Rating: 
Summary: Very Good Book, Though Scudder Is Slowing Down
Review: This was, as usual, a great book, but with a bit more suspense
and uncertainty than I've come to expect with recent books in
this series. Ever since Matt befriended Mick Ballou, the Irish
gangster and bar owner, Mick's served as a bit of a homicidal
sidekick, like Hawk or Bubba or Joe Pike, getting Matt out of
otherwise impossible situations. Happily, Mick is only a minor
player in this new book, which showcases Matt and how he
comes to grips with aging, following the unexpected death of
his ex-wife. Matt is one PI who has slowed down and aged in
a realistic fashion. He and his new wife, Elaine, a former
prostitute, have a comfortable life of dining out and attending
concerts and plays. She has her antique shop to keep her
busy and Matt has the occasional "favor" to keep him occupied,
having surrendered his PI license.When Matt realizes that the husband and wife victims in a
particularly horrifying burglary/murder spree were present at
the same concert/dinner that he and Elaine had attended the
night before, he's drawn to the case, even when, apparently,
the criminals responsible are discovered dead, in an apparent murder-suicide. The police are only too happy to file this one away, but Matt can't let go of it, perhaps motivated in part by some troubles that his younger son is facing in his rootless life, drifting from job to job. TJ, the street kid/computer hacker that Matt befriended some books back, has a big role in the book, and Matt interacts with a number of policemen, one of whom becomes something of a friend by book's end, dropping in for coffee and offering to put in a good word if he should want to reapply for a PI's license. Hiding in the background and pulling the strings is a truly scary monster, an apparently self-professed psychiatrist whose motives for engineering the burglary and a subsequent series of murders is really sick. Block alternates third-person chapters with Matt and his investigation with an occasional first-person chapter, written in italics, that presents the killer's point of view, and this is an effective technique for throwing us off the
scent of who the killer might be. In fact, Matt jumps to a conclusion about that identity two-thirds of the way through that almost proves deadly and has the policeman whose trust he's slowly earned refusing to answer his phone calls. It was a great book and an intriguing mystery and wonderful to spend time again with old friends. I hope the series keeps going, although there are signs here that maybe Matt's career as a detective is coming to an end.
Rating: 
Summary: Psychological thriller
Review: Unlike many of the reviewers of this book, I am a first-time Matthew Scudder series reader, so I will review this book solely on its merits and not in comparison to other books in the series.
In "Hope to Die", a wealthy New York couple is murdered brutally at home. Scudder feels some connection to them because they attended the same social event that he did just prior to their death. Although Scudder does not possess a PI's license, he enjoys investigating murders as a hobby. He checks on all of the usual suspects and motives, particularly family members who would benefit financially from the death of the Hollanders. It soons becomes apparent, however, that a mentally unbalanced person has planned and executed the murders. Alternate chapters are devoted to the maniacal thoughts of the killer and these are interespersed with what it happening with Scudder. Block is an accomplished writer, and the plot in this book rates four stars.
Rating:
Summary: Birth of a serial killer
Review: When a young woman finds her parents brutally murdered, the NYPD track the killers to an apartment near Coney Island.Their two bodies are found a week after the first murder, an apparent murder-suicide.Matt Scudder, a retired cop and de-licensed P.I, is somehow dissatisfied by the murder scenes, feeling that they look too "pat".With the approval of the daughter of the murdered first couple, and the assistance of his street smart assistant TJ, Matt follows a computer generated trail to get close to the murderer. Mr.Block leads the reader on a cleverly laid red herring trail first of all and then finally to the realization that this is the work of a psycopath who is getting his kicks from the sheer thrill of killing someone. Lawrence Block is a very stylish writer with such an easy flow of words that his book kept me up reading, far too late into the night.
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