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Kemper's Reviews > Even the Wicked
Even the Wicked (Matthew Scudder #13)
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And you thought the tabloids were bad when they were just bugging phones….
After a child rapist and murderer gets released on a technicality, a New York columnist writes a piece openly wishing for the man’s death. Someone helps make this become a reality by stringing the pedophile up and then writes to the columnist taking credit and calling himself the “Will of the People”.
Apparently murder is just like eating potato chips because Will can’t stop after just one and begins writing more letters identifying other targets like a Mafia don and a violent anti-abortion advocate and then making good on his threats. Will becomes a media sensation as New York is both captivated and horrified by his actions.
When a prominent defense attorney is named as Will’s next target, the lawyer hires Matt Scudder to try and find the killer before he’s the next victim. Matt helps arrange some personal security, but isn’t sure what he can do that the police can’t to find the killer. He also finds his attention drawn to the case of a man in the late stages of AIDS who was murdered.
As usual, I find any of the Matt Scudder stories compelling reads that are some of the best crime novels that money can buy. This rereading of the series has definitely convinced me that Scudder deserves to be in The Detective Hall of Fame along with the likes of Philip Marlowe and Sam Spade. This one isn’t quite up to the creative high that Block was on from Eight Million Ways to Die through A Walk Among the Tombstones, but it’s still an intriguing mystery.
It’s also a bit of a departure because for the first half of the book, we don’t really see Matt do his usual detecting thing which usually consists of him wandering all over New York talking to various people. Instead, a lot of the legwork is glossed over, and it focuses on Matt thinking about a previous case and having dreams that leave him trying to figure out what he already knows on a subconscious level that hasn’t registered with him yet.
As a bonus, this one also has a bit of a Christmas epilogue with Matt giving a special gift to an old friend, and it’s enough to make even a cynical bastard like me want to say, “God bless us, every one.”
After a child rapist and murderer gets released on a technicality, a New York columnist writes a piece openly wishing for the man’s death. Someone helps make this become a reality by stringing the pedophile up and then writes to the columnist taking credit and calling himself the “Will of the People”.
Apparently murder is just like eating potato chips because Will can’t stop after just one and begins writing more letters identifying other targets like a Mafia don and a violent anti-abortion advocate and then making good on his threats. Will becomes a media sensation as New York is both captivated and horrified by his actions.
When a prominent defense attorney is named as Will’s next target, the lawyer hires Matt Scudder to try and find the killer before he’s the next victim. Matt helps arrange some personal security, but isn’t sure what he can do that the police can’t to find the killer. He also finds his attention drawn to the case of a man in the late stages of AIDS who was murdered.
As usual, I find any of the Matt Scudder stories compelling reads that are some of the best crime novels that money can buy. This rereading of the series has definitely convinced me that Scudder deserves to be in The Detective Hall of Fame along with the likes of Philip Marlowe and Sam Spade. This one isn’t quite up to the creative high that Block was on from Eight Million Ways to Die through A Walk Among the Tombstones, but it’s still an intriguing mystery.
It’s also a bit of a departure because for the first half of the book, we don’t really see Matt do his usual detecting thing which usually consists of him wandering all over New York talking to various people. Instead, a lot of the legwork is glossed over, and it focuses on Matt thinking about a previous case and having dreams that leave him trying to figure out what he already knows on a subconscious level that hasn’t registered with him yet.
As a bonus, this one also has a bit of a Christmas epilogue with Matt giving a special gift to an old friend, and it’s enough to make even a cynical bastard like me want to say, “God bless us, every one.”
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Reading Progress
February 2, 2012
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Started Reading
February 2, 2012
– Shelved
February 6, 2012
–
Finished Reading
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Dan
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rated it 3 stars
Feb 07, 2012 07:49AM
Wasn't part of this in The Night and the Music?
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Dan wrote: "Wasn't part of this in The Night and the Music?"There's a story about Matt looking into the death of an AIDS victim, but I don't think the stories tied together.
There is a bit where Matt is talking to someone about how a murder was once pulled off right under the nose of the victim's bodyguards, and he later used that method in one of the Keller books.
Kemper wrote: "There is a bit where Matt is talking to someone about how a murder was once pulled off right under the nose of the victim's bodyguards, and he later used that method in one of the Keller books. "That was the poison in the salt shaker, if I remember correctly.
Dan wrote: "That was the poison in the salt shaker, if I remember correctly.You are correct, sir.
