Review: All the Flowers Are Dying

I spent a wonderful evening in the company of one of my favourite fictional PI's - Mathew Scudder in this wonderfully black tale of serial killing by the MWA Grand-Master and CWA Diamond Dagger Winner - Lawrence Block. When I finished the book, I put it down, poured a Scotch on ice, and was lost in thought for over an hour mentally going back over one of the best novels I have read this year. Do not let yourself get fooled by the title, this is a very black book, featuring some sharp insightful peeks into the dark side of the human condition. However, it is also a bouquet of roses to readers of literary mystery novels, because this 'All The Flowers are Dying' is written with a flourish that showcases that Block is a master and commander of the English Language. But perhaps most crucially, as a novel, it is a culmination of plots, characters, ideas and moods that have formed over the twenty-five year career of Private Eye Mathew Scudder, and now has shaped itself into this zenith-piece, that is 'All The Flowers Are Dying'.

As a novel it is crammed full of existential angst, as well as pathos as we follow the paths of people trapped by the web of one the most horrifically detailed psychopaths that have smeared themselves between the covers of a book.

It starts with a typical Block character interchange that features so heavily in Block's Scudder series, evocative of small-town New York, and the places that tourists fail to explore. It also illustrates Block's ability to weave magically characters and locations into a story, and make it appear completely effortless. You can smell the aroma of coffee when Scudder talks to his cronies in the various bars he frequents, and you know that even these very early scenes will feature heavily later in a complex plot, but how?; remains a mystery until much, much later. The early section of this book felt very much like the flavour of 'When The Scared Gin-Mill Closes' with its cadre of men sipping their lives and drinks away in the bars that the title refers to.

This is no retro excursion into the past, because after Block's recent minor masterpiece 'Small Town'; the lack of the twin-towers over the New York Skyline feature heavily in the atmosphere of this book, which has a sombre and melancholic tone. You know the world is not quite right without the towers, and perhaps Block has reached an age that he finds it harder to see the positive aspects of life when he views the world through Mathew Scudder's eye; not that Scudder's world is ever far from darkness, but in this remarkable novel it is at its most sinister. The world is a cruel place. Remember why Scudder left the NYPD? Even now, he is still haunted by the face of the little girl he shot by the ricocheting bullet. The world is a dangerous place and Mathew Scudder still views it as such.

Before very long we realize that things are not too well in the world outside of New York either; because in Virginia, Preston Applewhite, a pedophile on death-row is visited by the enigmatic Dr Arne Bodinson of Yale University. Bodinson is seeking to find the final burial ground of one the victims of Applewhite's murderous rampage; that of a little boy who was raped, tortured and murdered by the pedophile. The death-row meetings are unsettling, as Applewhite continues to plead his innocence, while Bodinson probes to seek the truth. Things are not what they seem as Applewhite and Bodinson start to form a relationship of sorts under the shadow of the lethal injection. We know that from this relationship, there will be terrible consequence, but what that will be remains a mystery until much, much later. One of the themes of this book is the relationship between time and the people that we decide to share it with. I considered that the nature of the relationship between Applewhite and Bodinson becomes almost the novel in microcosm; two people whom circumstance has thrown together.

Moving back to New York, we find Scudder still attending his Alcoholics Anonymous meetings and renewing old acquaintances and friendships. One of which is Louise, a lone woman who has finally found a man that she wants to share her life and time with. But before she does, she asks Scudder to check him out to make sure he has no shadows in his past. Scudder reluctantly takes on the case and employs his side-kick TJ, who manages to prise himself away from his stock-market day-trading hobby to help track the mystery man.

Elaine, Mathew's wife is enjoying life running the antiques shop and meeting her friends. It seems that her friend Monica, has finally found a man who can satisfy her complex needs, and a man who incidentally is far, far from what she expected. Perhaps Mathew Scudder should have checked him out too, because if he had he would have found out that the mystery man is someone who lives and works under the rocks of our society. He is a dangerous man, a man with a past, and a past that like Scudder's bullet has ricocheted into the present. There is soon torture and death, and Mathew and Elaine and TJ realise that a noose has been thrown around them, and someone is reeling them in. Under siege and under pressure, Mathew Scudder soon sees links between Monica's new Beau and the men called Applewhite and Bodinson from Virginia. There is a serial killer traversing time and people, and soon Scudder realizes, that twenty-five years on, the past has finally caught up with him, and the world he created. As his friends start to die around him, the harder he tries to cling onto what really matters. Scudder knew that life was far from a bed of roses, but now he realizes that even the few roses he smelt around him are dying. This is a book that terrifies, makes your skin crawl with dread, but also reaffirms the relationship between time and friendship. This is a tough uncompromising look at life, and how the death of friends impacts our lives. It is also a difficult book to review as it could be the last in the series, but then again the only thing certain about life is death and Mathew Scudder has cheated death for over 25 years, so who knows? This my favourite book of 2005 and is not released until April, and what did T.S. Eliot say? "April is the cruellest month," - Not for mystery fans because this is a wonderful, wonderful book that deserves 5 Stars.

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Ali Karim - RAM

Please Note: Books reviewed are usually provided by the publisher, author, or an agent. Reviewers usually get to keep the book.

Book Review: All the Flowers Are Dying

Please Note: Books reviewed are usually provided by the publisher, author, or an agent. Reviewers usually get to keep the book.