The Sins of the Fathers

by Lawrence Block

Book Overview

The pretty young prostitute is dead. Her alleged murderer--a minister's son--hanged himself in his jail cell. The case is closed. But the dead girl's fatherhas come to Matthew Scudder for answers, sending the unlicensed private investigator in search of terrible truths about a life that was lived and lost in a sordid world of perversion and pleasures.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 038076363X
• ISBN13: 9780380763634
• Release Date: April 2002
• Publisher: William Morrow & Company
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 0.32 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 4.2" x 6.8"

Customer Reviews

Passing the mantle from Dashiell Hammett & John D. MacDonald

If you're a fan of realistic, hard-boiled detective fiction, you've found a hew hero in Matthew Scudder. Scudder's character has all of the grit of Sam Spade, all of the finesse and cunning of Travis McGee, and all of the street smarts of Harry Bosch. Block is perhaps the finest living writer of the series character in the mystery genre. His gift for dialog, characters, and credible plot lines are simply astounding. Block is really quite a discovery for those who appreciate a well crafted tale and read mysteries to steep themselves in a world where justice is always the ultimate outcome-regardless of the form it sometimes takes. This title introduces the series character of Matthew Scudder. A former New York city police officer, Scudder has retired to a life of unlicensed private detection, where he will solve crimes as favors to newfound friends who return the favors with "gifts" of their choosing. Block's attention for detail grows with each passing episode in this series, and we watch Scudder as he develops as a detective, wrestles with chronic alcoholism, interacts with the underbelly of The Big Apple, and takes decisive-and sometimes questionable-action in the pursuit of the "solve." This particular episode has Scudder hired by a father, who has recently lost his estranged daughter to a brutal murder. The likely suspect is incarcerated, but the father's quest is to learn *why* she was killed...not by whom. Scudder tackles the unusual assignment by means of a plodding determination and relentless pursuit of facts that reveals a credible story that invokes that most enjoyable of reading companions-the reader's own imagination. _The Sins of the Fathers_ relies on few conventions in the genre outside of the bare minimum. It's as if Block, distrusting the currency, has coined his own, and Scudder represents one of the most wonderful discoveries for the avid mysery reader: a series character of pure gold. This first book is bound to sink the hook in deep, and that's a sweet trap for any reader to trigger. I unconditionally recommend Lawrence Block's Scudder series to anyone interested in mysteries or detective fiction. This is first-rate fiction, drafted by someone with a real genius for the written word.

Where It All Began

This book serves as a means of introducing Matt Scudder to us. We learn that, while he works as a private detective, he's not licensed and will do investigative work in return for "gifts". We find out why he left the police force and the bulk of his personal life. We also find out that he's rarely without a drink in his hand. Apart from the character introduction, we are treated to a mystery that firstly, is more than it first appears, and secondly, displays Scudder's dogged determination perfectly.To start off the Matt Scudder series, he is asked by a man to investigate why his daughter was murdered. Not how, not who, but why. Her killer was her male room-mate who subsequently hanged himself in his prison cell after he was arrested. The father just wants to know why she died to set his own mind at rest.This is not a terrifically complex thriller that involves a lot of action sequences, rather it's a gritty hardboiled mystery that gradually uncovers facts while we get to know the protagonist. It serves it's purpose well as an introduction to the series and promises to hook you as a Matt Scudder fan.

Spare, elegantly written neo-noir

The first Matthew Scudder novel impressed me with its fine, spare writing that sketches the outline of the characters and and then lets their action fill in details. A gripping mystery full of sad but gritty integrity. Scudder is dogged in pursuit of the unpleasant truth on behalf of a father who wants to know what is he "doesn't want to know". The series starts off well and gets better.

Scudder Debut is a Smashing Success

Lawrence Block's first Matthew Scudder novel, THE SINS OF THE FATHERS, is a superlative debut that sparkles and fascinates with breathtaking writing skill of the highest order.

The first of 14 in the Matthew Scudder series...a winner!

. Matthew Scudder is Lawrence Block's remarkable private investigator. He's a former NYPD detective who left the force after an accident left a child dead in a crossfire. Because he is unlicensed you can't "hire" him. Instead he does you a favor by taking your case and solving the crime. In exchange for the favor the client returns the favor by giving him some cash. Scudder is an alcoholic. Rarely do you find him without a drink in has hand or at one of has favorite watering holes. "Sins of the Fathers" is the first in a series of books about Matthew Scudder. There are about a fourteen others as of this writing. Scudder is hired by a father to look into the murder of his daughter. The assignment is not to solve the crime because the girl's gay roommate has been arrested and was found dead in his cell. He has hung himself and this "proves" he did it. But did he really? We find the daughter is a hooker and was loved like a sister by the alleged killer. So who did it? Makes exciting can't put the book down reading.