Book info

• Title King's Ransom
• Author Ed McBain
• Year 1959
• Genre Mystery

For a wealthy businessman, a kidnapping puts him in a predicament as troubling as any he has ever experienced. For Detective Steve Carella and the men at the 87th Precinct, their troubles are even worse. Their only hope is that he will play ball—at least long enough for them to catch the perps before the kidnapping turns into a homicide.

Thoughts

Another intriguing entry in the 87th Precinct series, this one takes yet anther format. We don’t focus so much on the cops themselves this time, even heroes Carella and Hawes are by-products to the story really. Instead, it’s about the heroes and villains, and how actually neither are one thing or the other.

A kidnapping gone awry, the bad guys try to make the best of it but we get a good insight into how they aren’t all as bad as detective books try to make out. And the bigwig getting the ransom isn’t keen on just paying up without asking a few questions first, he’s got his own business problems to worry about.

So actually, what sounds like a straightforward case of kidnapping is actually a much wider story, a more interesting study, opening up far more questions than you might imagine. A good tale.

Rating: 4 / 5