Out on the Cutting Edge by Lawrence Block

Meh. There's nothing bad with this one, but it didn't grab me. Again, we have the introduction of an interesting new character - Mick Ballou - but the mysteries this time just don't add up to much. Scudder's work was interesting enough on the Paula Hoeldtke disappearance, but the resolution on it as well as on Eddie's untimely demise just don't add up. And I didn't like Willa at all. Maybe it's time to take a break from Scudder for a while.

When the Sacred Ginmill Closes by Lawrence Block

Now this was interesting! Scudder is still drinking in this story, but the narrator is future Scudder. Sober Scudder. The contrast is fantastic. Story Scudder is a train wreck, but completely lacking in insight or concern about his life. It's painful to watch him move from one self-destructive choice to another and to see how close he comes to disaster, how often. I wonder how much the other early novels in this series would change if Sober Scudder was narrating them. I wonder how much Drunk Scudder glossed over. There's a lot of terrible crap about drinking that certainly never got mentioned before. Still, they say there's no zealot like a convert, and Sober Scudder has definitely drunk the kool-aid. You'd think there was nothing but drinking (or not-drinking) going on in these stories, to hear me tell them. The mysteries this time were excellent. Despite never having heard of any of them before, the mystery-bringers in this case seemed closer to Scudder than usual, and it was good to see him passing the time in friendly relationships. I suppose there's a bit of a foxhole mentality among fellow drunks, but these guys all seemed to be peas in a pod. I enjoyed the multi-threaded plot and look happily forward to the next installment.

Eight Million Ways to Die by Lawrence Block

I knew from the get-go that Scudder starts out the series as an alcoholic and gains sobriety somewhere along the way, but not where or when. I wasn't ever bothered by the drinking, but was looking forward to the journey to see what happens. This one was the transitional book, and was really hard to read. I'm more than a little disappointed by how black-and-white things became, though. Obviously drinking all day every day is never healthy, but Scudder wasn't so messed up at the outset. I guess things escalated over time, but I didn't really see it happening. I suppose the story mirrors his own awareness as narrator - drinking was fine until he realized it wasn't - but it felt like a light switch was flipped rather than an awareness grown over time. Scudder was okay, then he was in the hospital, having seizures, blacking out, brutally assaulting people, etc., etc. I wouldn't have begrudged any of the drinking arc if the mystery had been better, but it wasn't. We got a great new character - Chance the pimp - but everything else was strictly second-rate.