Rating: 
Summary: Scudder Gets Way Too Satisfied
Review: The Matthew Scudder series is one of my favorite private eye fiction series (I've read all 14 novels). Unfortunately, "Even the Wicked" is easilly the least enjoyable of the bunch. Author Lawrence Block deserves credit for allowing Scudder's character to grow and mature over the years; going from down-and-out alcoholic to struggling AA member to reasonably stable married man while still maintaining an edge. At least, he had until "Wicked." The three interwoven storylines are pure New York City (more so, in fact, than any past entry in the series). But they have absolutely no edge to them. At no time does Scudder seem remotely in physical danger. Instead, he turns into super-sleath, solving high profile cases that are baffling entire police departments. Also, his relationship with Elaine, who he is now married to, has grown stale.Maybe Block sensed these problems and that is why he attempted to give the next (and currently most recent) entry in the series, "Everybody Dies," much more of an edge. If you are not familiar with how great Scudder can be, I implore to to start elsewhere in the series. The best two are arguably, "Eight Million Ways to Die," and "When the Sacred Ginmill Closes."
Rating:
Summary: Scudder Gets Way Too Satisfied
Review: The Matthew Scudder series is one of my favorite private eye fiction series (I've read all 14 novels). Unfortunately, "Even the Wicked" is easilly the least enjoyable of the bunch. Author Lawrence Block deserves credit for allowing Scudder's character to grow and mature over the years; going from down-and-out alcoholic to struggling AA member to reasonably stable married man while still maintaining an edge. At least, he had until "Wicked." The three interwoven storylines are pure New York City (more so, in fact, than any past entry in the series). But they have absolutely no edge to them. At no time does Scudder seem remotely in physical danger. Instead, he turns into super-sleath, solving high profile cases that are baffling entire police departments. Also, his relationship with Elaine, who he is now married to, has grown stale. Maybe Block sensed these problems and that is why he attempted to give the next (and currently most recent) entry in the series, "Everybody Dies," much more of an edge. If you are not familiar with how great Scudder can be, I implore to to start elsewhere in the series. The best two are arguably, "Eight Million Ways to Die," and "When the Sacred Ginmill Closes."
Rating: 
Summary: Kinder, gentler, yes, but still essential Scudder.
Review: The post-recovery Scudder books (those subsequent to Eight Million Ways to Die) offer three key elements: (1) a gritty, grisly, New York detective mystery; (2) remarkable insights into addiction, the "addictive personality," addictive thinking and reasoning, addictive feelings; (3) often humorous but deeply incisive commentary on the 12-step recovery process, "the program." As a clinical psychologist, it is the latter two elements that interest me most and keep me waiting eagerly for the next installment; indeed, I have learned more about addiction and AA philosophy from Scudder than from all of my formal professional education, training, and experience.
In Even the Wicked, Matt has transitioned into a new phase of life. We could see this coming. He is happily (and faithfully!) married, properly licensed, lives in a nice building, eats well, and is still in solid recovery. Of course, he is still an alcoholic. What may disappoint some is that this story is less grisly, much less violent, and less sordid than previous adventures. If memory serves, Matt doesn't even break any major laws in his typical pursuit of the greater good. (Actually, a couple of minor transgressions do occur, but nothing like the shocking vigilantism of previous stories).
Is this a bland shadow of the original Matt Scudder, whom I regard as one of the most fascinating characters in literature? No, it is still Matt, just further down the path. We can see that his addiction produced a 25 or 30-year delay in normal adult development. In his 50s, Matt is only now able to sustain a mature, reciprocal, intimate relationship, a challenge normally faced in one's early to mid 20s. After years, really decades, of extraordinary self-absorption, Matt is finally beginning to be comfortable with the idea of making a broader contribution to society. (Historically, Matt's committment to society has been narrow and simple -- the world becomes an even worse place when a murderer goes unpunished.)
While Even the Wicked lacks some of the sex and violence of earlier books, and I, for one, really enjoy sex and violence, on a deeper level it is a great book. It is a psychologically honest portrayal of adult growth and development in the context of long-term successful recovery. Like its predecessors, the book provides a steady stream of insights into addiction. I particularly enjoy the AA humor, entertaining as ever. And, it is a very good story, with numerous twists and turns, some recurring characters without over-doing it, and a particularly satisfying (heart-warming?) conclusion.
Rating: 
Summary: NOT THE TOUGH GUY WITH THE DARK EDGE THAT WE KNOW & LOVE
Review: THIS BLOCK ENTRY IS NOT UP TO THE STANDARD OF THE PREVIOUS "SCUDDER" BOOKS. HE IS STARTING TO SOUND MORE LIKE THE "BURGLAR" OF BLOCK'S OTHER SERIES THAN THE SCUDDER SERIES. THE HARD EDGE THAT MAKES SCUDDER SCUDDER IS MISSING. NOT A TOTAL WASHOUT BECAUSE OF BLOCK'S GREAT SKILL AS A WRITER. IF THIS IS THE READERS FIRST EXPOSURE TO BLOCK, GIVE HIS EARLIER EFFORTS A SERIOUS LOOK, THEN JUDGE HIS ABILITIES AND THE MATTHEW SCUDDER SERIES.
Rating: 
Summary: Grand Nanny's bedtime story putting you to sleep easily
Review: Well, sorry, Block and those die-hard fans who don't know what the comparison means and failed to find out how good Block and his M.Scudder once were. This time, Block made Scudder become a family guy living like a typical and normal early retiree, just like those who live around me. This book's never-ending blah,blah,blah from page 1 to page 328; watching boxing, talking on the phone, going to restaurant with Elain, choosing super-spicy food from the menu, how he ate it...My God, next time, Block might let us see how Scudder taking a shower, how's he doing in the restroom, how he pick his nose, how much and what he's gonna buy in the supermarket...."Even The Wicked" is but a more wicked cash-in than "A Long Line of Dead Man." Read this full-of-small-talks book was just like watching daytime TV shows with focusless, endless blah, blah, blah on anything and, nothing! If Block could not call back the former Scudder, fine, just let him phaseout. If you could finish this one like me, you'd better check your date of birth again; it must be in the early 40s or 30s, thinking selling your house and moving to a mobile home.
Rating:
Summary: As Block develops characters he loses story
Review: When Mr. Block created Matthew Scudder he created a character with whom many people could identify. However, as Block writes new books in this line, both Scudder and the handful or so of people who regularly appear in his little world have become very precidtable. There is not much new to learn about Scudder, Elaine, T.J. We know all there is to know about Ray the police sketch artist, Mick Ballou, Joe Durkin. The book spends too much time rehashing what we regulars already know of these characters, and not enough time on story development. Block's first 10 books in this series were excellent, but the last few have delivered nothing out of the ordinary. If Block wants to wow us, he needs to take one or more of these characters and shock us with something we didn't already know, something that will turn the character's life upside down and tune his readers back in!
Rating:
Summary: Block's Buckshot Scatters Plots and Reader
Review: With the exceptions of "Under the Volcano" and "The Lost Weekend" no better portrayal of an alcoholic's struggle exists in modern fiction than in Lawrence Block's Matt Scudder series. Sometimes our sober detective needs a drink because an internal cloud blackens him; sometimes he wants one because a good person dies a senseless death; other times, he's disinterested and sails through life on a cup of coffee, a slice of pie, and a three-hour walk through the streets of Manhattan. In "Even the Wicked" Matt, and you want to call him simply "Matt," just like at an AA meeting, grinds through another series of hard choices in a dark city, guiding himself by the rare lights that illuminate the abyss of that first drink. If a writer wishes to "create an effect," as Poe suggests is the writer's first job, and the effect is the struggles of the addict, Mr. Block has no peer as an evocator of that hard life. Unfortunately, however, Block does not serve apple pie with the coffee this time. Perhaps because Block's portrayal of Scudder's battles against the bottle is so truly rendered, the other elements of Scudder's character, and the characters who surround him in "Even the Wicked," do not merely lack plausibility, but often tread into the realm of the absurd. Elaine, finally here a domestic goddess and real estate investor rather than the prostitute and real estate investor she formerly was, is a case of a failed effect: the serenity and bliss in the nearly-universal male fantasy of true love and acceptance in the arms of a lady of the life. Similarly "TJ", the homeless African-American teenager, is a billboard for a syrupy sixties viewpoint that a little love and attention can not only vanquish the forces of poverty and neglect, but create the blooms of health, knowledge and self-respect. Sadly, in "Even the Wicked" Scudder himself becomes a spokesman for someone's (who else but the writer's?) banal views, in this case the double-edged sword of technology in our lives. Finally, we come to the plotting in "Even the Wicked," and we find ourselves asking a simple question, like that about the number of angels dancing on the head of a pin. In one novel, how many unsatisfactory plots can Block fire from his shotgun? "Even the Wicked" is only for the Scudder fans who admire, as well we should, the battle with compulsions, the talks with the sponsor, the AA meetings at midnight that end outside with a cold wind and a renewed heart. Everything else in this novel leaves us with that cold wind merely.
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