Cop Hater

87th Precinct Series, Book 1

By: Ed McBain

Narrated by: Dick Hill

When a sniper begins gunning down cops from the 87th Precinct in cold blood, it’s up to Detective Steve Carella to solve the case. With three cops already dead, Carella delves into the city’s underworld to search for the killer.

©1990 Ed McBain (P)2013 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

“McBain has the ability to make every character believable - which few writers these days can do.” ( Associated Press)

“McBain forces us to think twice about every character we meet…even those we thought we already knew.” ( New York Times Book Review)

First in the series - a bit rough in spots

But kinda what you should expect from a first. Like the characters and glad Carella survived - he will be important continuity element as the series progresses

Will done police procedural

McBain or as I discovered Evan Hunter was very prolific yet is never read his work before until seeing an offhand reference to him in Stephen King's last book. King has good taste in writers so I decided to give McBain a try. This is there first McBain book and it starts with a preface by the author describing his creation processes.
There book itself introduces a police precinct in a fictional City. The story is there work there detectives do to find a man who is meeting police. The solution is unexpected. The characters will drawn. I found myself disliking the newspaper reporter because of his dishonesty in dealing with police. Also the story clearly predates Miranda. Few clues to three solution that I recognized even after I finished.

solid first of a series

Firstly the foreword was an interesting listen. From what I read, this series started in 1955. It reflected the norms of that time. Yet the series itself was something new. The series revolves around the 87 precinct, not one particular person. Each novel will cover different characters from that particular precinct.

If the rest of the series is as good as this book then I highly recommend it

Dick Hill, the consummate professional, did an excellent job narrating. He gave each character their own distinct voice.

dick hill makes every book narrated great

I enjoyed and love the fact it was not modernized as is done alot these days.

Loved it

Very good narration the guy sounds like Stan Lee I love the ending highly recommend