Don’t panic, readers: This is not an all-series column again. Yes, all three books are, in a sense, part of a series, but they’ve been chosen for having numbers in the their titles, and not on their spines. We have two detectives who are both part of long-running series, while the third book lets my inner geek truly shine. So let’s get started with a book many consider the standout of that series.
EIGHT MILLION WAYS TO DIE by Lawrence Block — The fifth book in the Matthew Scudder series was originally supposed to be the last. But what you find is that Scudder really develops into the character that resonates through the novels that followed, and this 1982 one deals with his alcoholism to a great extent.
Minor spoiler: This is the book where Scudder truly hits bottom and faces those demons, even to the point of finally speaking at a AA meeting — something he has been avoiding throughout the series.
For those who have seen only the movie, forget it all, since that has very little to do with this. Scudder is hired by a hooker to break off her association with a pimp named Chance. Scudder does this simple task, feeling as though Chance is a reasonable figure … until the hooker winds up brutally murdered in her apartment. Scudder tips the police, thinking it was probably Chance who was behind it, even though he actually likes him.
Of course, Chance is not the killer, since the book would have been a lot shorter. Once released, Chance wants Scudder to find the real killer, especially considering another woman winds up dead, in the same vein, while Chance was still in custody.
This one is a downer on Thomas Hardy levels. Block puts Scudder through the wringer, not only with his battles with the bottle, but with the women who are killed. Scudder also reflects a lot on what made him leave the police force in the first place. This is one novel that will make you not only miss those great days of old New York City, and will make you a Block fan for life. You witness the culmination of one character finally facing up to his own limitations, only for him to then go on with his life.
TEN DAYS’ WONDER by Ellery Queen — This 1948 book should be subtitled “Don’t go back to Wrightsville,” since it’s Queen’s third to take place in that fictional, crime-ridden town. More on that later, as the novel is a bit different than the two that came before it.
See, WONDER is split into two parts. The first part deals with a friend of Ellery’s named Howard Van Horn. Howard has a major problem: blacking out for long periods of time, with no recollection of what happened during these periods. At the start, he wakes up in a flophouse, of all places. His family has a bit of money, being the high-class folks of Wrightsville, which is different from all the other folks we have already met in those previous novels — you know, the riff-raff and lay-abouts.
Howard turns up at Ellery’s home looking for help to figure out these passages of time he can’t explain. This takes Ellery back to the town, where he slowly puts the pieces of this weird puzzle together. Biblical scholars, this mystery is for you, since it’s centered around a certain top 10 list.
But as soon as this problem is solved, we jump a year ahead for the second part, with Ellery still not convinced about the outcome. He goes back to Wrightsville to come to terms with being wrong, and figures out the true culprits of the crimes. I’m trying to stay as a vague as possible, so as not to ruin anything.
This finds the Queen twosome streching its creative juices in a new way. The only problem is that Queen pretty much knows from the outset of part two who is to blame, but takes more than 40 pages to explain it all in explicit detail.That’s not a knock on the story, but it feels like a bit of stumbling to the downer of a finish line.
BLAKES 7 by Trevor Hoyle — STAR WARS truly screwed over the whole science-fiction genre. I mean, after seeing what George Lucas did on the big screen, nothing on TV could compete. But some made a valiant attempt with a super-limited budget, relying on stories and plots to keep viewers coming back.
Case in point: BLAKES 7, a show that made the effects on DOCTOR WHO look like light years ahead. This 1977 book is a novelization of the first four episodes of that series, and nothing else. It came out right before the show started to air.
The basic plot of BLAKES 7 deals with Roj Blake, who at one point was a rabble-rouser, to the point that the Federation (no, not the STAR TREK version) brainwashed him into a meek worker. That all changes once Blake is reunited with an old running buddy, only to witness the brutal killing of an upstart group of rebels by the Federation. Blake is tried in court and sentenced to a prison planet. On the way, he and some other prisoners stage an uprising, only to be quashed by the prison ship’s crew.
For people who have watched the series, it follows the exact plot, right down to the dialogue. Skip ahead and Blake and his prison comrades take over a derelict ship called the LIberator, where they pretty much become Robin Hood in space. It was fun to read this for the simple reason that I’m not paying import prices for the DVDs of the show. Hoyle does a serviceable job rehashing the plots.
Again, let me restate that all this book is is the first four episodes of the TV series. Nothing was added to expand anyone’s backstory. The only things missing are the crap effects and the shoddy sets. This brought back memories of the show, which I’d watch Saturdays after THE PRISONER. BLAKES 7 has one of the truly bummer endings for a series in history. I won’t spoil it, but they never would’ve pulled that stunt on STAR TREK.
Next time: a trip to Paddy’s. —Bruce Grossman
OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF LAWRENCE BLOCK:
• THE BURGLAR IN THE LIBRARY by Lawrence Block
• THE BURGLAR IN THE RYE by Lawrence Block
• THE BURGLAR WHO THOUGHT HE WAS BOGART by Lawrence Block
• THE CANCELED CZECH by Lawrence Block
• A DANCE AT THE SLAUGHTERHOUSE by Lawrence Block
• A DIET OF TREACLE by Lawrence Block
• THE GIRL WITH THE LONG GREEN HEART by Lawrence Block
• GRIFTER’S GAME by Lawrence Block
• HIT AND RUN by Lawrence Block
• HIT PARADE by Lawrence Block
• LUCKY AT CARDS by Lawrence Block
• MANHATTAN NOIR 2: THE CLASSICS edited by Lawrence Block
• ME TANNER, YOU JANE by Lawrence Block
• ONE NIGHT STANDS AND LOST WEEKENDS by Lawrence Block
• THE SCORELESS THAI by Lawrence Block
• TANNER ON ICE by Lawrence Block
• TANNER’S TIGER by Lawrence Block
• TANNER’S TWELVE SWINGERS by Lawrence Block
• TANNER’S VIRGIN by Lawrence Block
• THE THIEF WHO COULDN’T SLEEP by Lawrence Block
• WHEN THE SACRED GINMILL CLOSES by Lawrence Block
OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF ELLERY QUEEN:
• COP OUT by Ellery Queen
• THE COPPER FRAME by Ellery Queen
• DON’T FEAR THE REAPER by Ellery Queen
• THE DRAGON’S TEETH / CALAMITY TOWN by Ellery Queen
• ELLERY QUEEN’S MURDER — IN SPADES! edited by Ellery Queen
• THE FOUR OF HEARTS by Ellery Queen
• HALFWAY HOUSE by Ellery Queen
• THE ORIGIN OF EVIL by Ellery Queen
• A ROOM TO DIE IN by Ellery Queen
• THE SPANISH CAPE MYSTERY by Ellery Queen
• WHO KILLED THE GOLDEN GOOSE by Ellery Queen
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
Blake’s 7 was a favorite of mine. Truly bad effects, great looking women (first time I ever saw Glynis Barber, who went on to do Dempsey & Makepeace.)
RJR
You sir are a serious long time fan since she did not appear till that last series and probably the hottest of the women on that show. I saw Gareth Thomas in another sci fi show (Torchwood) and all that went through my mind was wow did Blake get old.
Usually the covers for this column are genius, but — with the exception of Ellery Queen — these make for a terribly unappealing batch.
Sorry to disappoint but thats not even the cover for my copy of Ellery Queen. Since the version I own is a two in one collection.
8 million ways meant much to me when I read it, I was drying out myself, and every day I’d walk past places which exist in Block’s books (the “middle” west side of manhattan) As I recall, the movie moved the locale to LA and ruined it. I haven’t kept up with Block’s work, but of the dozen I read this was the best, and I think of of THE best hard-boiled novels there is.