Book Review : Lawrence Block - Even the Wicked (1997)
Everyone likes a good vigilante story. There are so many injustices in the world today, the thought of someone, somewhere selflessly having our back and setting the record straight with criminal scum is comforting and righteous. Vigilantes are romantic, Christ-like figures who sacrifice their aspirations to a quiet life for the greater good. Or are they simply vengeful, emotional lunatics who arbitrarily deliver old testament justice according to their own moral code?. It’s the complicated question Lawrence Block explores in his thirteenth Matthew Scudder novel Even the Wicked.
The novel opens up with our man Scudder chilling at home with his wife Elaine and watching boxing in Spanish, for whatever reason. He receives a call from a defense lawyer named Adrian Whitfield, who’s been targeted by a street vigilante who calls himself The Will of the People. Will has already hanged one of his clients and decided to strike down evil at its source: the corrupted justice system. So, Whitfield hires Scudder to investigate the killer and hopefully save his life. It looks straightforward on surface, but straighforwardness is unfortunately allergic to Scudder.
To my knowledge, Even the Wicked is the first detective novel I read that portrays emotional stability in such a positive light. The once brooding alcoholic now has a wife, an apartment and a support system who prompt him into taking the case. Scudder doesn’t do it of a sense of justice. He takes the case because he needs to pay the rent. It’s both emotionally detached and extremely relatable. Although he doesn’t battle his inner demons like in other novels, there’s a strong sense that it’s Scudder’s burden to investigate fucked up crimes in Even the Wicked.
I found it quite refreshing. A character doesn’t have to be an emotional burnout to be interesting. Not in the thirteenth novel of a series.
Now, Even the Wicked doesn’t approve or condemn vigilantism. Lawrence Block leans towards “it’s not preferable”, but otherwise paints a portrait of a hardcore idealist who strives to complement the system’s shortcomings rather than to overthrow it. I mean, Matthew Scudder himself has to waste a crazy person earlier in the series, so it wouldn’t be honest to cast the first stone, but it was an act of survival more than a moral death sentence. The problem with The Will of the People is that he indiscriminately kills people for unpunished crimes and for their ideological stances.
The moral argument in Even the Wicked is as old as society itself. But Lawrence Block’s stance on it is original and nuanced. It’s easy to condemn the faceless system until someone arbitrarily decides you shouldn’t live anymore, which is the very definition of murder. A personal rapport is not always a good thing and an undiscriminating approach with rigid rules is not always a bad thing either. Nothing is perfect and we’re bound to get frustrated, but working with the same ground rules for everyone is what separates us from complete fucking chaos.
It might seem like a platitude here, but it’s expressed quite gracefully in Even the Wicked because Lawrence Block is very, very good at gracefully making a point.
Even the Wicked is pretty different from the previous Matthew Scudder novels I’ve read. It’s more of a conventional whoddunit with hardboiled detective novel undertones. It gets nowhere near the emotional thrill rides of the books, but it felt good. I mean, it’s rewarding to see a character evolve and build a life for himself without compromising who he is. There’s no big emotional gut punch in Even the Wicked, so I guess you should consider it somewhat of a Scudder 201 class. But if you’re already a fan, it’s a sophisticated pleasure you should enjoy.
7.4/10
