Musings from Brian J. Noggle: Book Report: <i>Kiss</i> by Ed McBain (1992)

Book Report: Kiss by Ed McBain (1992)

This represented the rarest pleasure: An Ed McBain book that I hadn't read before. I've read most of the 1980s/1990s/2000s Ed McBain books more than once. So even if I don't recognize the title, a moment will come when I'm reading the book that I'll click into recognition. And I'll keep reading the book because I like Ed McBain.

This book, again, travels to the 87th Precinct, where a new black mayor has been elected. Of course, this would be the beginning of the Dinkins era in New York. You remember that, don't you? No? Well, Giuliani sort of cleaned the town up and made the city safe enough that it could worry about banning smoking and trans fats. So when I read these books, I tie them to New York history of the time.

The book centers on a woman who has two murder attempts on her life. She goes to the police, and they track down the attempted murderer--her husband's ex driver. In the meantime, the husband has hired an out-of-town private detective to protect her. But when the attempted murderer is murdered, the plot thickens. It looks like the husband might have hired the driver to kill his wife, but if he did, why did he hire an out-of-town private detective to protect her? We all see where it's going, and I stayed on to watch it unfold under the masterful direction of Mr. McBain. I almost got the twist at the end, too.

Meanwhile, Kling has broken up with someone, so we know where the book fits in the sequence from that, and Steve Carella's father's murderer is brought to trial, so we know where it fits in the sequence from that. So even though I hadn't read this particular volume, I still felt in touch with the master narrative.

Frankly, it's encouraging to find a McBain book I didn't read before; it means that not everything on my to-read shelves of known quality is a rerun.

Books mentioned in this review:

- posted by Brian J. @ 7:57 PM