Scan barcode
ericbuscemi's review against another edition
4.0
Were it not for Kindle discounts, I never would have started [a:Michael Connelly|12470|Michael Connelly|http://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1202588562p2/12470.jpg]'s Harry Bosch series, [a:Lawrence Block|17613|Lawrence Block|http://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1303856083p2/17613.jpg]'s Matthew Scudder series, or this series. In all three cases I am grateful for them highlighting and discounting these genre classics down to $1, where it doesn't make sense not to give them a shot.
The first remarkable thing about this book is its timelessness. Were it not for a very few small details -- a lack of cell phones, a mention of "the forty-eight states" -- I would have had no idea it was first published in 1959.
The second is how deftly McBain weaves three separate settings -- the precinct, the mansion, and the city -- that are almost characters themselves. While the locked-room mystery at the mansion was nothing mind-blowing, it was really just a diversion to the hostage scene playing out at the precinct. One scene at the precinct was so intense,, it gave me one of the strongest visceral reactions to anything I've ever read.
Anyone that likes police procedurals, especially classics like Dragnet -- which this book tips its cap to more than once -- is sure to enjoy the 87th Precinct.
The first remarkable thing about this book is its timelessness. Were it not for a very few small details -- a lack of cell phones, a mention of "the forty-eight states" -- I would have had no idea it was first published in 1959.
The second is how deftly McBain weaves three separate settings -- the precinct, the mansion, and the city -- that are almost characters themselves. While the locked-room mystery at the mansion was nothing mind-blowing, it was really just a diversion to the hostage scene playing out at the precinct. One scene at the precinct was so intense,
Spoiler
Virginia's repeated pistol whipping of Meyer MeyerAnyone that likes police procedurals, especially classics like Dragnet -- which this book tips its cap to more than once -- is sure to enjoy the 87th Precinct.
hstagner_writes's review against another edition
5.0
Pretty straightforward police procedural mixed with some Poseidon :) I loved how the author handled fleshing out a story that takes place over only a single day. Also some of the descriptions were really well done.
My favorite line:
"The clock on the squadroom wall, white-faced and leering, threw minutes onto the floor where they lay like ghosts of dead policemen."
Good stuff.
My favorite line:
"The clock on the squadroom wall, white-faced and leering, threw minutes onto the floor where they lay like ghosts of dead policemen."
Good stuff.
ring01's review against another edition
dark
funny
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
csdaley's review against another edition
3.0
This one was just ok for me. I never really bought into either of the main storylimes. Saved for me because McBain can write himself some dialog.
bundy23's review against another edition
4.0
Luckily the barely interesting locked-door mystery takes a backseat to the incredibly tense hostage drama taking place back at the squad room. It's impressive how well these 25c detective novels stand up over 60 years later.
tarana's review against another edition
3.0
I'd give this book a 3.5. It had a good run, but I think it was unrealistic how these detectives, who were former soldiers, would have conducted themselves in the situation going on in the bullpen. This happened not only once, but twice. Just frustrating.
Carella going over the same stuff repeatedly is actually police procedure, but hearing it does get a little annoying. I listened to Dick Hill's recording and found it to be just fine.
Carella going over the same stuff repeatedly is actually police procedure, but hearing it does get a little annoying. I listened to Dick Hill's recording and found it to be just fine.
sean67's review against another edition
4.0
McBain's books, and in particular his earlier ones were lean and tight and well written, packing the punches and building the tension, full of his trade mark procedural process and with good solid and actually believable mysteries. Crime fiction at its finest, not saving the world, not larger than life criminals but good solid crime fiction.
geemont235's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
dgrachel's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
I know, I know. It’s full of sexism and racism, so how dare I give it nearly 5 stars. I feel guilty about it, but I loved this installment of the 87h Precinct series. The villain is great, the detectives are wonderfully inept at communicating their need for assistance without alerting said villain, and Steve Carella’s investigation of an apparent suicide is interesting. Plenty of action in a fun plot makes this one my favorite of the series thus far. Dick Hill does a fantastic job narrating the audiobook.
plantbirdwoman's review
2.0
A woman in black walks into the squad room of the 87th Precinct's detectives. Four detectives are there, going through another routine day of complaints, interrogations, reports, holdups, beatings, rapes, and murders. The woman in black changes their day forever.
She reaches into her coat pocket and brings out her hand holding a gun - a .38. She has the drop on the four men. They are her prisoners.
The woman is on a mission. Her aim is to kill Steve Carella. As it happens, Carella is out when she arrives. He had taken his wife to the doctor's office and then had gone to investigate an alleged suicide. No one knows when he will return. The woman says she will wait. They will all wait.
The woman blames Steve Carella for the death of her husband. Sometime earlier. he had surprised the man in the process of holding up a service station. He had shot and blinded the station attendant. Carella overcame and arrested him. He was tried, convicted, and sent to prison and while there he was diagnosed with tuberculosis. And now he has died. Obviously (to his wife, at least), it is all Steve Carella's fault and he must die.
After she has disarmed the detectives, the woman reaches into her purse and brings out a jar of a clear liquid which she says is nitroglycerin. Any false moves from anybody and she will blow them all to Kingdom Come.
While all this drama is happening in the squad room, Steve Carella is out doing his job, investigating the "suicide." A man has been found hanging in a locked (from the inside) and windowless room. It's the classic locked room mystery. And just as in all such mysteries, something smells funny about the crime, although Carella can't put his finger on it. He proceeds to interrogate the family and the butler who was on the scene and slowly begins to work out just how murder might have been accomplished and made to look like suicide.
Back at the precinct, the tense situation continues and is heightened when another policeman comes into the squad room and the woman with the gun shoots him. He lies bleeding on the floor and the woman in charge will not allow his co-workers to get medical help for him.
Various detectives imagine various schemes for alerting the outside world to their plight, but nothing works. All their attempts are thwarted. Things are not looking bright as the day recedes into evening.
Ed McBain has conjured up a prickly and difficult conundrum for his detectives. Do any of them dare to try to be a hero? Are they willing to sacrifice their colleague, Carella's, life for their own? How can they possibly disarm a woman with a gun and a bottle of nitro without blowing up themselves?
This is another typical McBain tale, sharply written, brief, with swift-moving action. It was far from my favorite of the ones in this series that I've read so far. As with the last couple of books, I was really put off by the attitudes and the language of the detectives in their dealings with the public, including suspects. They are so very misogynistic and rude. I try to bear in mind that this was published in 1958, almost 60 years ago, in a very different society, but, as a woman, it is hard not to be deeply offended by it.
One hopes that in the intervening 60 years cops might have learned a few things and may no longer wear their prejudices proudly along with their badges and brutalize the people in their custody and at their mercy. One can hope, and undoubtedly some policemen have learned, but when one reads the daily headlines it seems unlikely that such change has been as widespread as one would wish for.
She reaches into her coat pocket and brings out her hand holding a gun - a .38. She has the drop on the four men. They are her prisoners.
The woman is on a mission. Her aim is to kill Steve Carella. As it happens, Carella is out when she arrives. He had taken his wife to the doctor's office and then had gone to investigate an alleged suicide. No one knows when he will return. The woman says she will wait. They will all wait.
The woman blames Steve Carella for the death of her husband. Sometime earlier. he had surprised the man in the process of holding up a service station. He had shot and blinded the station attendant. Carella overcame and arrested him. He was tried, convicted, and sent to prison and while there he was diagnosed with tuberculosis. And now he has died. Obviously (to his wife, at least), it is all Steve Carella's fault and he must die.
After she has disarmed the detectives, the woman reaches into her purse and brings out a jar of a clear liquid which she says is nitroglycerin. Any false moves from anybody and she will blow them all to Kingdom Come.
While all this drama is happening in the squad room, Steve Carella is out doing his job, investigating the "suicide." A man has been found hanging in a locked (from the inside) and windowless room. It's the classic locked room mystery. And just as in all such mysteries, something smells funny about the crime, although Carella can't put his finger on it. He proceeds to interrogate the family and the butler who was on the scene and slowly begins to work out just how murder might have been accomplished and made to look like suicide.
Back at the precinct, the tense situation continues and is heightened when another policeman comes into the squad room and the woman with the gun shoots him. He lies bleeding on the floor and the woman in charge will not allow his co-workers to get medical help for him.
Various detectives imagine various schemes for alerting the outside world to their plight, but nothing works. All their attempts are thwarted. Things are not looking bright as the day recedes into evening.
Ed McBain has conjured up a prickly and difficult conundrum for his detectives. Do any of them dare to try to be a hero? Are they willing to sacrifice their colleague, Carella's, life for their own? How can they possibly disarm a woman with a gun and a bottle of nitro without blowing up themselves?
This is another typical McBain tale, sharply written, brief, with swift-moving action. It was far from my favorite of the ones in this series that I've read so far. As with the last couple of books, I was really put off by the attitudes and the language of the detectives in their dealings with the public, including suspects. They are so very misogynistic and rude. I try to bear in mind that this was published in 1958, almost 60 years ago, in a very different society, but, as a woman, it is hard not to be deeply offended by it.
One hopes that in the intervening 60 years cops might have learned a few things and may no longer wear their prejudices proudly along with their badges and brutalize the people in their custody and at their mercy. One can hope, and undoubtedly some policemen have learned, but when one reads the daily headlines it seems unlikely that such change has been as widespread as one would wish for.