Book Review: Hark!

Reviewed By: Pat Reid - RAM

Hark!     Amazon US PB Amazon US HC Amazon Canada PB Amazon Canada HC
Ed McBain
Class/Genre:   Mystery   Police Procedural
Series: 87th Precinct # 54
Simon & Schuster, 2004, 293 pps.

The Deaf Man is back in town and determined to seek revenge on the 87th Precinct. His first matter of business is to locate and kill the woman who betrayed him and recover the money she got away with. Once this business is taken care of he goes on to taunt the 87th with hand-delivered messages (quotes from Shakespeare, anagrams and palindromes). He establishes a relationship with a prostitute and commissions her to see that these messages are delivered at the specified times. The squad at the 87th work against time to figure out where The Deaf Man is attempting to lead them and what crime will be committed this time.

Meanwhile the soap opera of the 87th continues. Steve Carella is preparing for his mother and his sister’s double wedding. Not only does he have to foot the bill but also he is totally against both marriages. Bert Kling decides his beautiful surgeon girlfriend is cheating on him. Cotton Hawes and Honey Blair, his TV news girlfriend are shot at and Hawes is hit but no one knows who is the real target. Fat Ollie makes an appearance when a murder is committed in his precinct. He is still in quest of his manuscript – the 36-page book he wrote that was stolen from him. His newly found romance with policewoman Patricia Gomez flourishes and they both embark on a diet. We’ll have to read the next McBain 87th Precinct book to see how that ends up.

The 87th finally unravels the secrets hidden in the cryptic notes written by The Deaf Man but you’ll have to read the book to find out if The Deaf Man manages to follow through on his scheme.

Pat Reid - RAM

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Pat Reid - RAM

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