Even the Wicked

"When Lawrence Block is in his Matthew Scudder mode, crime fiction can sidle up so close to literature that often there's no degree of difference" -- The Philadelphia Inquirer. Matthew Scudder knows that justice is an elusive commodity in the big city, where a harmless man can be shot dead in a public place criminals fly free through holes in a tattered legal system. But now a vigilante is roaming among the millions, executing those he feels deserve to die. He calls himself "The Will of the People" - an ingenious serial killer who announces his specific murderous intentions to the media before carrying through on his threats. A child molester, a Mafia don, a violent anti-abortionist - even the protected and untouchable are being ruthlessly erased by New York's latest celebrity avenger. Scudder knows that no one is innocent - but who among us has the right to play God? It is a question that will haunt the licensed p.i. on his journey through the bleak city grays, as he searches for the sanity in urban madness. . .and for a frighteningly efficient killer who can do the impossible. About Scudder: Matt Scudder - ex-cop, unlicensed private eye, sober alcoholic - is an unusual hero. Consorting with cops and criminals alike, Scudder's a man who believes in justice, but who knows that no one is innocent. He is the complex and intriguing hero of a classic contemporary noir series by Grand Master of Mystery Lawrence Block.