A frightened hooker named Kim asked private investigator Matthew Scudder to help her get out of “the Life.” Now she’s dead, slashed to ribbons in a high-rise hotel. Finding her killer will be Scudder’s penance. But there are lethal secrets hiding in Kim’s past that are far dirtier than her trade—and many ways to die in this cruel and dangerous town.
“First rate in all ways.”
New York Times
“Lawrence Block is a master . . .
The Matthew Scudder novels are among the finest detective books
penned in this century.”
Jonathan Kellerman
“Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett still
cast long shadows across the mystery genre. If there’s one crime
writer currently capable of matching their noirish legacies, it’s Lawrence Block.”
San Francisco Chronicle
“One of the best-written and most
thought-provoking private eye series since the mid-’70s
. . . [and] EIGHT MILLION WAYS TO
DIE is the best book in the series.”
Arizona Daily Star
“Superlative . . . One of the very
best writers now working the beat . . . Block has done
something new and remarkable with the private eye novel.”
Wall Street Journal
“It offers a first-rate plot and wry
ruminations on the vagaries and randomness of death.”
Los Angeles Times
“When Lawrence Block is in his Matt Scudder
mode, crime fiction can sidle up so close to literature that often
there’s no degree of difference.”
Philadelphia Inquirer
“Block is the epitome of a professional writer
. . . able to turn out seamless, engrossing novels that
define originality and freshness for the mystery genre
. . . His characters are carefully shaded with deep
grays.”
Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel
“Block is the master . . . His
written dialogue has the honesty of a conversation overheard on a
bus.”
USA Today
“A superior storyteller . . . Block
has an awareness of the pain and pleasure of living. It is a gift
not all authors have.”
San Antonio Express-News
“A terrific thriller writer.”
Washington Post
“Block is a rarity: a craftsman who writes
about the sleazier aspects of life with style, compassion, and
wit.”
Denver Post
“Exceptional . . . One of the best
detective stories I’ve ever read. No, that may be too restrictive.
One of the best novels I’ve read in a long time.”
San Diego Union-Tribune
“Block is a superb craftsman, one of those
increasingly rare writers who knows how to make every word, every
nuance, meaningful.”
Muncie Star Press
“Block’s characters have an emotional depth
that always seems to lift his stories above those of other mystery
writers.”
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
“There is really only one writer of mystery
and detective fiction who comes close to replacing the
irreplaceable John D. MacDonald . . . The writer is
Lawrence Block.”
Stephen King