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Title: The Heckler
Series:
87th Precinct #12
Author: Ed
McBain
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre:
Crime Fiction
Pages: 178
Words:
62K
Publish: 1960
This
was barely 3stars. The idea of the Deafman and his plans definitely
put him into the Criminal Mastermind category and if the story had
truly just focused on that, it would have been great. But McBain
throws in a latino woman who doesn’t wear any underwear under her
work clothes and spends as much time describing her and the men
ogling her as he does telling the real story. It was cheap and
tawdry.We will see if McBain keeps writing that kind of stuff or not.
If he does, then I’ll be out of here.
This is definitely the first book where a criminal really does some long con planning and makes it pay off. Very different from the regular dimwit stupido criminals the 87th Precinct is used to dealing with. I liked it.
★★★☆☆
From the Publisher & Bookstooge
Spring was intoxicating the city air, but the harassing anonymous telephone calls planting seeds of fear around town were no April Fool's joke. Crank calls and crackpot threats reported to the 87th Precinct by a respected businessman were not exactly top priority for detectives Carella and Meyer -- until a brutal homicide hits the papers. Connections are getting made fast and furious, and there's a buzz in the air about the Deaf Man, a brilliant criminal mastermind. Now, the 87th Precinct is buying time to reveal the voice on the other end of the line -- as the level of danger rises from a whisper to a scream.
The Deafman was planning to rob 2.5million dollars and in the process, set the city ablaze to cover his tracks. Bombs went off, fires started, it was all going according to plan. Until the factor of luck hit the Deafman right between the eyes and a cop wanted an icecream cone. Then it was curtains.
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