Book info

• Title The Heckler
• Author Ed McBain
• Year 1960
• Genre Mystery

With crooks to cuff and pimps to put behind bars, detectives Carella and Meyer of the 87th Precinct simply don’t have the time or patience to deal with a prank caller—even if he has phoned murder threats to two dozen local shop owners. What they fail to realize, however, is they aren’t dealing with a heckler who’s ringing round for kicks but rather a modern-day Moriarty known only as the Deaf Man—and these phone calls are just his first move in a calculated scheme to pull off the bank robbery of the decade. Further calls darken a lovely spring with suspicion and fear, before a brutal murder whips things into a frenzy, prompting Carella and Meyer to scour the town for clues to the Deaf Man’s identity. As the detectives grasp at a few tenuous threads of the larger plot, those targeted by the calls clamor for the cops to slam the case closed before more of them wind up stiffs. If they can find him in time, the 87th Precinct promises to shut down the Deaf Man for good.

Thoughts

This book in the 87th Precinct series raised the stakes a little. Rather than one murderer or a single crime to solve, this one was a series of connected incidents that were leading towards a huge plot to rob a bank. Seeing the cops struggle to connect the dots was both frustrating but also intriguing - would they get there in time?

Without major spoilers, I found it a little irritating that Steve Carella found himself in trouble again. He’s a major part of this series now, and a seemingly good guy, it’s not fair that he ends up on the wrong end of an argument again.

Otherwise this was a good story. Less focused on the city as a character and moving more towards a fast-paced plot, it was another solid entry in the series.

Rating: 4 / 5