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A review by joshster142
A Ticket to the Boneyard by Lawrence Block
1.0
I’ve read all 7 Scudder books before this and the only one I disliked was eight million ways to die which seems to be the most critically acclaimed of the series. As I reached 54% of this one before giving up and it is also highly rated I seem to have accidentally become a strange Lawrence Block hipster, only enjoying his less popular novels!
There is just no reason to read this one. There is no mystery at all as the villain is established at the start. I’m assuming the tension comes from finding out whether Scudder and his associates can avoid the villain’s clutches. The lack of consistency just pulled me out of the story though, the characters are terrified of the villain getting them in their houses, but then go out and about for dinner etc despite being threatened. HE CAN GET YOU EASIER OUTSIDE MATTHEW!!! There are also pretty graphic descriptions of horrific crimes in the book which do go overboard when a simple mention of the crime would have sufficed. This book is also full of the regular AA meetings which are found throughout later Scudder novels which I don’t feel add to the story at all. I understand it shows the change in his character from the start of the series where he is an alcoholic, but I’m sure Block just uses the same meeting descriptions in all his books and hopes we don’t notice. Also Scudder regularly attend these meetings despite being hunted by a violent killer. HE CAN GET YOU IN THE TOWN HALL MATTHEW.
Overall this is my least favourite Scudder novel and this one has put me off reading the rest of the series which is a shame as the first books got me back into reading.
I would recommend avoiding the general consensus, instead read books 1-4, follow those with When the sacred ginmill closes and then stop. You will enjoy this series a lot better that way!
There is just no reason to read this one. There is no mystery at all as the villain is established at the start. I’m assuming the tension comes from finding out whether Scudder and his associates can avoid the villain’s clutches. The lack of consistency just pulled me out of the story though, the characters are terrified of the villain getting them in their houses, but then go out and about for dinner etc despite being threatened. HE CAN GET YOU EASIER OUTSIDE MATTHEW!!! There are also pretty graphic descriptions of horrific crimes in the book which do go overboard when a simple mention of the crime would have sufficed. This book is also full of the regular AA meetings which are found throughout later Scudder novels which I don’t feel add to the story at all. I understand it shows the change in his character from the start of the series where he is an alcoholic, but I’m sure Block just uses the same meeting descriptions in all his books and hopes we don’t notice. Also Scudder regularly attend these meetings despite being hunted by a violent killer. HE CAN GET YOU IN THE TOWN HALL MATTHEW.
Overall this is my least favourite Scudder novel and this one has put me off reading the rest of the series which is a shame as the first books got me back into reading.
I would recommend avoiding the general consensus, instead read books 1-4, follow those with When the sacred ginmill closes and then stop. You will enjoy this series a lot better that way!