Reviews

When the Sacred Ginmill Closes by Lawrence Block

jbrito's review against another edition

challenging emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

stuporfly's review against another edition

5.0

Maybe the best of a terrific series by a legendary mystery author. I don't read much in the mystery genre, but fortunately Block has been so prolific throughout his career that I've still been kept pretty busy. His other series are also pretty swell.

vorpalblad's review against another edition

3.0

As usual Block delivers on interesting protagonists. Scudder was so interesting that I've backed up and am now working on Even the Wicked.

dantastic's review against another edition

4.0

An after hours bar is robbed by two masked men. A bar buddy's wife is murdered and he's the prime suspect. The clean set of books from another friend's bar is stolen. What, if anything, do Matthew Scudder's three cases have to do with one another?

After Eight Million Ways to Die, I wasn't that impressed with this one in the first few chapters but it really picked up. It takes place while Scudder is still drinking, back in 1975. Once again, Block had me guessing right up until the end. It never ceases to amaze me how old Lawrence manages to tie everything together at the end in a believable fashion. It took me forever to catch on to which of the cases were related and I loved how Scudder didn't let the bad guy get away at the end after it was clear the law couldn't touch him. While it wasn't my favorite Scudder book, it was still really good.

henrismum's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.25

Take away: Another good story; another emotional end.

Narration: Mark Hammer - Another new narrator for the series. Hammer is the most raw. I did not enjoy him as much as the others. I will have to get used to him as he narrates several latter in the series.

Normal Speed - Accelerated Speed

New  - Second - Third - Committed

Series - Non Series - Non-Fiction - Author

Listening to this book was a chore.

I'm glad I listened to this book.

I didn't want this book to end.
I could not wait to be done with this book.
Average, but better than anything I've written.

nixieknox's review against another edition

3.0

Solid Scudder, liked it a lot, but had trouble keeping track of who everyone was.

mschlat's review against another edition

4.0

I started this book badly.

When I read the initial chapter, it was pretty clear that it was set before [b:Eight Million Ways to Die|76758|Eight Million Ways to Die (Matthew Scudder, #5)|Lawrence Block|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1366669683l/76758._SY75_.jpg|2905875] (the previous installment), and I wasn't really interested in going back to that Matthew Scudder. Moreover, there's a cast of "bar friends" of Matthew's that (IIRC) had never appeared before, and I wasn't that interested in getting to know them. The problem is that those "bar friends" are the major characters of this novel, and my lack of interest meant I kinda slogged through the first half of the book.

But the ending might be, hands down, my favorite ending of a Scudder novel to date, as least when considering the resolution of the mystery. The ending is bleak and frightening and incredibly apropos, and I was rocked back on my heels during at least two scenes. A must read if you have enjoyed any book in the series.

trudilibrarian's review against another edition

4.0

First of all, Carol knows what she's talking about. This is another great installment in the Scudder series and I really wavered over whether to give it five stars or not. It's a flashback novel, back to Scudder's hard drinking, bar crawling days of wee morning hours and head splitting hangovers. This is Scudder in all his glorious dysfunction, surrounded by the other barflies that make up his small cadre of "friends". It's 1970's New York, where Irish bars have Republican Army connections.

Because this is the most intricately plotted of the series thus far, I feel like I didn't get as much Scudder this time around. There's so much going on in this book that Scudder is nearly lost in the details and dialogue required to drive the action forward. Don't get me wrong; he's there, just not as there when it comes to his private ruminations and general observations about life. Turns out that's what I really love even more than a richly constructed plot. My favorite thing about this one is that ending. Holy moses. Betrayal and backstabbing, revenge and a couple of suicides.

Spoiler

I was surprised that Skip went ahead and turned in the actors, including best friend Bobby Ruslander. Betrayal is a horrible thing, and Bobby is a huge asshole for what he did, but for Skip to turn them in to the Irish heavies knowing full well they would be killed, well, that's going to be tough to live with. Scudder takes the reward though "and somewhere along the line it stopped being blood money and became...just money."

Carolyn's suicide was a bit of a shock, but Scudder using her death to frame Tommy really shocked me. He was pretty positive Tommy killed his wife after all, and Tommy is a huge sleazeball, but still. Just desserts? Poetic justice? Scudder justice anyway. I can't help question though whether Scudder would have made the same choice sober.

The last few pages of the novel are the best. Scudder's voice is so strong, the bittersweet nostalgia acute as he recounts all the landmarks that have crumbled and disappeared, all the lost souls lost for good to the hereafter: "So many changes, eating away at the world like water dripping on a rock." It's a strong man looking back from a better place in his life, yet it's a man who still finds himself longing, just a little bit, for "the good old days" of bourbon and coffee, and nights spent drinking til the sacred ginmill closes.

And so we'll drink the final drink
That cuts the brain in sections
Where answers do not signify
And there aren't any questions.

I broke my heart the other day.
It will mend again tomorrow.
If I'd been drunk when I was born
I'd be ignorant of sorrow.

And so we've had another night
Of poetry and poses,
And each man knows he'll be alone
When the sacred ginmill closes.

(Last Call, Dave Van Ronk)

paulataua's review against another edition

5.0

Ex detective and heavy drinker Matt Scudder sets about solving three seemingly unrelated cases in a less than conventional way. I don’t remember what got me to start reading this. I spent the first forty of fifty pages trying to work out what was happening, the next hundred trying to work out where it was all going, and just as I was at the point of wondering whether or not to give up, it came together. A powerful and unforgettable novel that transcends the detective genre. Try it and you will probably end up joining the rest of us who went to YouTube to listen to Dave Van Ronk’s ‘Last Call’ which plays a part in the novel and contains the line that gave the book its title.

arthur_pendrgn's review against another edition

2.0

I found it boring.