Negative Positive
Title: Not One of the Better Matt Scudder Novels
Review: Although I am a huge Lawrence Block fan, I completely agree with a few of the other online reviewers here who have stated that Block is not at the top of his game in recent years. "All the Flowers are Dying" was a big disappointment to me. Block is very choppy in his transition between first and third persons, and Scudder's narratives in this novel do nothing to help move the story along. Heavy focus on the killer's thoughts might have worked better had the killer been a more believable character. Much of the plot felt contrived and forced to me. The novel did pick up a little momentum toward the end, but even at this point the final pages had to rely on unlikely coincidences. I highly recommend going back to any of Block's earlier Matt Scudder Novels ("When the Sacred Gin Mill Closes", "A Walk Among the Tombstones" etc.).
Is the review positive or negative? 