"Right up there with Mr. Block's best....A DROP OF THE HARD STUFF keeps us guessing."--Tom Nolan, Wall Street Journal

Facing his demons in his first year of sobriety, Matthew Scudder finds himself on the trail of a killer. When Scudder's childhood friend Jack Ellery is murdered, presumably while attempting to atone for past sins, Scudder reluctantly begins his own investigation, with just one lead: Ellery's Alcoholics Anonymous list of people he wronged. One of them may be a killer, but that's not necessarily Scudder's greatest danger. Immersing himself in Ellery's world may lead him right back to the bar stool.

In a novel widely celebrated by critics and readers, Lawrence Block circle back to how it all began, reestablishing the Matthew Scudder series as one of the pinnacles of American detective fiction.

劳伦斯•布洛克（Lawrence Block，1938—），

享誉世界的美国侦探小说大师，当代硬汉派侦探小说最杰出的代表。他的小说不仅在美国备受推崇，还跨越大西洋，征服了自诩为侦探小说故乡的欧洲。

侦探小说界最重要的两个奖项，爱伦•坡奖终身大师奖和钻石匕首奖均肯定了劳伦斯•布洛克的大师地位。此外，他还曾三获爱伦•坡奖、两获马耳他之鹰奖、四获夏姆斯奖得主。