Eight Million Ways to Die

Eight Million Ways to Die by Lawrence Block
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A hooker hires Matthew Scudder to tell her pimp she's leaving. Scudder delivers the message and everything is cool. Only the hooker ends up dead and the pimp hires Scudder to find out who killed her. Can Scudder find the killer before he ends up dead himself?

Sometimes, I really struggle with rating a book. This was not one of those times. Eight Million Ways To Die is easily the best Lawrence Block book I've read yet, head and shoulders about the others. The characters are more alive than in the other Scudder books and Matt's struggle with his alcoholism gives this book something extra, making it more than just another detective story.

The story is great, although I had a good idea who was involved with the murders about halfway though, although it wasn't as simple as I'd thought. As I said earlier, the characters grabbed me in this one. I kept thinking things like "I hope Chance didn't do it. He's a nice guy for a pimp." Even minor characters like Danny Boy and Durkin were well drawn. Matt dealing with his alcohol problem was center stage and it made me feel like I was dealing with it right alongside him.

To sum it up, Eight Million Ways to Die = Fantastic.

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