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Loading... Pusher (original 1956; edition 2003)by Ed McBain
Work InformationThe Pusher by Ed McBain (1956)
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Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. Even in 1956, when Ed McBain wrote this book, drug addiction was a problem in the United States. Like so many of the books in the 87th precinct series (this is the third), this story touches on a whole range of subjects that remain relevant even today in the US — like the problems facing migrant communities, or violence against women. As part of the author’s attempt to create a new kind of crime fiction in which there is no single hero but instead a collective, McBain has one of his characters shot in the chest and battling for his life at the end of the book. What happens next — and the Afterword that explains it all — was both moving and fascinating. Great description of Steve Carella in this one, “A constant man in a city of inconsistencies.” A young man is dead in the 87th. Is it a heroin overdose, or is it suicide? Or, is it murder? Steve Carella takes the lead in this one, and the path to the truth leads him to death's door! A very good story with quite a bit of detail on the heroin business, which surprised me, as this book came out in 1954! The 'Afterword' in this book was very amusing! Apparently, when the finished version of this story was submitted, Detective Steve Carella died at the end! But McBain's agent and editor didn't like that, and despite the author's protests, Carella lives! Close call, Stevie, close call... A young Hispanic is found dead by a patrol cop, an apparent suicide. However, Lieutenant Byrnes son's fingerprints are on the syringe with a lethal overdose of heroin. Just as Detective Steve Carrell is beginning to solve the mystery he is shot three times in the chest by the dead pusher's successor. Tense. no reviews | add a review
A bitterly cold night offers up a body turned blue--not frozen, but swinging from a rope in a dank basement. The dead teen seems like a clear case of suicide, but Detective Steve Carella and Lieutenant Peter Byrnes find a few facts out of place, and an autopsy confirms their suspicions. The boy hadn't hung himself but OD'd on heroin before an unknown companion strung him up to hide the true cause of death. The revelation dredges up enough muck to muddy the waters of what should've been an open-and-shut case. To find the answers to a life gone off the rails, Carella and Byrnes face a deep slog into the community of users and pushers--but a grim phone call discloses that very community already has its claws in a cop's son. A new pusher is staking a claim right under the 87th Precinct's noses, and it's up to Carella and Byrnes to snag the viper before it poisons their whole lives. No library descriptions found. |
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In this 3rd book in the series, we meet again Detective Steve Carella who was featured in the first book but the story really revolves around his boss, Lieutenant Byrnes. The plot could have been set last year instead of in 1956; it is rather a sad commentary about drug use in the U.S. that this is so... ( )