I am a huge fan of Lawrence Block’s Bernie Rhodenbarr mysteries but had never read one of his Matthew Scudder books. I read Ian Rankin’s books and follow him on Twitter and he highly recommended this book – well I know why now. The book starts with a couple of old men in a pub in Hell’s Kitchen and they are reminiscing about the old days. They have basically lived their lives on either side of the law and they get to talking about someone the cop knew from his childhood days in the Bronx. This other man, Jack, went the way of the crook and even though he didn’t cross paths with Scudder as a criminal, he did later on whilst trying to make amends as part of his 12 step programme. Continue reading “A Drop of the Hard Stuff By Lawrence Block”