Sunday, June 11, 2006
 
Book Report: Ice by Ed McBain (1983)
This 87th Precinct novel runs a weighty 317 pages and delves into character depth that many of the novels don't. As a matter of fact, one of the great appeals of this particular series, over its 40 some years, is that the books vary not only in plot, but also stylistically. Some are quick epidodes at 150 pages with lots of reproduced police forms to pad them, and some, like this one, are denser prose.

The story details the murder of an actress in a hit play downtown. The 87th Precinct inherits the case as a small time drug pusher in their precinct died from the same lead poisoning days before. As they try to find a connection between the coke dealer and the actress, they have to deal with their own issues, particularly Kling's failed marriage to model Augusta Blair.

I suppose it helps read these books in order....for example, the book I read previously, Poison, takes place after this books, so the personal relationships are advanced beyond where they are in this book. I already know how the romances and whatnot will turn out, but the books don't hinge on the personal relationships alone. Instead, the plots and the basic familarity with the characters and the rotation of the characters and....blah blah blah.

You know I like 'em, and I'm going to keep reading them and picking them up whenever I can for a buck a crack at book fairs. I got this one, among others, at the Greater St. Louis Book Fair. So be warned, this won't be the last book report of an Ed McBain book you ignore in the coming months.

Books mentioned in this review:


- posted by Brian J. @ 6:47 PM
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