Eight Million Ways to Die

By: Lawrence Block

Narrated by: Lawrence Block

Battling the bottle one day at a time, ex-cop, sometime PI Matthew Scudder finds that next to staying sober, staying alive seems easy. But in the mean streets of New York City it never is. Not for the prostitute who wanted out and got her beautiful self slashed to ribbons. Not for a pimp named Chance who is betting his life that the broken-down detective can find her murderer. And not for Matthew Scudder - just trying to stay alive in a city that knows nothing better than how to die. Winner of the Shamus Award!

©1982 Lawrence Block; 2012 AudioGO

great detective story

it turns out Lawrence Block is a far better writer than he is a reader . I expected the author would present the characters best. But, Alan Sklar's interpretation in books 1 through 3 is much better. It's difficult to tell Block's characters apart. This book has great characters, great dialogue, good scenes, and good ending. the main character's inner dialogue is casually profound but matter of fact and honest, even about his character flaws.

Blocks performance is great

Reading some of the reviews I was ready for a terrible reading of a great novel. For the first few minutes, I was in total agreement of the negative reviews of Blocks reading... then, for me, he became Matt. Within an hour I was completely into the story and Blocks voice became Matt Scudder. A story less about the mystery and more about the way the words and thoughts come together. The best in the series so far.

Author should not narrate his own books

Fortunately, the story line is great. If is wasn't, I might have returned it. There are so many excellent narrators. They don't write, and writers shouldn't narrate.

Narrator terrible

Interesting story. Block needs to get out of the reading business and concentrate on writing. I've listened to more than a hundred books and this was the worst reading of all. But the story was good so I plowed through.

Recovery begins

Great storyline and kept me listening and anxious for the next move. Really enjoyed the truth in the recovery references.