Book Review: Nothing Like An Icepick Through The Eye

A Stab in the Dark is a pretty engaging mystery from one of the considered masters of the genre, Lawrence Block. It features the unofficial private eye, Matthew Scudder and was first published in 1981.

Nine years previously, a serial killer with an icepick terrorized New York City and then disappeared. The police have made an arrest, but the father of one of the victims believes that he did not commit the brutal murder of his daughter. Charles London comes to Matthew Scudder to take another look into his daughter’s death to see if the truth is something more her falling victim to a maniac. Scudder is an ex-cop who sometimes works for a fee or a favor. He dusts off his investigative skills and starts examining facts that are almost a decade old. Of course, Scudder unearths some uncomfortable secrets from the neighborhood where Barbara Ettinger met her tragic end. One killer is in custody, however someone even more cunning may be waiting in the shadows to savagely protect their secrets from Scudder’s prying eyes.

It’s a pretty straight-forward, tightly written novel that is not very long. Scudder is a bit of a train wreck with his alcoholism and cynicism, but he is still a capable and interesting investigator. He does have scruples and is a little more civilized at times then Mickey Spillane’s Mike Hammer, but he can handle himself in a fight if needed.

Block also creates a dubious set of suspects who are pretty compelling. The red herrings and clues are pretty well planned out as well.

I haven’t read a whole lot of Block’s works, so I am not sure where I would place this one in the rankings, but I did find that I enjoyed this one well enough to keep returning to the world of Matthew Scudder.

Block is a talented writer who keeps the story moving pretty well. Scudder gets a lot done between working his case along with some personal encounters in something that comes in under two hundred pages.

For those who like the old-fashioned, hard-boiled private eye novel where the protagonist is about as messy as those he meets, this one is a pretty good addition to the bookshelves.

I think more poor decisions and ultimately murder is called for when I return to the works of John Sandford. Deadline is the lucky winner for my next literary diversion.