I had high hopes for the 87th precinct series as my all-time favorite author James Ellroy had mentioned them as a key influence and that he meticulously collected the entire series of 50-odd books over the years.

Much like when I read Jack Webb's The Badge late in 2023, I understood how The book could be influential on someone who was young and starved for crime genre material. Much like The Badge as well, Cop Hater is just not a terribly interesting book.

The intention was to create an ultra realistic portrayal of police procedures in a fictional city that was heavily based on New York. At least for the first book in the series, the result is an honestly quite boring experience. Walls of text filled with the most uninspired language imaginable made the slim book a slog to read.

The mystery itself starts very strong with a surprisingly graphic killing of a police officer, but quickly blows its momentum introducing detectives who are by and large interchangeable and shallow.

A few more murders pile up, but there's a complete lack of tension or anything to make the mystery riveting.

Ed McBain wrote another 55 or so books in the series, and I have a couple more checked out from the library, but the series is on thin ice from the start