A Dance at the Slaughterhouse

A Dance At The Slaughterhouse by Lawrence Block
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Matthew Scudder is hired to figure out if a TV anchor man killed his wife. But what does that have to do with a snuff film a friend of Matt's found disguised as the Dirty Dozen at a video store?

Scudder really stepped in it this time. The Stettners, and to a lesser extent Richard Thurman, the accused anchor, are perverts and psychopaths of the worst kind, the kind that prey on children. I thought James Leo Motely in the previous Scudder book was the worst villain Block could come up with but I was wrong. The thing about Block is that he gets you to see things Scudder's way. While Scudder did something illegal and a little unsettling at the end, you agree that it had to be done.

The supporting cast continues to be one of the hallmarks of the series. Danny Boy Bell, Elaine, Mick, Durkin, even TJ, give the series a little something extra.

A Dance at the Slaughterhouse is one of my top three favorite Scudder books so far. I wouldn't start the Scudder series with it but it's quite a read.

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