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A review by usbsticky
A Time to Scatter Stones by Lawrence Block
3.0
Spoilers ahead, don't read this if you don't want the book spoiled for you:
A little bit disappointing. I've been reading the whole series from the beginning. The last full book (#17) was a revisit in time and slotted in between earlier books. This last 1/2 book is chronologically the last when Scudder and Elaine are both seniors.
Summary:
Elaine belongs to a support group for working girls who are no longer working. She became friends with one of them (Ellen) who is quite a bit younger. Not really sure if she was a mentor or if mentors are officially a thing in those groups.
Anyway after Ellen quit, one of her steady clients refused to take no for an answer and began to aggressively call on her. Ellen is afraid of this client and his propensity for potential violence and asks Scudder for help. Unfortunately she doesn't even know his name so Scudder has to start from scratch.
He starts by getting Ray G. to draw him, then he takes his picture around Ellen's old building to see if anyone knows him but no one does. The answer was actually quite simple because the super of Ellen's old building recognized the picture when the client showed up to go through Ellen's old apartment and left a number. Ellen's super called him and Scudder ambushed him and gave him a good beating to stay away from Ellen.
This should have been a 1/4 book instead of a 1/2 book. In itself, it was a neat little story but Block stretched out the 1/2 book with his trademark long stretches of dialog that are page fillers and ended the book with a threesome which was much less exciting than it could have been. Overall, it was an unremarkable final piece. I'm now reading the book of short stories and hope it'll be better.
A little bit disappointing. I've been reading the whole series from the beginning. The last full book (#17) was a revisit in time and slotted in between earlier books. This last 1/2 book is chronologically the last when Scudder and Elaine are both seniors.
Summary:
Elaine belongs to a support group for working girls who are no longer working. She became friends with one of them (Ellen) who is quite a bit younger. Not really sure if she was a mentor or if mentors are officially a thing in those groups.
Anyway after Ellen quit, one of her steady clients refused to take no for an answer and began to aggressively call on her. Ellen is afraid of this client and his propensity for potential violence and asks Scudder for help. Unfortunately she doesn't even know his name so Scudder has to start from scratch.
He starts by getting Ray G. to draw him, then he takes his picture around Ellen's old building to see if anyone knows him but no one does. The answer was actually quite simple because the super of Ellen's old building recognized the picture when the client showed up to go through Ellen's old apartment and left a number. Ellen's super called him and Scudder ambushed him and gave him a good beating to stay away from Ellen.
This should have been a 1/4 book instead of a 1/2 book. In itself, it was a neat little story but Block stretched out the 1/2 book with his trademark long stretches of dialog that are page fillers and ended the book with a threesome which was much less exciting than it could have been. Overall, it was an unremarkable final piece. I'm now reading the book of short stories and hope it'll be better.