Book info

• Title
• Author Ed McBain
• Year
• Genres

Thoughts

It’s a while ago that I read the first book in the 87th Precinct series, and I liked it so much that I snapped up quite a few of the rest of the series. It’s taken me this long to get round to reading the second, but I liked it just as much as the first. There’s a way McBain has of describing things that really make them take on a life of their own - I remember that from the first, it felt as though the city was just as much a character as the main protagonists.

This time, we’ve got a change in the top cast, with Carella on honeymoon. Instead, a detective investigates muggings, whilst a beat cop looks at a murder in his spare time. It’s great to work through the cases with the cops, particularly as they don’t drag the investigations out, and McBain doesn’t shy away from there just being a stroke of luck to solve the issue. I suspect more cases are solved like that in real life, rather than because of a Sherlock-type genius.

Anyway, it’s a quick read, easy to digest, and another step along the 87th Precinct journey. Great to see new faces take centre stage, but equally good to have Carella back right at the end.

Rating: Unrated