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Lawrence Block

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Eight Million Ways to Die (Matthew Scudder) Mass Market Paperback – July 30, 2002

by Lawrence Block (Author)

4.4 765 ratings

Book 5 of 17: Matthew Scudder

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Nobody knows better than Matthew Scudder how far down a person can sink in this city. A young prostitute named Kim knew it also—and she wanted out. Maybe Kim didn't deserve the life fate had dealt her. She surely didn't deserve her death. The alcoholic ex-cop turned p.i. was supposed to protect her, but someone slashed her to ribbons on a crumbling New York City waterfront pier. Now finding Kim's killer will be Scudder's penance. But there are lethal secrets hiding in the slain hooker's past that are far dirtier than her trade. And there are many ways of dying in this cruel and dangerous town—some quick and brutal ... and some agonizingly slow.

Book 5 of 17

Matthew Scudder
Print length

384 pages
Language

English
Publisher

William Morrow Paperbacks
Publication date

July 30, 2002
Dimensions

4.19 x 0.96 x 6.75 inches
ISBN-10

0380715732
ISBN-13

978-0380715732
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Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Nobody knows better than Matthew Scudder how far down a person can sink in this city. A young prostitute named Kim knew it also—and she wanted out. Maybe Kim didn't deserve the life fate had dealt her. She surely didn't deserve her death. The alcoholic ex-cop turned p.i. was supposed to protect her, but someone slashed her to ribbons on a crumbling New York City waterfront pier. Now finding Kim's killer will be Scudder's penance. But there are lethal secrets hiding in the slain hooker's past that are far dirtier than her trade. And there are many ways of dying in this cruel and dangerous town—some quick and brutal ... and some agonizingly slow.

About the Author

Lawrence Block is one of the most widely recognized names in the mystery genre. He has been named a Grand Master of the Mystery Writers of America and is a four-time winner of the prestigious Edgar and Shamus Awards, as well as a recipient of prizes in France, Germany, and Japan. He received the Diamond Dagger from the British Crime Writers' Association—only the third American to be given this award. He is a prolific author, having written more than fifty books and numerous short stories, and is a devoted New Yorker and an enthusiastic global traveler.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ William Morrow Paperbacks (July 30, 2002)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Mass Market Paperback ‏ : ‎ 384 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0380715732
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0380715732
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 7.8 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 4.19 x 0.96 x 6.75 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #207,315 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #1,056 in Hard-Boiled Mystery
- #2,495 in Private Investigator Mysteries (Books)
- #15,784 in Suspense Thrillers

Customer Reviews:
4.4 765 ratings

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Lawrence Block

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Lawrence Block has been writing crime, mystery, and suspense fiction for more than half a century. He has published more than 100 books, and no end of short stories.

LB is best known for his series characters, including Matthew Scudder, Bernie Rhodenbarr, Evan Tanner, and Keller. LB has also published under pseudonyms including Jill Emerson, John Warren Wells, Lesley Evans, and Anne Campbell Clarke.

His monthly instructional column ran in Writer’s Digest for 14 years and led to a series of books for writers. He has also written television and film screenplays. Several of LB’s books have been filmed, including A Walk Among the Tombstones.

LB is a Grand Master of Mystery Writers of America. He has won multiple Edgar and Shamus awards, the Japanese Maltese Falcon award, the Nero Wolfe and Philip Marlowe awards, a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Private Eye Writers of America, and the Diamond Dagger for Life Achievement from the Crime Writers Association of the UK, been proclaimed a Grand Maitre du Roman Noir, and has been awarded the Société 813 trophy.

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4.4 out of 5

765 global ratings

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a masterpiece

Reviewed in the United States on March 6, 2024

A true crime master

Portrait of a character and a city

Reviewed in the United States on July 18, 2019

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Eight Million Ways to Die is the fifth in Lawrence Block’s Matthew Scudder detective series. You don’t need to have read any others in the series to follow this one.

Scudder is a former New York City cop who quit the force after accidentally killing a child while pursuing two thieves. By the time the book begins, he has long since left his family, and has been living for years in a mid-town Manhattan hotel. He makes his living under the table, as a cash-only unlicensed detective. His training helps him out, as do his connections on the force and on the street. His chronic drinking hinders him.

The story begins with Scudder in his favorite bar, talking to a prostitute who wants to get out of “the life.” She’s afraid to talk to her pimp, Chance, about leaving, and wants Scudder to feel him out first.

The pimp is not an easy man to find. While trying to track him down, Scudder has the following exchange with his informer, Danny Boy. The informer asks, “What can I do for you?”

“I’m looking for a pimp.”

“Diogenes was looking for an honest man. You have more of a field to choose from.”

“I’m looking for a particular pimp.”

“They’re all particular. Some of them are downright finicky. Has he got a name?”

When Scudder manages to track him down, he finds Chance is no ordinary pimp. He’s reserved, thoughtful, well-spoken, and introspective.

After Scudder finds the pimp has no objection to his client’s leaving, the prostitute is brutally murdered in a Manhattan hotel room. The pimp, obviously, is the prime suspect. The only problem, though, is that he has an airtight alibi.

With no other suspects to pursue, NYPD lets the case languish, but Scudder isn’t willing to let it go. The pimp returns and hires Scudder himself to find the killer.

That’s the setup. Most of the action involves Scudder doing old-fashioned detective work, what Scudder calls “goyakod”: Get off your ass and knock on doors. We then follow the detective through a number of encounters with cops, pimps, prostitutes, artists, witnesses, and drinking buddies in three of New York’s five boroughs.

The book is heavy on dialog, which is one of Block’s strong points as a writer. He doesn’t need to spend much time on backstory to develop rich characters. He reveals a person’s perspectives, attitudes, and temperament through their speech.

Eight Million Ways to Die was published in 1982 and takes place around that time. Much of the book is a meditation on the state of New York City, and if you spent much time in the city in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s, you’ll find that Scudder’s narrative brings the old city vividly to life.

New York in the late ‘70s, with its filthy streets, its grafitti and general slovenliness was the urban incarnation of a hangover. By the early ‘80s, crime was rampant and seemed to be getting worse every day.

Scudder begins most of his days reading the news, which seems to be a catalog of human depravity. The title of the book comes from his reflection, after reading about a number of murders, that in a city of eight million people, there are eight million ways to die.

He spends much of the book working with an NYPD homicide detective named Durkin, a cop who has seen too many of the things cops see, and who bitterly laments the decline of the city. Many of Durkin’s complaints echo those of today’s political right: the influx of poor and struggling immigrants from all corners of the world has transformed the city into one he hardly recognizes. Many of the city’s new arrivals, it seems, have brought with them the troubles they were hoping to flee.

Durkin complains that when he goes on the subway he feels like he’s in a foreign country. He is overwhelmed by a world he can no longer comprehend, and he confides to Scudder that he can’t wait to retire. Trying to keep order in such a vast, unruly city has sapped his energy to the point where he just wants to withdraw.

As he tracks down the clues to the prostitute’s murder, Scudder spends an enormous amount of time and emotional energy contemplating his alcoholism and trying to resist the temptation of drinking. He admits that part of the reason he wants to keep working the murder case is to keep his mind off booze.

I won’t say how the investigation pans out, since that’s the mystery the reader signs up for when he or she picks up the book. I will say that like most good mysteries, the story isn’t about the crime or even the solving of it. It’s about a time and a place, the psyche of the main character, the world he inhabits and the lens through which he sees it. It’s about a violent, paranoid city in decline after Son of Sam, and the struggles of one of that city’s eight million souls as he tries to come to terms with his personal demons. Its final scene, one of the most famous in all of detective fiction, tells you it’s a book about character. And it’s well worth the read.

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Book Lover

A man on the brink

Reviewed in the United States on November 11, 2020

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Matt Scudder is a drunk and he knows it at some level. In this story Scudder is hired to help out a prostitute give up her life and leave the trade. The only thing is her pimp is okay with her leaving, but something goes wrong and she turns up dead. Now Scudder is hit with the realization he didn't do his job. But the number one suspect hires Scudder to find the real killer. The case gets more complex with another dead prostitute killed by the same killer, a suicide of another prostitute and Scudder's fight with his love of the bottle. What drove me through this story was not only the right that Scudder was waging against his alcoholism, but the struggle to put the pieces together to find the murderer of his client. Scudder is a man, who wants to be free of his alcoholism, but there is the struggle to admit there is a problem. As I read this story it felt that Scudder was going to fail on all fronts in this story. We see him slowly slipping down the slope to his ultimate end because he doesn't want to face his reality and because he can't put this case to a close. However things do work out in a fashion, but it is a hard journey for Scudder to travel. This one I highly recommend if you like to cheer for a good guy to succeed in his quest.

Reviewed in the United States on October 22, 2022

Verified Purchase

I'm working my way through all of his books. The hitman, the burglar and the Scudder novels are all highly entertaining and readable.

2 people found this helpful

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Wilson

Enough to Guess

Reviewed in the United States on April 4, 2023

Verified Purchase

After 5 books, I realized that what I like about the Scudder series is that each and every book I have read so far has taken me on a wild ride with Matt. Block's writing has allowed me to do a bit of guess work and it had given me just enough to help me make a guess on how things would turn out. It is as if he was seducing my mind to go on, showing just enough skin to turn more of his pages.

Eight Million Ways to Die is probably one of the best of Block.

One person found this helpful

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Wix Diamond

Deus ex machina as resolution - A decent read nonetheless

Reviewed in the United States on August 13, 2014

Verified Purchase

For most of the book, I was pretty engaged. The writing is simple--in a good way. It moves things along without calling attention to itself or take the focus away from the plot. Scudder is well-voiced character. However, the ending and the resolution of the murders in this book use deus ex machina. Without spoiling it, I found the resolution of the puzzle of this mystery unsatisfying.

That said, I would try another Matt Scudder book and will likely do so. Try it for yourself.

-Wix Simon
-author of "A Lost Gun"
@WixSimon

One person found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

Navneet Singh

A Great and Engrossing Read

Reviewed in India on August 14, 2021

Verified Purchase

I quite enjoyed the characterisations and description of the alcoholics conflict to fight the addiction and overcoming it.
Scudder himself is an addiction!

Michael Mooney

A Day Late, And A Dollar Short

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 2, 2018

Verified Purchase

I can’t praise this book enough. Chandler said that the hero is everything to a detective story, that he must be the best man in his world and good enough for any world. Matt Scudder would laugh at that, a short, bitter laugh with very little humour. He’d think about his life, like an ice floe far out at sea that’s broken up into pieces, none of which would ever join up again.

Matt ends this book in tears. I did too.

One person found this helpful

Charlotte McCarthy

First class all the way

Reviewed in Australia on April 8, 2019

Verified Purchase

Enjoyable whodunnit with interesting characters and a bit of rye humour here and there. Lawrence Block is hard to beat.

nuno c de salles

Lawrence Block one of his generation's best mystery writer

Reviewed in Canada on September 5, 2013

Verified Purchase

"eight Million Ways to die" is another great example why I Love Lawrence Block.
Great twisted story telling where NYC becomes a important character & we are kept on edge for the grand final act.

benedetta

One of the best crime story tellers ever

Reviewed in Italy on December 7, 2014

Verified Purchase

Coming from a classic literature education, I'm a demanding reader. Black meets the expectations: he could write whatever he wanted, and it would be great.

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