Started: March 18
Finished: April 1
Notes: Right now I'm pretty deep into some dense historical non-fiction, and I needed a little break. So, as I often do, I turned to Ed McBain and his 87th Precinct novels, of which I've read more than a few and thank God there are still plenty more for me to read. This time the infamous master villain the Deaf Man makes one of his handful of appearances within the series.
Mini review: This wasn't the best of 87th Precinct novels, but perhaps I was distracted since I was reading much of it while also reading another book. Another thing, this was one of the most complex of all the 87th novels I've read with 5 or 6 plot lines all running around one another with some of them finally mergingi nto 3 major plots with lots and lots of characters, even moreso than usual, which is a lot of characters. Here you've got the Deaf Man up to a heist, a madman on the streets shooting graffiti artists, an outdoor concert causing headaches for a rap group, somebody mysteriously going to public places and dropping off old people without any identification, and ... and ... actually, I could go on. There's an awful lot happening in this novel, and all at less than 300 pages, which could be why this one isn't a favorite ... because you never get to spend much time with any of the characters, and that hurts, especially when dealing with serial characters who are old friends. But still, it's not the worst novel I've ever read, and I was glad to drop in on the 87th once more.
I've only read a few of these but have some more. I only read one occasionally.
ReplyDeleteI've yet to find one that completely sucks. This one probably came closest, but it helps that McBain's prose is so crisp, because even when it's not the most enjoyable of reads, it still goes by quickly.
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