Eight Million Ways to Die Book

Someday I'm going to get around to putting together my list of the greatest mystery/crime novels I've read. When I do, this one is going to be very near the top.

Matt Scudder is still working as an unlicensed private detective, and he is approached by an upscale prostitute named Kim. She wants to quit the business but is nervous about telling her pimp, Chance. Kim hires Matt to break the news to Chance and gauge his reaction to see if he'll try to keep her working.

After Matt tracks Chance down, he's surprised to find that the pimp seems reasonable and doesn't object to Kim leaving. Matt passes the word along to Kim and thinks his work is done. Days later, he's shocked to learn that Kim has been brutally murdered.

Matt's also got a personal crisis going on. His drinking has started taking a big toll on his health, and he's had enough blackouts to finally admit that he's got a problem. So he is attending AA meetings and trying to stay sober as he tracks Kim's killer.

From what I've read, Lawrence Block was originally going to end the Scudder series here, and it would have been a natural stopping place by the end of the book. Instead, this became the end of the first phase of Matt's story. The mystery in this one is good as usual, but what makes this one special is Matt's battle with the bottle.

The usually steady Matt is jittery and on edge. He attends AA meetings and is often fascinated by the stories of others, but won't talk himself. He's constantly aware of his craving for booze, but is also always trying to rationalize that it's not that big of a deal.

It's not helping that this was written during the early '80s when random murders in New York were reaching record levels. Matt compulsively reads the newspapers and is horrified by the prospect of violent death that seems to lurk around every corner, and his interactions with a cynical cop aren't doing much for his state of mind.

Block's depiction of a Matt struggling to come to terms with his alcoholism is one of the best stories about addiction I've read, and the backdrop of a decaying New York overrun by crime makes you feel Matt's desperation. It seems like drinking is the only sane response to the madness he sees all around him, but he's honest enough to admit that he's really just trying to find a reason to get drunk. The real mystery in the book isn't about who killed Kim, it's whether Matt will ever be able to get sober.