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Six naked, murdered bodies on a cold January night put Detectives Carella and Kling in the middle of a full-on gang war and in a head-to-head battle with a mysterious criminal mastermind. "Imagine your favorite Law & Order cast solving fresh mysteries into infinity, with no re-runs, and you have some sense of McBain's grand,ongoing accomplishment." --Entertainment Weekly "McBain forces us to think twice about every character we meet...even those we thought we already knew." --New York Times show more Book Review show lessTags
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“There were three men, two young girls, and a baby in the ditch.” All naked. All dead. Caught up in a gang war. Between three gangs!
Interestingly, abortion is a major factor in this. A fifteen year old girl is ‘not allowed’ to have one, which precipitates the violence. Interesting, as some folks in the United States RIGHT NOW, nearly 50 years after this book was published, are still attempting to ‘not allow’ an entire country of woman to have the freedom to choose. 50 years! WTF.
Not a fan of Randall Nesbitt’s statement interspersed between the story of the investigation. I found it to be more interruptive than interesting.
But, I’m a big fan of the 87th, and the story of their investigation was as good as always!
Interestingly, abortion is a major factor in this. A fifteen year old girl is ‘not allowed’ to have one, which precipitates the violence. Interesting, as some folks in the United States RIGHT NOW, nearly 50 years after this book was published, are still attempting to ‘not allow’ an entire country of woman to have the freedom to choose. 50 years! WTF.
Not a fan of Randall Nesbitt’s statement interspersed between the story of the investigation. I found it to be more interruptive than interesting.
But, I’m a big fan of the 87th, and the story of their investigation was as good as always!
Once again, McBain plays with form as the detective work carried out by our heroes is interspersed with a comprehensive confession that fills in many of the gaps. These two narrative threads run side by side sometimes switching off from paragraph to paragraph with no indication of the change in POV. I can't think of many modern novelists who could pull this off so seamlessly and keep things moving forwards. It's utterly cinematic. Bravo.
Six naked bodies, on of whom is an infant, are dumped in a ditch with no identification. Fortunately for the 87th Street Precinct, one of the girls of a gang member is horrified over the accidental killing of a baby tips the police to the fact that this was gang-related. This book oscillates between the police work and the gang leader justifying his actions of the killing and aftermath.
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New York Times Best Mysteries of the Year
18 works; 2 members
#MysteryBingo2021Silver(Revised)
36 works; 1 member
#JustTheFacts2021Silver
60 works; 1 member
#MysteryBingo2021Silver(Original)
36 works; 1 member
Books - McBain, Ed: 87th Precinct
55 works; 1 member
Author Information
364+ Works 32,451 Members
Ed McBain is a pen name for Evan Hunter who was born in 1926 in East Harlem, New York on October 15, 1926. Hunter was born with the name Salvatore Albert Lombino, and he legally adopted the name Evan Hunter in 1952. During World War II, Hunter joined the Navy and served aboard a destroyer in the Pacific. He graduated from Hunter College, were he show more majored in English and psychology, with minors in dramatics and education. He was a prolific writer who also wrote under the names of Ed McBain, Curt Cannon, Hunt Collins, Ezra Hannon, and Richard Marsten. His first major success came in 1954 with the publication of The Blackboard Jungle, which was later adapted as a film. He published the first three books in the 87th Precinct series in 1956 under the name of Ed McBain. He also wrote juvenile books, plays, television scripts, and stories and articles for magazines. He won the Mystery Writers of America Award in 1957 and the Grand Master Award in 1986 for lifetime achievement. He died of laryngeal cancer on July 6, 2005 at the age of 78. (Bowker Author Biography) Ed McBain is the only American to receive the Diamond Dagger, the British Crime Writers Association's highest award. He also holds the Mystery Writers of America's coveted Grand Master Award. His books have sold over one hundred million copies, ranging from his most recent, "The Last Dance", to the bestselling "The Blackboard Jungle", the screenplay for Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds" & the bestselling "Privileged Conversation", written under his own name, Evan Hunter. He lives in Connecticut. (Publisher Provided) Ed McBain, aka Evan Hunter, wrote the screenplay for Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds and has written many novels. He is the only American to be awarded Britain's coveted Diamond Dagger Award, the highest honor a suspense writer can achieve. He lives in Connecticut. (Publisher Provided) show less
Awards and Honors
Notable Lists
Series
Belongs to Publisher Series
Il giallo Mondadori (1379)
Work Relationships
Contains
Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- Hail to the Chief
- Original title
- Hail to the Chief
- Original publication date
- 1973; 1983
- People/Characters
- Steve Carella
- Epigraph
- [None]
- Dedication
- This is for Sylvia and Don Bunt
- First words
- They found the bodies in an open ditch on the northern-most extreme of the 87th precinct.
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)"Who did you have in mind?" Carella asked.
- Original language*
- English
*Some information comes from Common Knowledge in other languages. Click "Edit" for more information.
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Statistics
- Members
- 338
- Popularity
- 93,251
- Reviews
- 3
- Rating
- (3.47)
- Languages
- 8 — Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, Spanish, Swedish
- Media
- Paper, Audiobook, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 31
- ASINs
- 12
