readers who have read many of the others in this series before reading this one. Some of the items might seem irrelevant, but are not in light of the books that follow. Scudder is an interesting character, an alcoholic ex-cop who is empathetically portrayed as a tragic hero type. He's all too human. Block also includes many memorable lines (which I add to my quote collection) such as: "Something I learned long ago. It is not necessary to know what a person is afraid of. It is enough to know the person is afraid" on page 84. If this is your first Scudder book, please read on--they get much better.
Rating: 
Summary: A page turner
Review: I got two Lawrence Block books at the same time, this one and Hit List. Of the two, I liked this one better. All I can say is, I'll be reading the next one in the series and hope to get hooked.
Rating:
Summary: Scudder's debut is a bit tame
Review: In the mid-1970s, P.I. Matthew Scudder was a lot differnt than the man he would come to be. In his series debut, Scudder has not yet admitted that he has an alcohol problem. Lawrence Block introduces us to the man who quit the NYPD because he just wasn't up to being a cop anymore. Scudder's first case (literary case, anyway) is fairly conventional by the standards of the series. Scudder is hired by the estranged father of a murdered girl not to find the killer, who is already dead, but so the father can begin to understand her life. The story is brief, clocking in at only 186 easy to read pages in trade paperback form. It has little of the narrative complexity that would later serve Block so well. And, you can see the ending coming well before it gets there. Nevertheless, it is still stylish noir with the right mixture of loniliness, cynicism and despair. And as with all Scudder novels, the actual violence is kept to a relative minimum. Overall, not Scudder's best but worth it for fans of the series.
Rating:
Summary: Scudder's debut is a bit tame
Review: In the mid-1970s, P.I. Matthew Scudder was a lot differnt than the man he would come to be. In his series debut, Scudder has not yet admitted that he has an alcohol problem. Lawrence Block introduces us to the man who quit the NYPD because he just wasn't up to being a cop anymore. Scudder's first case (literary case, anyway) is fairly conventional by the standards of the series. Scudder is hired by the estranged father of a murdered girl not to find the killer, who is already dead, but so the father can begin to understand her life. The story is brief, clocking in at only 186 easy to read pages in trade paperback form. It has little of the narrative complexity that would later serve Block so well. And, you can see the ending coming well before it gets there. Nevertheless, it is still stylish noir with the right mixture of loniliness, cynicism and despair. And as with all Scudder novels, the actual violence is kept to a relative minimum. Overall, not Scudder's best but worth it for fans of the series.
Rating:
Summary: Scudder Debut is a Smashing Success
Review: Lawrence Block's first Matthew Scudder novel, THE SINS OF THE FATHERS, is a superlative debut that sparkles and fascinates with breathtaking writing skill of the highest order.
Rating:
Summary: Alcohol attracts depressives
Review: Matt Scudder is still drinking in this yarn. He is an ex-cop and is not a licensed private investigator. He does favors for people. A father wants him to find out why his daughter died. He had not been in contact with her for three years. Scudder is no longer a police officer because he has lost faith. A ricochet bullet targeted at miscreants killed an innocent child. Reviewing the records with the help of his police contacts, Matt concludes that it seems to be case of a murder suicide, the suicide taking place while the murderer was in custody. The persons involved in the crime were roommates. Richard Vanderpoel was a minister's son. He was employed as a clerk in the antiques business. Scudder sees the attorney who visited Richard at the Tombs. Richard's father is tall and rail thin. Scudder arranges to see a former roommate of the victim. The victim, Wendy, is described as having a little girl quality. Both Richard and Wendy played out patterns in life representing relationships with and the loss of parents. Scudder books depict the consequences of caring about people's fate too much. What results is a sense of exhaustion, a sense of loss. This volume follows the pattern.
Rating:
Summary: Alcohol attracts depressives
Review: Matt Scudder is still drinking in this yarn. He is an ex-cop and is not a licensed private investigator. He does favors for people. A father wants him to find out why his daughter died. He had not been in contact with her for three years. Scudder is no longer a police officer because he has lost faith. A ricochet bullet targeted at miscreants killed an innocent child. Reviewing the records with the help of his police contacts, Matt concludes that it seems to be case of a murder suicide, the suicide taking place while the murderer was in custody. The persons involved in the crime were roommates. Richard Vanderpoel was a minister's son. He was employed as a clerk in the antiques business. Scudder sees the attorney who visited Richard at the Tombs. Richard's father is tall and rail thin. Scudder arranges to see a former roommate of the victim. The victim, Wendy, is described as having a little girl quality. Both Richard and Wendy played out patterns in life representing relationships with and the loss of parents. Scudder books depict the consequences of caring about people's fate too much. What results is a sense of exhaustion, a sense of loss. This volume follows the pattern.
Rating:
Summary: Spare, elegantly written neo-noir
Review: The first Matthew Scudder novel impressed me with its fine, spare writing that sketches the outline of the characters and and then lets their action fill in details. A gripping mystery full of sad but gritty integrity. Scudder is dogged in pursuit of the unpleasant truth on behalf of a father who wants to know what is he "doesn't want to know". The series starts off well and gets better.
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