Rating: 
Summary: Welcome To The Eight-Seven
Review: "From the river bounding the city on the north, you saw only the magnificent skyline. You stared up at it in something like awe, and sometimes you caught your breath because the view was one of majestic splendor..."Thus in 1955 Ed McBain begins his first-ever 87th Precinct crime novel, "Cop Hater." But before you start worrying if he's turning into Walt Whitman, he breaks off his rumination of urban beauty with this kicker: "There was garbage in the streets." And thank goodness for the garbage, or else we wouldn't need the bulls of the 87th Precinct to clean it up. "Cop Hater" reads like pulp fiction, perhaps because that was the genre Evan Hunter, the real-life writer responsible for the McBain pseudonym, worked in. "Cop Hater" was a unique sort of novel all the same, because as Hunter writes in his new introduction, it presented as a protagonist/hero not so much a central character (though here as elsewhere in the series, Det. Steve Carella is the main figure on the case) as a police squad room. McBain spends a lot of time depicting the squad room in this book, dwelling on physical details that he would gloss over in future volumes. This time at least, he and his readers were venturing into unusual territory. For those familiar with the 87th Precinct stories, there are plenty of recognizable signposts: Carella's slanting eyes, long and ominous descriptions of the weather, McBain's obsession with the ethnic make-up of his characters and the WASPy prejudices of others (one witness tells Carella she would prefer to tell her story to an "American" detective after realizing he's of Italian ancestry.) You can see the mainstay elements taking shape, which makes this a must-read for fans. The bare bones nature of the crime itself (a series of killings targeting 87th Precinct detectives) may leave readers used to juicier 87th Precinct plotlines wanting more. The language of the streets is considerably cleaner and less realistic than later volumes. Bert Kling is not a detective yet. Andy Parker and Meyer Meyer have yet to arrive. But it's a nice introduction to the 87th Precinct, a tough, merciless world of bad people, good people, and lots of grey in-betweeners. The cast of detectives at the Eight-Seven include a few who aren't around later, like Carella's first partner, who has some issues at home that seem to be distracting his work effort. Another is the precinct commander, an out-of-it old-timer named Frick who "was a tired man when he was 20" and shrugs his way through the violence around him. There's a nosy, unscrupulous reporter named Savage who makes trouble pestering gang members but insists he serves the community. McBain works in a resonant feeling of the times, the mid-1950s where open windows were the most common form of tenement air conditioning and the most dangerous juvenile weaponry were homemade "zip guns." One of the good things about "Cop Hater" is the center story is simple and resolved in a satisfying manner. Another is that the story leaves you wanting more. Just how much more no one could have predicted in 1955, but considering there's now been 53 87th Precinct novels, "Cop Hater" probably wasn't a bad idea for a book.
Rating: 
Summary: The first and still one of the best in the series.
Review: First published in 1956, "Cop Hater" was Ed McBain's first novel in the long-running 87th Precint series, and it's lost none of its freshness or edge. The 87th Precint series is unique in its ability to deftly combine the police procedural narrative technique with excellent characterization. While there is not a disappointing entry in the series, this one is in the top five. While later novels tend to be more introspective and more indepth, the first several were lean, tough, and hard-hitting. This novel introduces Det. Steve Carella and his fellow detectives at the squad as they try to find out who is murdering fellow cops and why. Although these characters will grow and expand in later novels, McBain ably sets the stage here, and truly hits the ground running. There is no awkwardness or hesitation as seen in other debut novels. As always, the strongest supporting character is McBain's fictional city of Isola which combines the best and worst qualities of several major U.S. cities, especially New York. McBain describes his city and its citizens with a palpable rhythm that stays with you after you're done reading. With such a diverse and fascinating backdrop to work from, 87th Precint novels will never drag. Truly a masterwork.
Rating:
Summary: Great Read
Review: I have never read any of McBain's books and thought the best place to start was with the first of this series. I thought it was quite good and it kept me interested from page one. It is a short book but McBain doesn't waste words and every page relates to the story at hand; there is no "small talk." I enjoyed the book and highly recommend it to anyone not familiar with McBain's 87th Precinct.
Rating:
Summary: A Good Start
Review: I haven't read these 87th Precinct novels in any kind of order, but...this one is certainly well done and although it was written nearly 50 years ago, it's a great start. A quick engaging read, with a surprising ending. Enjoy.
Rating:
Summary: A Good Start
Review: I haven't read these 87th Precinct novels in any kind of order, but...this one is certainly well done and although it was written nearly 50 years ago, it's a great start. A quick engaging read, with a surprising ending. Enjoy.
Rating:
Summary: Great airport read
Review: I picked this up for a delayed flight. I have not read any of the other (50+? ) in the series and this caught my eye. It's interesting because it is the first of a very successful series set in the same 87th precinct in a fictional city AND because it was written in the 50s. Very atmospheric, 'book noir' feel to it. Read it all in one flight.
Rating:
Summary: A START with a BANG.
Review: If you LIKE this one , you're gone LOVE almost all of the sequels: more than 50 by now and continuing the series with style and fun.
I started with this first novel in 1963 and got hooked from the first page on.....
The 87th-precinct guys are part of the family.
(And thanks to AMAZON, i have now also the audio's).
Rating:
Summary: Someone Is Hunting The Cops Of The 87th Precinct
Review: The very first book in Ed McBain's 87th Precinct series. Detectives Steve Carella and Hank Bush are out trying to find clues as to the identity of whoever killed a fellow detective, Mike Reardon. They figure the killing to be a random thing...until it happens again. Another cop is slain in cold blood, this time, Reardon's partner. With both men dead, Carella decides the murders were grudge killings. However, careful attention into the dead men's past comes up with nothing. Finally, a third detective winds up murdered in the streets. Now, it is of no question to Carella. Somewhere out there in the streets is a cop hater. With this Cop Hater running rampart, will his next victim be Steve Carella? Or will Carella and the other members of the 87th precinct use their skills as detectives to bring the killer to justice?
The very first of over 50 books in McBain's very popular 87th Precinct series. A short, fast paced read which will leave you wanting more. Fun and highly enjoyable. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: A book that aged well
Review: This is a reissue of the very first 87th Precinct novel written in 1956. It deals with three members of the 87th detective squad being gunned down for no apparent reason and how the rest of the 87th goes about finding the killer. Crime novels in those days were less introspective and more lean so McBain wastes no time getting to the heart of the matter with the first corpse occurring rather quickly. However, as with all Ed McBain novels, the writing is crisp, the dialogue snappy, and though the page-count of these earlier novels was less than it is today he still manages to flesh out his characters and make them interesting. Just as interesting is the forward where Mr. McBain discusses how the series came into being and how it evolved to its present form. If you've never read this installment of the 87th, or just haven't read it in a long time, I urge you to pick it up. Ed McBain truly is a good writer whether he's writing crime novels under the Ed McBain alias or "serious" novels under his own name, Evan Hunter.
Rating:
Summary: It's the 1950s all over again!
Review: This is not only the first of the 87th Precinct police procedurals, it's also one of the best. You get to meet Teddy when she was still Miss Franklin. You get to meet some detectives who don't appear in any other books (guess why!). Most importantly, you get to see McBain's genius when it was raw. There are a few clanking sentences in this one, and a few little mistakes that would never appear in his more recently written, more polished books. For instance: "The room smelled badly." Even so, this is great fun and highly recommended. If you want to order more than one McBain, the best is "Ice," with "Vespers" second and the books about the DEAF MAN also high on the list.
| 
