Lawrence Block's Even The Wicked is a very interesting book. Part of the "Matthew Scudder" series, this book shows a much calmer, more down-to-earth Matt than we've seen in the prior books. But he sure has his hands full with not one, not two, but three separate cases!

Matthew Scudder has come a long way through this series. We've come to know him as an alcoholic, completely messing up his marriage, his kids, really his entire life. But by this book, he's found a sort of inner peace. He struggles, but maintains his sobriety. He's married to Elaine (former love interest that shows up in the previous books), he's taken in a street kid and cares for him as he would a son, and he actually seems to be reasonably happy. What a change for him!

What's not different for him, is how he manages to get involved in these murder cases, and how he alone can always find the clues that elude the authorities. In this book, he first gets involved in the case of a serial killer who calls himself "Will" as in "The Will Of The People". Will is an interesting killer - he announces the names of his victims in a very public manner, a few days before he kills them. You'd think that once identified, the intended victims would be able to protect themselves, but Will is too clever; no protection can keep him away. The thing is, his victims are people that most people are just as happy to have eliminated from the world: child molesters, mobsters, etc. The media's loving this guy, and no one's really looking too hard to stop him. Except for Matt, of course.

Then there's another murder that may - or may not - have anything to do with Will. Byron is a man dying of AIDS. One day he's sitting on a park bench reading a newspaper and minding his own business, when he's suddenly shot in the head.

And, finally, there's a "Will Number Two" who suddenly pops up. A copy-cat of the first Will, or is it really the same person trying to pull a fast one on the authorities?

Matt gets tangled up in all of these cases.

I liked the fact that Matt has finally come to a peaceful time in his life, where he can at last accept his own faults, as well as the love of others. What a pleasure to see this transformation. And I also liked that Block doesn't pretend that life is easy for Matt, or that it ever really could be. Matt still struggles every single day to maintain his sobriety. We go along with him to some of his AA meetings, and we root for him as we watch him struggle to not pick up that drink.

I liked that with three separate cases there was never a minute to get bored! In fact, Byron's story is fascinating and definitely held my interest - at least as much as the "Will" and "Will Number Two" stories. Not that the Will stories were bad, they weren't. But somehow I connected more with poor Byron, and really wondered why anyone would feel the need to murder him.

There were also things that I didn't like.

I don't like the fact that knowledge just seems to come to Matt as if by magic. One minute he's completely clueless about something. Then, the next chapter starts. It's some time later and Matt suddenly has all this knowledge that he didn't have before. We're never told exactly how he came to know these things. Part of the fun of reading mysteries is following the clues and figuring things out along with our protagonist. I feel robbed when my hero just suddenly knows something that he didn't know before. It feels like a cheap shot by the author!

Along that same line, it's also a cheap shot when the bad guy decides to stop denying things, and start confessing. Even when there isn't a shred of hard evidence against the guy, just some circumstantial stuff. Does this ever happen in real life? Does a murderer ever really say "Well I guess you got me, now let me fill in all the blanks for you"? I doubt it. That's another cheap shot!

Overall, this was a fairly enjoyable book. With three interesting cases, and a main character who is easy to root for, it's sure to hold your interest. But be forewarned - Mr. Block took a few cheap shots that left me feeling disappointed.


Recommended: Yes