Cop Hater

, #1

Hardcover, 166 pages

English language

Published Nov. 5, 1990 by Armchair Detective Library.

ISBN:
978-0-922890-06-4
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3 stars (1 review)

Cop Hater (1956) is the first 87th Precinct police procedural novel by Ed McBain. The murder of three detectives in quick succession in the 87th Precinct leads Detective Steve Carella on a search that takes him into the city's underworld and ultimately to a .45 automatic aimed straight at his head.

10 editions

reviewed Cop Hater by Ed McBain (87th Precinct, #1)

The pulpiest of police procedurals

3 stars

Three detectives are killed in quick succession in Isola, a fictionalized version of New York City. Fictionalized, according to the author, so he could take liberties with how the cops in New York City actually operate. Full of dames and men who appreciate the swell of a woman's chest and gangs that rumble, cops that harass suspects based on hunches, having a drink or two on the job and a general lack of respect for the Bill of Rights that predated the Warren court. The crime is solved through luck, accumulating evidence (I like this part) and a not very smart impatient criminal. There's a lot of copaganda in it, but the police are not portrayed as being particularly smart.

Subjects

  • Isola (Imaginary place) -- Fiction
  • Police -- United States -- Fiction