A review by usbsticky
All the Flowers Are Dying by Lawrence Block
4.0
Spoilers ahead.
First of all this book actually follows book #15 and you should read that first. The plot is a bit unusual in that it isn't really linear or standard. It goes a bit all over the place. It also runs afoul of one of my pet peeves: alternating POVs. In this case, the murderer's and Scudder's POVs. I dislike switching between narratives because it's like reading 2 different books, one chapter each time. And (author) Block doesn't tell you much about the killer's POV in the beginning so you're reading blind and not having a frame of reference of where it's going.
Spoilers really, don't read if you don't want it spoiled.
The killer's POV gets clearer as you read on and after a bit you start to understand that he framed someone for the death of 3 kids he killed. Late on you realize that the killer is the same guy from the last book and the suspense ends there.
Meanwhile from Scudder's POV, he's hired by a fellow AA member who is suspicious of a man she's dating because he's super secretive and she doesn't know anything about his life. In fact, he could be the killer and Scudder does his investigative bit.
The two POVs start to merge when a woman is murdered by the killer and she's someone in Scudder's circle. And after a while they realize that the killer is the same one from the last book. And the killer also reveals that he murdered the 3 kids. After that it's a race to catch him before he kills more people.
Overall, I like the non-linear plotline because it's not cookie cutter and refreshing. As the series matured Block has also taken to discuss certain subjects not to do with crime, using dialog between characters. He's done suicide, religion, death and some other subjects. In this book he touched upon the death penalty. Other authors do this with varying success. Some of the Hornblower clones successfully included discussions on the inequity and injustice of the naval and social system of contemporary Britain. And in another series I read, the author unsuccessfully hijacked her Italian crime novels into some kind of social justice tirade and I stopped reading that.
Anyway, I feel sad that this series will be coming to an end as I read #17 next. I think it changed a lot from book #1 and in fact I will be reading that again just to get the feel of it but this series has been a very good one.
PS: I think the difference between Block and hot shot best seller authors is that the latter writes for consumer consumption and sales whereas Block writes what he wants and you can like it if you want. Some authors who got rich and famous stopped writing for consumer consumption and their works turned to crap. But Block's work has not followed that trajectory. His work didn't get better or worse, I think it got different.
First of all this book actually follows book #15 and you should read that first. The plot is a bit unusual in that it isn't really linear or standard. It goes a bit all over the place. It also runs afoul of one of my pet peeves: alternating POVs. In this case, the murderer's and Scudder's POVs. I dislike switching between narratives because it's like reading 2 different books, one chapter each time. And (author) Block doesn't tell you much about the killer's POV in the beginning so you're reading blind and not having a frame of reference of where it's going.
Spoilers really, don't read if you don't want it spoiled.
The killer's POV gets clearer as you read on and after a bit you start to understand that he framed someone for the death of 3 kids he killed. Late on you realize that the killer is the same guy from the last book and the suspense ends there.
Meanwhile from Scudder's POV, he's hired by a fellow AA member who is suspicious of a man she's dating because he's super secretive and she doesn't know anything about his life. In fact, he could be the killer and Scudder does his investigative bit.
The two POVs start to merge when a woman is murdered by the killer and she's someone in Scudder's circle. And after a while they realize that the killer is the same one from the last book. And the killer also reveals that he murdered the 3 kids. After that it's a race to catch him before he kills more people.
Overall, I like the non-linear plotline because it's not cookie cutter and refreshing. As the series matured Block has also taken to discuss certain subjects not to do with crime, using dialog between characters. He's done suicide, religion, death and some other subjects. In this book he touched upon the death penalty. Other authors do this with varying success. Some of the Hornblower clones successfully included discussions on the inequity and injustice of the naval and social system of contemporary Britain. And in another series I read, the author unsuccessfully hijacked her Italian crime novels into some kind of social justice tirade and I stopped reading that.
Anyway, I feel sad that this series will be coming to an end as I read #17 next. I think it changed a lot from book #1 and in fact I will be reading that again just to get the feel of it but this series has been a very good one.
PS: I think the difference between Block and hot shot best seller authors is that the latter writes for consumer consumption and sales whereas Block writes what he wants and you can like it if you want. Some authors who got rich and famous stopped writing for consumer consumption and their works turned to crap. But Block's work has not followed that trajectory. His work didn't get better or worse, I think it got different.