So Long as You Both Shall Live

We're up to the mid 1970s now and Bert Kling is finally tying the knot and on his wedding night his bride is kidnapped by a nutty stalker from the honeymoon suite. Obvs. Bert Kling is literally the unluckiest guy in literature. From that point on it's s super efficient procedural with informers grilled, leads chased down and bad guys braced. Fat Ollie makes his biggest contribution so far and he's an interesting addition to the team leaving Carella conflicted. In the hands of any other writer, he'd be a two-dimensional bit-player, but McBain offers him up unvarnished and forces us to find value in the least likely of places. The closing scene where Ollie acts without hesitation while Carella and Kling pause, is simple and stunning. Love show more these books. show less

Another throughly entertaining police procedural from McBain. This isn’t a mystery as such, but it is incredibly gripping, with the bulls in a race against time to save Kling’s kidnapped bride, Augusta.
Despite the woman in peril plot, McBain gives Augusta a lot to do and she’s far from a helpless victim. Her assailant is creepy as hell and some of the scenes between them are disturbingly effective. This is countered by the investigation, which is often humorous thanks to the presence of Fat Ollie Weeks.
All this combines to make an 87th novel that is simpler than many, and not that deep, but very enjoyable.

Bart Kling’s wedding day! But when he goes to take a shower on his wedding night, he comes out to find his brand-new bride has vanished - kidnapped! And Fat Ollie Weeks, of all people, gets to work to get her back. Even though “…Ollie was bigoted, slovenly, gross, humorless,…” , did terrible impressions of W.C. Fields, and smelled bad, he’s a hell of an investigator. And I really like the way he’s written. Especially his diet of 7 hamburgers and 3 cups of coffee...

This is a taught, psychological-type thriller, a bit different from others in the series. Augusta's battles with her abductor are well written, and a bit creepy. Another good book of the 87th, and I do hope Fat Ollie transfer to the precinct!

The second 87th Precinct novel in a row that a) is more thriller than police procedural; b) features deep mental illness in an antagonist who; c) focuses on cutting, here with a scalpel rather than a knife, and; d) prominently features Fat Ollie Weeks -- a wonderfully entertaining character, typical of the 1970's tenancy toward antiheroes, although thankfully he's presented through humor rather than brooding. Since I'm reading them all in order I'm interested to see whether this thriller thing continues, but McBain does it very well, cranking up the tension to the very end. That's a good thing here, because the plot is a bit far-fetched, although what was in the '70's a pretty thrilling and probably unusual plot, it's now a thriller show more trope --the intelligent obsessive deranged killer -- that you can see on television every night of the week. So, with this novel and his Deaf Man books, McBain once again breaks ground for his successors. show less

Finally Detective Bert Kling's love life works -- he marries the beautiful redheaded model, Augusta Blair. On his wedding night, he gets out of the shower to find Augusta gone, but is not worried as he had been told of a quaint custom of kidnapping the bride on her wedding night and suspects his fellow officers in the 87th Precinct are pranking him; however, she really is gone. The bulls are stumped, but Fat Ollie Weeks wades into the middle of the paralysis and bullies the detectives to conduct a proper investigation, which barely saves Augusta's life. The best story in the series so far, IMHO, despite the passivity of the 87th Street investigative team.

Fat Ollie takes center stage in this 87th Precinct McBain. Bert Kling is marrying Augusta, a model, who is kidnapped from their wedding suite by a looney. The scene shifts back and forth between Augusta, who is not about to let things take their course without a fight, and the investigation. They are stymied with seemingly no leads, but Ollie, “ who was bigoted, slovenly, opinionated, crude, insensitive, gross, humorless, unimaginative…No, that wasn’t true. Ollie was imaginative,” joins the hunt and, with the help of the wedding photographer, develops the two leads that break the case open.

Short, almost a novella, the book is standard McBain fare, that is to say, a solid police procedural.

Se faire enlever sa femme le soir de ses noces, ce n'est pas de veine. Mais quand, en plus, le marié est un flic, ce n'est plus de la déveine, c'est de l'humour noir. C'était ce qui venait d'arriver à Bert Kling, du fameux 87e District. Alors, lui et ses copains flics se mirent à attendre le fatidique coup de téléphone exigeant la rançon. Mais il tardait, ce coup de fil. Et tout le monde commençait à se demander s'il s'agis-sait bien d'un kidnapping.