A Walk Among the Tombstones

A Matt Scudder Mystery

By: Lawrence Block

Narrated by: Mark Hammer

Private detective Matt Scudder investigates a series of kidnappings that always end in brutal murder. Best-selling author Lawrence Block takes us into the seedier back alleys and side-streets of New York City, rendering his subject with a gritty realism.More mayhem? Listen to another Matt Scudder mystery.©1992 Lawrence Block (P)1992 Recorded Books

Narration weak

Not sure narrator was right for this book. Better in others. To laid back. Overall worth listening. Enjoyed it enough.

narration ruins enjoyment of the story

What did you like best about A Walk Among the Tombstones? What did you like least?

The narrator should only be used for stories in the south or somewhere where slow talking wouldn't be annoying.

Would you be willing to try another book from Lawrence Block? Why or why not?

depends who was reading it.

What didn’t you like about Mark Hammer’s performance?

his voice

Was A Walk Among the Tombstones worth the listening time?

not sure if the story would be better with a faster pace

decent

was a decent story, but a bit slow. narration took a little getting used to.

not as good as I hoped

not really worth the time. movie is easier, the narration wasn't very exciting and honestly irritating to constantly turn up the volume and then turn it down again. story wasn't nearly as exciting as it could have been, a bit disturbing too, but some people like that. Also took time to get into it and narrator was hard to understand sometimes.

Good Read? Yep!

Back when… I read Lawrence Block from the start of Matt Scudder novels. You’d do well to go to the beginning of the series and work toward A Walk Among the Tombstones, especially since so many spoilers for those books are laid down here. But if you must begin here, well, this is good Matt Scudder stuff.

For years Lawrence Block wrote the (How To Write) Fiction column for Writers Digest Magazine – which made me a Block FanBoy. The man’s a professional who sweats the details and the story arc – like most of Block’s books this one’s tighter than a cranky drunk at closing time. If you’ve read Block, you know why I wrote that analogy. When you read this book you’ll get it.

This is a hole-less plot with plenty of useful clues hidden neatly within the writer’s carefully constructed characters and habitat. I liked it, recommend it, and will continue filling in the holes in my Block library.

Audio acting lost a genius when Mark Hammer passed in 2007. If for no other reason than to hear that talent, listen to Hammer interpret A Walk Among the Tombstones.

Movie to be out Sept 19, 2014

What made the experience of listening to A Walk Among the Tombstones the most enjoyable?

Hearing the character voices, seeing the story in my mind. Doing two things at once. All reason why listening is enjoyable.

Any additional comments?

Lawrence Block's 10th Matt Scudder novel is being released as a movie staring Liem Neeson on September 19th. I wanted to review the book prior to the movie being released. I have not read any of Block's books and was interested to find out he started this series in 1976. 

This is a story about an ex-New York City Detective who happens to be an alcoholic. Although this story has nothing to do with alcoholism many scenes take place at Alcoholic's Anonymous  meetings. This story is truly told through the eyes of as alcoholic who takes his sobriety one day at a time. 

The book begins with the kidnapping and murder of a drug traffickers wife even after the ransom is paid. Matt Scudder is hired to find out who committed the murder without involving the police. When Matt finds a series of murders the seem connected he works with police, without reveling his clients situation, to find the serial killers.

The story weaves Scudder's personsonal life with his professional one and had many rememorable characters. 

Mark Hammer does an excellent job as a narrator and having been released on audiobook in 1992 the story takes place at the beginning of the computer age when people were just starting to use pagers and still used pay phones. I am sure the story will be updated for the upcoming movie.

This story grabbed my attention right away. It is written without the vulgarity in many of the modern crime novels and the characters are well developed and well thought out.

I recommend this book and look forward to going back into the Audible Archieves and listening to the complete series of Matt Scudder novels.

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Much better than the movie...

The greatness of Matt Scudder's books lays in the capability of drawing effectively characters and atmospheres. The reader "enters" into the story (or the characters "enter" the reader" ?) and he starts a discovery journey of good and evil, suspense and sense of humor. Block here is at his best with dialogues so sharp that give momentum to a plot that at times slow down to focus on more intimate analysis of the main characters.
Needless to say, the book is more enjoyable than the movie (which, by the way, is not too bad).

Great fun!

New York detective meets good-guy mafia brothers. Mix in a street wise sidekick, computer hacking team, sobriety, a beautiful call girl, and serial killers, and Go! You've got a great story. Narration appropriate to the material, lots of interesting characters and a low key hero and you've got s book along the lines of some of James Lee Burke's best. Five stars across the board

Narration

The story was great but I had a hard time getting into it as I did not like the narration at all. Hard to understand at times and voice wasn't clear.

New Narrator

My first of the series and the story was great but as always a poor narrator makes it hard to get through the book. He made everyone sound old and more like they were going to play bingo rather than being involved in a murder mystery.