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A Stab in the Dark  By  cover art

A Stab in the Dark

By: Lawrence Block
Narrated by: William Roberts
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Publisher's summary

Nine long years have passed since the killer last struck - nine years since eight helpless young women were brutally slaughtered by an icepick-wielding maniac. The trail grew cold and the book was unofficially closed on a serial killer who stopped killing. But now "The Icepick Prowler" has confessed - but only to seven of the killings. Not only does he deny the eighth, he has an airtight alibi. Barbara Ettinger's family had almost come to accept that the young woman was the victim of a random killing. Now they must grapple with the shocking revelation that not only was her death disguised to look like the serial killer's work, but her murderer may have been someone she knew and trusted. Matthew Scudder has been hired to finally bring her slayer to justice, setting the relentless detective on the trail of a death almost a decade old, searching for a vicious murderer who's either long gone, long dead... or patiently waiting to kill again.

©1981 Lawrence Block. All rights reserved. (P)2011 AudioGo

What listeners say about A Stab in the Dark

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narration

i prefer Skylars narration. i couldn't get used to the new accent . otherwise great

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Letdown

Compared to the first three Scudder books this one is a letdown. Plus the narrator is a step back from Alan Sklar who did the first three.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Scudder's alcoholism is becoming an issue

If you could sum up A Stab in the Dark in three words, what would they be?

Scudder is unraveling.

Would you listen to another book narrated by William Roberts?

While not an awful narrator, I actually preferred the previous narrator in the series. This one had a taste for the cliche when picking his voices. Even Scudder's inner voice had a little New York cab driver in it.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

This one made me feel the depressive pull of falling in the bottle. It did a very good job of capturing the state of denial alcoholics find themselves in. Scudder keeps finding new ways to explain his drunken actions.

Any additional comments?

If you want to know when the writing takes a notch up, this would be it. Scudder has become a fully complex character. You may even grow to dislike him at points during this one. That is not a bad thing. A truly heroic character needs flaws front, center, and hidden.

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    4 out of 5 stars
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Unfolding

One thing that I think Lawrence Block does very well is that his plot seems to "unfold". His stories don't very often surprise with things that you are shocked with - rather they evolve with a logic that makes sense when you reflect back on them. Scudder never seems lost or in over his head - rather he is analytical and dogged. Also prefer the length of these to the 15 hour plus convoluted epics

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    4 out of 5 stars

A good reading !

This is one of the early Matt Scudder's stories. You can tell that Lawrence Block is still working on Matt's character , but the story runs smooth with a terrific description of the New York "ambiance" . Definitively a good reading !

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I like this series

But not this narrator. His voice was high and nasally. Not right for this character.
It was very hard for me to listen to this one. Thankfully it wasn’t as long as the others.
I wish they’d have stuck with Sklar as narrator. He had a good deep gravelly voice that you’d associate with a hardened detective.
On to the next one. I hope the narration is better!

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

I could not stand the narrator.

Shudder is a cop/detective , the narrator makes him sound like a snobby aristocrat. Previous narrators were so much better.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Great plot and gritty characters. I really liked the reader, he played so many voices he was like a one man theatre company.

Lawrence Block knows how to weave a really interesting plot, just enough twists and turns without being too complicated. His characters really come alive and seem to be part of the gritty city. Alan Sklar is a perfect choice for reading this. He has a "40's vintage" timbre to his voice that reminds me of the original hard boiled Noir detective movie voice overs.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

not as good as earlier in the series

preferred alan sklar as the reader. plus this plot / storyline was not as engaging and a bit slower than earlier in the series. just good enough to keep me listening but not great.

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    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

All about the people

The plot was incidental to relationships and alcoholism. Not what I would call thriller/suspense

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