See them die Book

The thirteenth entry in Ed McBain's 87th Precinct series takes place over the course of a single hot, sultry Sunday afternoon. It's a set piece that plays out in the Puerto Rican section of McBain's fictional city of Isola.

The mix of characters includes an honest, struggling lunch counter owner; a sixteen-year-old kid who calls himself Zip and who is anxious to make a name for himself leading a "gang" with three other members; a drunken sailor who wanders into the neighborhood looking for a whorehouse; a crazed killer named Pepe Miranda; and, of course, the detectives of the 87th Precinct, including a racist cop who seems to have a chip on his shoulder directed against all Puerto Ricans who have somehow found their way to Isola.

The central character in this book is really Zip, rather than any of the detectives. He's young and confused and, for the moment at least, his role model is Miranda, who Zip thinks of as a hero for his people because he stands up to the cops. Zip has plans to make a name for himself this Sunday morning, but those plans are interrupted when the cops corner Miranda in an apartment.

A crowd gathers to watch the spectacle as the police confront the killer, led by the Lieutenant of the 87th Precinct and his trusty detectives. And before the afternoon is over, a great deal of blood will have been shed and, hopefully, some lessons will have been learned.

This book is not among my favorites in the series. It's anything but a conventional crime novel; it feels rather more like a small morality play. Being a novel by Ed McBain, it's very well written, but it feels a bit on the preachy side and is not very believable. I'm anxious to move on to the next in the series, which I hope will be a bit more conventional 87th Precinct novel.