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Type of bind: Mass Market Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN num: 9780380728251
ISBN number: 0380728257
Label: Avon
Manufacturer: Avon
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 384
Printing Date: July 01, 1997
Publishing house: Avon
Release Date: July 01, 1997
Sale Popularity Level: 256666
Studio: Avon
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Editor's Notes and Comments:
Product Description:
In the dark days, in a sad and lonely place, ex-cop Matt Scudder is drinking his life away -- and doing 'favors' for pay for his ginmill cronies. But when three such assignments flow together in dangerous and disturbing ways, he'll need to change his priorities from boozing to surviving.
User popularity level:
Rated by buyers 
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"When the Sacred Ginmill Closes" is one of my favorite books ever. The way Block looks back and remembers things and doesn't remember things and the kind of perspective he puts all of it in is very close to home. It is one of those rare things in a book that really makes you feel like you have a kinship with the author. Lots of us have lived through not just a few booze soaked years. And sometimes it is natural to have, if not fond memories of these crazy times, then at least not a fatalistic view of them either. It is hard to say why some books are so important to some people, this is one of those.
Had this not been the very first book of this series that I read, I probably wouldn't have read any more of it. That's not to say that the other books in this series aren't good, but this was certainly the right one to get your attention. Speaking of the series, this book could easily have been a cliche, since it is the transition between drunkenness and then muddle and then sobreity. It seems like most series have to have that one book that is a device to introduce different moods or relationships for the character. The way it was done here was taking the alcoholic side of it to a new level. It seemed like a brief moment of clarity that some alcoholics have years down the road. When something that happened back then all of a sudden comes back into your conciousness and it is clearly remembered and considered as it just happened a few days ago. Sometimes these moments are the greatest thing in the world, even if they are about something which is all to forgettable. What a book.
Rated by buyers -
This is the very first time that I've read a Matthew Scudder novel, and I must say that I enjoyed it. Matt Scudder is one of the most human hard-bitten detectives that I've ever come across. And Block does not shy away from hard and dismal topics. This book is about drinking friendships. He points out throughout the book that people really don't know the people that they drink with. It is also about betrayal, greed and it even has a cold-blooded killer. Block really knows his city, and that comes across in these pages. It reminded me of "The Maltese Falcon". Block knows New York and its people in this setting (which is 1970's New York) like Hammett knew 1920's San Franscisco. This is high praise indeed because The Maltese Falcon is such a perfect detective story. This one measures up just as well. I will have to read more of Matt Scudder, I think.
Rated by buyers 
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In my opinion the best of this series. Block at times is a formulaic machine, almost a hack. Not in this book however. There is nuance and real texture, pretty close to literature if you will. Block nails the NYC of the early 70's, the corruption, the IRA "lads" running about, a true sense of danger that could flare from the most mundane source. This is "Hell's Kitchen" pre gentrification. Well worth the time and effort.
Rated by buyers -
I am writing this because I was looking to see what others were saying about my favorite mystery/crime character. The latest few reviews were pretty hard on Block and I just want to put a few things straight.
First of all, Block is a very hit or miss author. He has written dozens of books and maybe only 25% of them are Scudder novels. He has written just as many 'Burglar' books that are more akin to Agatha Christy than Dashiel Hammett, and I am not their biggest fan. Besides that, Block has written countless short stories and started a few other series' that are in comparison to Scudder, uninspired.
What Block has done here is not write just one book and then continue to revise the same plot over and over as so many mystery writers do. Instead, as a reader you should start at the beginning of this series 'Sins of our Fathers' where you will find a Matthew Scudder, moderately in control of his alcoholism. This is not the best Block, but it is pretty important to follow the development of this amazing character from one book to the next.
By the time you come to 'Ginmill,' '8 Million Ways to Die,' or others further along in the series, you will have found yourself keenly aware of the small developments of Matthew Scudder as a character. 'Ginmill' is a key Scudder novel in that it marks a transitional point that opens up new horizons in coming books and acts as a bridge in many ways. If you have not read the preceding books, and don't wait to judge 'Ginmill' until reading a few more, this will not be apparent.
Secondly, 'Ginmill,' like all of the Scudder novels, is not earth shattering. After you have read hundreds of thrillers where the earth hangs in the balance every time, it is refreshing to pick up a Scudder book that is all about smaller mundane everyday occurrences. These pages are all the more satisfying due to the fact that Block is using this book to really explore a character that he has already spent a great deal of time and energy with.
I would highly recommend this series as a whole, it is one of two that really follow a primary character through a lifetimes worth of changes. The other that I am keenly thinking of as I write this would be by John Fante, and I would even recommend his work over Blocks (high praise). If you have read most of Block's work and would like to find another author who treats a character this way, start with Fante's 'Arturo Bandini' books (Fante's alter ego) and then pick up the rest of them. They all fit nicely together portraying a life from infancy to senility.
Rated by buyers 
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I think there was a possiblity of a great plot in there somewhere with some great characters but it read more like an authors notes than a book. If you think show not tell is over rated in writing then this is a book you'll love. It is a flash back of a drunk telling you what he remembers which "ain't" much.
The characters are only seen thru the eyes of the speaker who does a lousy job of telling you what they are like. The speaker, Matt Scrudder, does nothing to involve us in his life or plight. Anger, love, hate, are all missing from the feelings he evokes. Sheer boredom is not. "Well you see I tied one on all year and to the best of my memory here is what I remember before the brain damage." Whoop time to go get the coffee while this speaker talks.
Matt Scrudder comes across as a joke. James Lee Burke carrys it off and involves us with Dave. Kellerman has us hoping Milo stays straight. Block does not with Scudder.
There are several plots going on at the same time none of which tie into each other or at least tie in well except in his recall of the summer of 75. It should have stayed there. Let me know when he's done speaking. I'll come back with my coffee.
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