[4O4]⋙ Download Free When the Sacred Ginmill Closes Matt Scudder Mystery Lawrence Block 9780752836997 Books

When the Sacred Ginmill Closes Matt Scudder Mystery Lawrence Block 9780752836997 Books

Download As PDF : When the Sacred Ginmill Closes Matt Scudder Mystery Lawrence Block 9780752836997 Books

When the Sacred Ginmill Closes Matt Scudder Mystery Lawrence Block 9780752836997 Books

I first read the Lawrence Block novel A WALK AMONG THE TOMBSTONES prior to seeing the movie. Movies made from well written novels tend to be letdowns. While the movie did have its bright spots, it has to be extremely difficult to condense such an intriguing story into a 114 minute motion picture.

This particular episode in the Matthew Scudder series takes place in New York City in 1975. Matt Scudder is a former Special Forces hero, an ex NYC cop, and a current and committed drinker who does favors for friends in exchange for money. Even though he and his friends spend most days and nights drinking heavily, none of them considers themselves to be alcoholics. All of them profess to be able to stop drinking at the drop of a hat, but somehow that never seems to happen. They just sort of stumble around together in sort of a "groundhog day", chasing their next drink and not much else.

Unfortunately (and surprisingly) a few of his friends get themselves into difficult situations, and Matt finds himself collecting three different paychecks while looking for answers. He is the type of (unlicensed) private eye who walks in circles and gathers countless bits of information until he hits that "Eureka" moment where everything falls together. Sometimes the smallest piece of information.....

Matt has his hands full with these cases and not everyone is who they seem to be. The problem is figuring out who is responsible for each crime and then extracting retribution without involving the local coppers. Not surprisingly, the Irish have their own way of balancing the scales. Innovative, tricky and effective.


Tags : When the Sacred Ginmill Closes (Matt Scudder Mystery) [Lawrence Block] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Downing a bourbon or two with a couple of cronies, Scudder witnesses a heist. The Morrisey brothers who run the joint are strangely submissive during the raid,Lawrence Block,When the Sacred Ginmill Closes (Matt Scudder Mystery),Orion Pub Co,0752836994,Crime & mystery,MysterySuspense

When the Sacred Ginmill Closes Matt Scudder Mystery Lawrence Block 9780752836997 Books Reviews

Having read most of the Matthew Scudder mysteries, I believe I would rate this one at the top. Two robberies and a murder/robbery all come to Matt's attention, but he's far in the bottle and not willing to sober up long enough to see them through. He has his moments of clarity when he is able to figure out the crucial pieces of the puzzle. There is a sadness that pervades Scudder's life and the lives of those around as they move from one gin joint to another. But that life fades as redemption is found.
Another winner, three crimes and a pair of betrayals. This is the fifth novel in the series but takes place sometime between the third and fourth, Matt is drinking but not out of control, a great entry in a great series. The mystery is intricate and the characters are well drawn and fully fleshed. A long step above the average mystery and though it is set in the seventies Block writes so cleanly that only the characters own nostalgia for the time period date it.
This book opens with a bang. Literally. Matthew Scudder is sitting with some buddies in early July when a large explosion shatters the conversational tranquility that is enveloping the place and before peace is returned in full, the bar is held up and a small fortune is taken. Eventually (three chapters in) Matt agrees to take the job of finding out whodunit, and the whydunit, but before he makes much progress, the wife of a friend of a friend is killed and once more the task of finding the killer falls in the lap of our hero.

Some books contain a chapter or a phrase that is so extraordinary and so beautiful that it lifts the work above the realm of the ordinary and into the space or territory of the mythical. When the Sacred Gin Mill Closes is like this. Chapter twelve opens in a drab, samey manner (just like its preceding sibling chapters) with our man Scud drinking his way through the three simultaneous mysteries he is attempting to solve. After ensuring one of his clients gets home safely after a hard and depressing night on the booze, he leaves his own apartment at some insane hour and finds himself drinking bourbon at Armstrong's. Conversation with the owner takes precedence over drinking and before Scudder knows it, he is (we are) experiencing and learning about the heart-breakingly beautiful paralytic dancers from Dave Van Ronk's mournful jazz masterpiece, "When the sacred Gin Mill closes". I won't infringe copyright by quoting the text here but rest assured this section of the book is worth the cost of admission alone.

Back in the real world, days after the first listen, Scudder is helping his buddies solve a minor problem of extortion, and the song is still playing on his mind. Just like mine. And yours, too, when you read it. But this book is about more than Dave Van Ronk and his music. It is about friendship, and booze, and keeping your promises. And it is also about Ireland, and family, and home, and tradition.

But most importantly, it is about truth, and how beauty can be found in the most unlikely and unexpected of places. So hang in there. Just like Matt does.
I first read the Lawrence Block novel A WALK AMONG THE TOMBSTONES prior to seeing the movie. Movies made from well written novels tend to be letdowns. While the movie did have its bright spots, it has to be extremely difficult to condense such an intriguing story into a 114 minute motion picture.

This particular episode in the Matthew Scudder series takes place in New York City in 1975. Matt Scudder is a former Special Forces hero, an ex NYC cop, and a current and committed drinker who does favors for friends in exchange for money. Even though he and his friends spend most days and nights drinking heavily, none of them considers themselves to be alcoholics. All of them profess to be able to stop drinking at the drop of a hat, but somehow that never seems to happen. They just sort of stumble around together in sort of a "groundhog day", chasing their next drink and not much else.

Unfortunately (and surprisingly) a few of his friends get themselves into difficult situations, and Matt finds himself collecting three different paychecks while looking for answers. He is the type of (unlicensed) private eye who walks in circles and gathers countless bits of information until he hits that "Eureka" moment where everything falls together. Sometimes the smallest piece of information.....

Matt has his hands full with these cases and not everyone is who they seem to be. The problem is figuring out who is responsible for each crime and then extracting retribution without involving the local coppers. Not surprisingly, the Irish have their own way of balancing the scales. Innovative, tricky and effective.