Solid mystery that sticks the landing.

McBain paints a vivid picture of his fictional universe, but becomes bogged down in 50's tropes and social mores. There is creepy symbolism in how Carella's perfect girlfriend is mute, while the villain would kill just to get into a better relationship. It is openly influenced by Dragnet, but its influence is a bit too much in this first case, so much so that I could hear Jack Webb's voice narrate later passages.

The mystery was okay, but the writing was awful and sometime offensively dated. Finished by curiosity than anything else.

You can feel the hot New York summer raising from the pages of Cop Hater the first 87th Precinct novel. It may be dismissed unfairly by some as pulp fiction but Ed McBain is a writer with much more to him.

The story is short but the pacing is perfect. The mix of police procedural and dialogue is perfect and the whodunit factor is just right.

Written in the late fifties this does have a smattering of period phrases but to me that simply adds to the appeal. Detective Steve Carella deserves a place alongside the greats of the genre and this is a recommended read.

Excellent start to my delve into the 87th precinct. Classic plot with interesting and well drawn characters, an investigation that flows well, a conclusion that works beautifully and a final confrontation at the end that had me riveted, and genuinely worried.

This isn't my first Ed McBain. I think I've read a handful (both 87th Precinct and others) but in general I seem to buy them more often (I looove a second-hand book shop) than that I actually read them. When I moved house last year and reorganized by books I realized I had about 40 Ed McBains so I thought it would be fun to try and read all of them over the course of this year. Doesn't seem an impossible challenge. They're pretty quick reads in my experience. Putting them in chronological order in preperation was one of the things on my to do list over Christmas, https://twitter.com/stereo/status/1340669262843789313. As you can see, this one was at the very top of the pile. It's the first 87th Precinct novel, all the way back from 1956. We are introduced to the city of Isola and the guys of the 87th Precinct. Some of them we only get to know very briefly because there is a cop killer on the loose. If you're looking for nail-biting action and cleverly constructed whodunnits Ed McBain is not the writer for you. The case is solved the hard way: putting in the hours, following all the leads, pursuing lots of dead-ends and, spoiler alert, a little bit of luck towards the end. This is probably one of the ones I had read before. The plot felt somewhat familiar but you don't really read these books for the process not for a big reveal at the end. Four stars is maybe a bit too much but three seemed much too stingy. Already looking forward to the next one. 

These books were my guilty pleasures. Read every 87th Precinct police procedural staring when I was about 14. Fell madly in love with Carella, and had great affection for all the rest - Meyer Meyer, Cotton Hawes, the whole gang.