Commentary: On Books - Redemption in the dark

Matthew Scudder is a recovering alcoholic. He lives with Elaine, a recovering prostitute. During the 15 or so years they have been together ( first as vendor/vendee, now as husband and wife), Scudder has bailed Elaine out of many a jam. Sometimes this has necessitated killing people, often with the assistance of his Irish gangster pal Mick Ballou, but sometimes on his own.

Some of the bad guys, however, have escaped Scudder's vengeance.

Now, the worst psychopathic killer who got away is on the loose, and he is stalking Elaine, Scudder and everyone they hold dear.

Lawrence Block is a terrific writer, and his Matthew Scudder series is usually somewhat dark, but almost always redemptive. Block started writing these novels close to 20 years ago. (This is the 16th in the series.) Scudder was an alcoholic cop, who was destroying his career (with errant aim that killed an innocent child), destroying his family (by abandoning his wife and two boys in a New York suburb), and destroying himself (by finding his solace at the bottom of a bottle of bourbon.)

During the past two decades, Block slowly has allowed Scudder to bloom with the help of a lot of AA meetings, a great sponsor (unfortunately killed by another escaped psychopath) and Elaine's prostitute-with-a-heart-of-gold goodness.

Block's description of alcoholic despair and of the saving grace of AA meetings is so compelling that he makes the reader want to become an alcoholic, if only to experience a meeting.

This long-awaited newest addition to the Scudder legacy, however, falls a little short. The murdering psychopath is revealed pretty early, and the cruelty he inflicts on his victims is unsurpassed. These heartless descriptions of the bad guy's behavior are pretty tough to read, especially right before or right after a meal.

For the first time I can remember of all of the Scudder novels, Scudder and Elaine both seem pretty helpless. Scudder has aged in these novels, so he is no longer quite as tough. A 60-year-old, sober, unarmed ex-cop cannot dispatch evil as easily as a 40-year- old drunk with a gun. Even Scudder's tough-guy, totally-outside-the- law friends are helpless.

Can Scudder save Elaine? Can Scudder save himself as he faces his own mortality? Can Scudder put away his worst bad guy for good?

You will have to read the novel to find out. Despite some misgivings, it is still definitely worth a shot.

Carl R. Gold is an attorney practicing in Towson.

Other books by Lawrence Block

*The Burglar on the Prowl

*Small Town

*Enough Rope

*Hope to Die

-Hit List

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