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87th Precinct #53
The Frumious Bandersnatch
It should have been the night that launched a new pop idol. Tamar Valparaiso is young and beautiful, with the body and voice of an angel, and the stage is set for her to launch her debut album, Bandersnatch, on a luxury yacht in the heart of the city. But halfway through her performance, while the partygoers look on helplessly, masked men drag Tamar off the stage and into a waiting speedboat. Detective Steve Carella is just showing up for the graveyard shift when news of the kidnapping comes in. Working disjointedly with a Joint Task Force that calls itself "The Squad," Carella and the men and women of the Eight-Seven must find Tamar before time -- or indeed her very life -- runs out. In this brilliant look at the music industry, Ed McBain once again combines his mastery of the form with the fast-paced dialogue and intricate plotting that have become his signature.
384 pages, Kindle Edition
First published December 23, 2003
51 people are currently reading
446 people want to read
About the author
Ed McBain
710 books668 followers"Ed McBain" is one of the pen names of American author and screenwriter Salvatore Albert Lombino (1926-2005), who legally adopted the name
Evan Hunter
in 1952.
While successful and well known as Evan Hunter, he was even better known as Ed McBain, a name he used for most of his crime fiction, beginning in 1956.
He also used the pen names John Abbott, Curt Cannon, Hunt Collins, Ezra Hannon, Dean Hudson, Evan Hunter, and Richard Marsten.
While successful and well known as Evan Hunter, he was even better known as Ed McBain, a name he used for most of his crime fiction, beginning in 1956.
He also used the pen names John Abbott, Curt Cannon, Hunt Collins, Ezra Hannon, Dean Hudson, Evan Hunter, and Richard Marsten.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 103 reviews
June 2, 2016
The Frumious Bandersnatch has to be the strangest title of any of the fifty-four novels in Ed McBain's 87th Precinct series. For that matter, it has to be one of the strangest titles in all of crime fiction. It comes from a poem by Lewis Carroll and refers to a monster of some sort that is never clearly defined. The book was published in 2004, and McBain may have also been influenced by a psychedelic rock band from the 1960s of the same name.
In this case, "Bandersnatch" is the title of the debut record by an up-and-coming Hispanic diva named Tamar Valpariso. A man named Barney Loomis owns the company that is releasing the record, and he has very high hopes for it. To that end, he's made a very dark and sexy music video in which Valpariso sings the title song while being assaulted by an evil monster--the Bandersnatch. At the end of the video, Valpariso manages to triumph over the monster and everyone seems to have his or her own opinion about the message that the video actually conveys, but there's no doubt about the fact that it's an attention-getter.
To celebrate the launch of the record, Loomis has rented a luxury yacht and invited a lot of news people and other guests to a huge party cruising along the River Dix. The highlight of the party comes when Tamr Valpariso and a male dancer dressed as the Bandersnatch recreate the sensuous video. Things are going swimmingly until two masked men descend down the stairs to the dance floor. Armed with automatic weapons, they kidnap the young singer and carry her away in a waiting launch.
As fate would have it, the kidnapping occurs in waters that are the province of the 87th Precinct and the case falls to Steve Carella and Cotton Hawes. Inevitably, the party guests are in various stages of inebriation and tell conflicting stories. The kidnappers seem to be very professional and leave no fingerprints or other evidence that will be of immediate assistance.
Ultimately, there will be a ransom demand; the F.B.I. will come barging in and a huge circus will result. In the meantime, Fat Ollie Weeks of the neighboring 88th Precinct is pursuing a new romance and is still attempting to recover the only copy of his novel, which was stolen in the previous book in the series. All in all, its a very entertaining story with lots of action and humorous insights into the record business. It's sure to appeal to fans of the series and to a large audience of crime fiction fans.
In this case, "Bandersnatch" is the title of the debut record by an up-and-coming Hispanic diva named Tamar Valpariso. A man named Barney Loomis owns the company that is releasing the record, and he has very high hopes for it. To that end, he's made a very dark and sexy music video in which Valpariso sings the title song while being assaulted by an evil monster--the Bandersnatch. At the end of the video, Valpariso manages to triumph over the monster and everyone seems to have his or her own opinion about the message that the video actually conveys, but there's no doubt about the fact that it's an attention-getter.
To celebrate the launch of the record, Loomis has rented a luxury yacht and invited a lot of news people and other guests to a huge party cruising along the River Dix. The highlight of the party comes when Tamr Valpariso and a male dancer dressed as the Bandersnatch recreate the sensuous video. Things are going swimmingly until two masked men descend down the stairs to the dance floor. Armed with automatic weapons, they kidnap the young singer and carry her away in a waiting launch.
As fate would have it, the kidnapping occurs in waters that are the province of the 87th Precinct and the case falls to Steve Carella and Cotton Hawes. Inevitably, the party guests are in various stages of inebriation and tell conflicting stories. The kidnappers seem to be very professional and leave no fingerprints or other evidence that will be of immediate assistance.
Ultimately, there will be a ransom demand; the F.B.I. will come barging in and a huge circus will result. In the meantime, Fat Ollie Weeks of the neighboring 88th Precinct is pursuing a new romance and is still attempting to recover the only copy of his novel, which was stolen in the previous book in the series. All in all, its a very entertaining story with lots of action and humorous insights into the record business. It's sure to appeal to fans of the series and to a large audience of crime fiction fans.
Want to read
February 8, 2017This copy is signed by Ed McBain.
July 20, 2016
Tamar Valparaiso is a budding pop star set to become a household name. Unfortunately for her, and her record label, her star is rising for all the wrong reasons. Two masked men storm a boat hosting Tamar's record launch and kidnap the pop singer, beating her dancer and injuring her in the process. Their ransom demand? A relatively low 250k, a fact the kidnappers soon realize. Upping the ante to 1mil, Tamar's once bright future now looks bleak with the record exec balking at the price and police wanting to have a presence at the drop in an attempt to catch the kidnappers.
Sounds pretty formulaic and reads as much for the better part of the novel until Ed McBain infuses his noir-like darkness on the stereotypical police procedural in the later stages. A gritty and gory twist ensures the oddly titled The Frumious Bandersnatch sheds any notion of normalcy as it races towards a violent and shocking end.
While The Frumious Bandersnatch is deep into the 87th prescient series, it reads perfectly well as a standalone.
Sounds pretty formulaic and reads as much for the better part of the novel until Ed McBain infuses his noir-like darkness on the stereotypical police procedural in the later stages. A gritty and gory twist ensures the oddly titled The Frumious Bandersnatch sheds any notion of normalcy as it races towards a violent and shocking end.
While The Frumious Bandersnatch is deep into the 87th prescient series, it reads perfectly well as a standalone.
September 7, 2007
THE FRUMIOUS BANDERSNATCH - Ex
Ed McBain – 53th book in 87th precinct series
Bison Records' self-styled impresario Barney Loomis runs into a snag in his effort to catapult his newest performer, Tamar Valparaiso, to stardom. As Tamar is lip-synching the provocative video of her first album aboard a rented yacht, two men in Saddam Hussein and Yasir Arafat masks snatch her before a stunned audience.
***Ed McBain is the true master of the police procedural writing tight plots and true-to-life dialogue. He knows how to balance humor with the horror of the crime being committed. I often know “who did it” early, but it never spoils my pleasure in reading his characters and how he transitions effortlessly from one to the next. If you’ve not read him, do. The great pleasure is to go back to the beginning of the series. The writing is so clean and spare; they are fast reads, but truly excellent ones.
Ed McBain – 53th book in 87th precinct series
Bison Records' self-styled impresario Barney Loomis runs into a snag in his effort to catapult his newest performer, Tamar Valparaiso, to stardom. As Tamar is lip-synching the provocative video of her first album aboard a rented yacht, two men in Saddam Hussein and Yasir Arafat masks snatch her before a stunned audience.
***Ed McBain is the true master of the police procedural writing tight plots and true-to-life dialogue. He knows how to balance humor with the horror of the crime being committed. I often know “who did it” early, but it never spoils my pleasure in reading his characters and how he transitions effortlessly from one to the next. If you’ve not read him, do. The great pleasure is to go back to the beginning of the series. The writing is so clean and spare; they are fast reads, but truly excellent ones.
January 21, 2015
Disappointing. Tamar Valparaiso is the next hot pop sensation, and is kidnapped from a yacht chartered for a kick-off party for her newest album. Steve Carella catches the squeal, and is asked to stay involved by the promoter following a turf war with the FBI. Things go badly wrong, with the FBI's approach but solid police work uncovers the criminal conspiracy. In a pointless side-story, McBain is still trying to make Fat Ollie Weeks more palatable via his relationship with a policewoman. This one felt like an hour long TV episode, and we see less and less of the 87th Precinct detectives.
May 21, 2016
This is my favorite so far of the few 87th Precinct mysteries I've read. As a fan of Lewis Carroll's writings, of course I couldn't resist the title. I do like the way Ed McBain could write a solid, often shocking, crime story while brilliantly leavening things with humor, in this case satirizing the music industry, celebrity culture, cable TV, the FBI, et al. And, of course, there's the homage to "Jabberwocky," and it was good to see Fat Ollie (who is still looking for the missing only copy of the novel he has written) carrying on his new romance. Like most readers probably, I did suspect early on that a certain character was complicit in the kidnapping of the talented young diva.
I do want to read more of McBain's novels. Fortunately, my local library has quite a number of them.
I do want to read more of McBain's novels. Fortunately, my local library has quite a number of them.
February 24, 2024
The title of this book references a line in the Lewis Carroll poem Jabberwocky and in this case is the title track of an upcoming singers debut album. At the big release party the singer is kidnapped and the detectives of the 87th become involved with the feds in solving the case and getting her back.
A bit of a departure from the usual crimes in the 87th and I really enjoyed this one. I figured out a couple of clues but the ending was somewhat unexpected. There is also more character development in several of the detectives personal lives.
A bit of a departure from the usual crimes in the 87th and I really enjoyed this one. I figured out a couple of clues but the ending was somewhat unexpected. There is also more character development in several of the detectives personal lives.
December 29, 2021
"Beware the Jabberwock, my son
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!"
(Lewis Carroll, Jabberwocky)
The dramatic events during the party become instant fodder for various TV talk shows:
The other thread in the novel portrays the romance between Detective Ollie Weeks and Patricia Gomez, a Latina detective. As much as I like the author's new emphasis (see Fat Ollie's Book ) on the bigoted and misogynist cop (after all, how long can one live with saintly characters like Carella), I don't find the thread particularly interesting, and the once amazing fact that Detective Weeks is human has lost its novelty.
Overall, I find the book quite readable and am recommending it.
Three stars
[With this review I have completed my challenge of reading (and reviewing) 60 books in 2021. Woohoo!!!]
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!"
(Lewis Carroll, Jabberwocky)
Ed McBain set up the plot of The Frumious Bandersnatch, the 53rd installment of his monumental 87th Precinct series, during a record launch party to promote Bandersnatch, the debut album of a young singer, Tamar Valparaiso. A recording industry mogul is hoping to transform Tamar into a new pop-music idol and to make millions off her success. The elaborate party is a scene for reenactment of a music video that combines the lyrics of Lewis Carroll's famous poem, sung by Tamar, with an enthralling dance number.
However, it turns out that someone else has quite different plans related to the party. The dance is brutally interrupted, when it is about to reach its climax:
"'Twas brillig, and the slithy tovesMayhem ensues. I believe the readers will like the vivid writing in the entire party scene, quite lengthy but well worth it, and particularly the description of the dance.
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the ...
Don't nobody [...] move!'
Saddam Hussein and Yasir Arafat were coming down the wide mahogany staircase."
The dramatic events during the party become instant fodder for various TV talk shows:
"[...]two guests tonight were at opposite ends of the political and cultural spectrum in that one of them was a minister who represented a Christian Right activist organization that called itself the 'Citizens for Values Coalition,' [...] and the other was a homosexual who was speaking for a group that called itself 'Priapus Perpetual,' [...]Steve Carella handles the case for the 87th Precinct until the investigation is taken over by FBI. They request Carella to remain on the case, which causes some tension between him and one of the FBI agents, whom the detective knew during their common time spent at the police academy. The plot is relatively engrossing and it turns considerably darker toward the end of the story.
The other thread in the novel portrays the romance between Detective Ollie Weeks and Patricia Gomez, a Latina detective. As much as I like the author's new emphasis (see Fat Ollie's Book ) on the bigoted and misogynist cop (after all, how long can one live with saintly characters like Carella), I don't find the thread particularly interesting, and the once amazing fact that Detective Weeks is human has lost its novelty.
Overall, I find the book quite readable and am recommending it.
Three stars
[With this review I have completed my challenge of reading (and reviewing) 60 books in 2021. Woohoo!!!]
June 24, 2017
Ed McBain's 87th precinct series contain some of the best dialogue in the genre of police procedurals that you can find. The Frumious Bandersnatch delivers on that count, but falls a bit short of some of the other entrants in the series ( e. g., those involving the Deaf Man).
At any rate, I found the first half of the story somewhat disjointed and drawn out unnecessarily. This is perhaps due to the inclusion of a seemingly unrelated and completely minor sub plot involving a budding romance between "Fat" Ollie Weeks and an Hispanic patrol woman in another precinct. Although I enjoy Fat Ollie as a character, his presence here seems completely tangential and sort of distracting.
Nevertheless, McBain pulls it together in the latter third of the book and throws in some nice twists and turns.
Fans of the series should read it if, for no other reason, than to reference the poem from Lewis Carroll-- "Beware the Jabberwock, my son...
The frumious Bandersnatch."
Enjoy.
At any rate, I found the first half of the story somewhat disjointed and drawn out unnecessarily. This is perhaps due to the inclusion of a seemingly unrelated and completely minor sub plot involving a budding romance between "Fat" Ollie Weeks and an Hispanic patrol woman in another precinct. Although I enjoy Fat Ollie as a character, his presence here seems completely tangential and sort of distracting.
Nevertheless, McBain pulls it together in the latter third of the book and throws in some nice twists and turns.
Fans of the series should read it if, for no other reason, than to reference the poem from Lewis Carroll-- "Beware the Jabberwock, my son...
The frumious Bandersnatch."
Enjoy.
July 9, 2016
Wow! McBain hits on so many notes here it isn't funny. He particularly addresses racism--in popular culture, as a piece of every-day life and, most relevant today, as a taken-for-granted element of life and work for a number of police officers. He addresses this last in many of his books, but it is stronger here and I read this at a time when the consequences of this are so much in the news.
On a lighter note, how can one not love a book that centers on a piece of music and accompanying video based on Lewis Carroll's work?
The mover behind the relevant crime is, if not obvious from the writing, inevitable. The mystery, at least for me, was in how it all played out and was uncovered. I would mention the ending, but cannot without spoiling it for others.
On a lighter note, how can one not love a book that centers on a piece of music and accompanying video based on Lewis Carroll's work?
The mover behind the relevant crime is, if not obvious from the writing, inevitable. The mystery, at least for me, was in how it all played out and was uncovered. I would mention the ending, but cannot without spoiling it for others.
May 12, 2019
I always enjoy Ed McBain's mysteries and this one was no exception! A quick read with great characters and an intriguing plot.
July 5, 2013
I'm no connoisseur of the 87th Precinct novels, but I picked this one up at book sale recently, chugged it last night and have to say that it delivered the goods. I was up till about 1:30 AM finishing it, couldn't see the ending beforehand, and had to spend a while afterwards calming down before I could get to sleep. Yes, it's a procedural, so there's a lot of exposition, of both police work as well as the music business. And the recurrent characters are involved in their own affairs, which have little or nothing to do with the plot. But it's like the 55th novel in the series. That the author had anything left in him at all at that point is pretty amazing. This seems in fact more like Elmore Leonard's territory than McBain's. Solid and satisfying.
April 10, 2008
An emerging music star is kidnapped, and after Carella's short-term assignment to an FBI task force workking on the case ends badly, the members of the 87 ultimately end up competing with it to get her back. Guess who does better work? This is the second McBain (I keep hearing that guy on the Simpsons in my head, hahaha) book I've read; I listened to the audiobook of this one. It's got an ending I did not expect, and it was like a punch in the gut. The characters are engaging, and the author seems to have done his homework about the music industry. Also, the police work feels very real. I'm going to read more Ed McBain.
March 2, 2010
This 53rd entry in the 55-book 87th Precinct series starts off quite tongue-in-cheek as McBain takes on the music industry, poking fun at the shallow, the venal and the clueless. Three bungling kidnappers board a yacht that carries a promo party, and kidnap a young diva in mid-performance. Disturbingly, the book descends from its almost frothy parody of the music biz (using Lewis Carroll Jabberwocky metaphors) into something very dark and violent. Suddenly all those lovably silly folks become seamy and tragic. One never knows where the path leads in McBain land.
January 6, 2019
The prepenultimate book of the 87th Precinct series describes a kidnapping of a newly launched singer. As usual McBain is able to thread a number of themes through the narrative, about the nature of promotion and publicity, about modern journalism and about modern attitudes, including racism. The FBI and the 87th team get thrust into competition to try and save the singer in an exciting end stage - really enjoyed this book by a master of his art.
January 17, 2007
McBain is a master of the quick read crime novel. He created a genre in which the "hero" is the whole department, not a single protagonist. All of his books are great reads and this one was, as usual, good fun for a vacation.
July 17, 2009
87th precinct series. Great take on the music industry, lots of literary allusions, clever language, good solid police procedural. An up and coming r&b star is kidnapped, and Steve Carella must find her. TOld from the viewpoint of police, kndnappers, victim. Classic tension between police and FBI.
October 4, 2012
My copy was a hardcover with a different cover. Don't imagine that that affected the quirky characters or the feelings of pissed off outrage and sadness this generated in me. Bleak ending...typical McBain.
June 4, 2011
A hard hitting police drama despite the fantasy title. Kept me interested.
November 30, 2017
Great police procedure details - what I like best about McBain novels. This one also has a surprise twist at the end.
April 20, 2025
Slightly torn on the rating: 5/5 but TW, this book contains a short but graphic r*pe scene.
That scene aside my only real 'hmm' on this one was the continued presence of Ollie Weeks even though he's not connected to the case. While he definitely is a compelling character, he's also a bigot and so this feels like we're letting McBain indulge in writing out the language and thoughts of a bigot without really giving us, the reader, any reason to read it.
Still, I gave it a five because the plot is really tight, really tense and even though you can see how it's going to turn out you still hope that's not what this is, that's not what is going to come to pass. His ways of describing people purely by their dialogue interactions is still absolutely great and there are a lot of vignettes within this story, none of which hold up the pace of it, even our dalliances with Ollie Weeks' private life. I don't think this shouldn't be your first 87th Precinct Novel but it's a good one to read once you've got a couple under your belt, trigger warning observed.
That scene aside my only real 'hmm' on this one was the continued presence of Ollie Weeks even though he's not connected to the case. While he definitely is a compelling character, he's also a bigot and so this feels like we're letting McBain indulge in writing out the language and thoughts of a bigot without really giving us, the reader, any reason to read it.
Still, I gave it a five because the plot is really tight, really tense and even though you can see how it's going to turn out you still hope that's not what this is, that's not what is going to come to pass. His ways of describing people purely by their dialogue interactions is still absolutely great and there are a lot of vignettes within this story, none of which hold up the pace of it, even our dalliances with Ollie Weeks' private life. I don't think this shouldn't be your first 87th Precinct Novel but it's a good one to read once you've got a couple under your belt, trigger warning observed.
June 20, 2025
The 87th Precinct saga rolls on. Parker passes off a squeal when Steve Carella arrives early on the late shift. This is the start of a nasty kidnapping of a young female singer promoting her debut album. Steve and Cotton Hawes start on the investigation when the FBI move in with a supercilious attitude and sideline Steve to the "gofer" role. He walks out and starts work on the case.
A good police procedural with some twists to keep up interest. Lots of the squad feature, as does Fat Ollie and his new girlfriend! 4 stars.
A good police procedural with some twists to keep up interest. Lots of the squad feature, as does Fat Ollie and his new girlfriend! 4 stars.
May 14, 2023
No one from the 87th Precinct appears in this story until page 53 - nearly 1/5 of the way into the book! (Fat Ollie is from the 88th). Lots of details about the music industry, as the action begins on a boat where a new young singer is debuting her (hopefully) new hit song! But then, she gets kidnapped! NOW the 87th is on the case! It's a very good read, well-paced and exciting! My only negative was the time spent on Fat Ollie and Patricia.
I honestly don't understand how Patricia is attracted AT ALL to Fat Ollie. He has been described as obese, filthy, smelly, racist, bigoted, and misogynistic! SHE is described as a professional, in shape, gorgeous, intelligent, Latina woman. WHY ON EARTH WOULD SHE BE INTERESTED I HIM??? I know this is a work of fiction but come on!
Skip the Fat Ollie parts, and you've got a heck of a book here!
I honestly don't understand how Patricia is attracted AT ALL to Fat Ollie. He has been described as obese, filthy, smelly, racist, bigoted, and misogynistic! SHE is described as a professional, in shape, gorgeous, intelligent, Latina woman. WHY ON EARTH WOULD SHE BE INTERESTED I HIM??? I know this is a work of fiction but come on!
Skip the Fat Ollie parts, and you've got a heck of a book here!
August 1, 2009
This book was a terrible piece of schlock, made more terrible by the halting, overdramatic reading of the story for the audiobook. No reading, however, could have saved it. Many sections of the book contained conversations that were ludicrous, repetative, and completely unrealistic. The plot was full of itself and utterly predictable.
The only things that made me actually give this book two stars were the sometimes cunning (usually not) use of the Jabberwocky and the actual police procedural sections of the novel (which, though interesting, were a small portion). I only made it to the end of this book because I was listening in the car.
The only things that made me actually give this book two stars were the sometimes cunning (usually not) use of the Jabberwocky and the actual police procedural sections of the novel (which, though interesting, were a small portion). I only made it to the end of this book because I was listening in the car.
July 31, 2022
There have been a lot of books written and published, so it should be no surprise that some authors have gone unnoticed. Ed McBain is such a one for me. And what a revelation it is. The style and discourse does not qualify as PC, and yet the narrative seems authentic and believable - the outcome always in doubt. McBain crafts a gritty city, a plausible crime and an investigation led by police who are skilled and fallible. It makes for one of the tightest and most riveting crime novels I have read, and inspires me to take other journeys into the 87th Precinct.
June 18, 2013
This is not one of McBain's masterpieces --it was small mystery to determine who was the likely villain here, unusually obvious from the start. The rest of the story is ok, but overall pretty average (below average for McBain). There was a small side story with a recurring character in other 87th Precinct novels that didn't really add anything to the main plot or go anywhere on its own--seemed to be filler.
June 13, 2019
I thought I’d read all of the 87th Precinct novels a long time agio. Then I found this. It was like going to a reunion and seeing old friends! It was a well written police procedural with good characters and a well paced plot. And a surprise at the end. I guess I have to see if their are others in the series that I haven’t read.
March 26, 2021
I read 20-30 of this series over the course of a few months about six years ago, so it was nice to come back to the series and some of the characters...of course I'd forgotten how dark it was. Good police procedural, probably about the length of an episode of TV if you were to film it, but in book form. I'd recommend the series, but probably not this specific iteration.
March 24, 2014
I love this guy, just love everything about him except that he's dead! This one would be horribly familiar to those who've worked in any music industry.
August 11, 2025
It's a great title. 'Bandersnatch', it turns out, is the name of a pleasure boat, and the 'snatch' is the kidnap of a hot new star, a young girl who doesn't emerge from the experience enriched. But the frumious bandersnatch originally is a character in Lewis Carroll's Jabberwocky, and McBain riffs off nonsense terms at intervals during the narrative. Some of the time it is entertaining, and generally this appears to be one of his lighter novels in the series. Until it isn't.
Fat Ollie (Detective Ollie Weeks) who was the main character in Fat Ollie's Book appears early on. My heart sank because I am thoroughly sick of Ollie, ah yes. However, he has been acting out of character lately and never less than here, where he is hardly racist at all, develops serious tendencies towards compassion and vulnerability, bursts into tears and falls in love.
Unfortunately, his creator (McBain) has not gone soft, except towards Ollie Weeks.
SPOILER ALERT
For the first two thirds of the book I was enjoying the ride, especially when Carella sets out to do some proper intelligent detecting and gets on the trail of the kidnappers. Meanwhile Honey Blair (Channel 4 News) and Detective Cotton Hawes experience mutual intense attraction (they're quite well matched) with predictable consequences.
There have been at least two previous kidnapping plots in the series. King's Ransom, for example, also has a particularly vulnerable kidnappee, a little boy. And there's Kling's short-lived marriage, when his wife Augusta is kidnapped on the eve of the wedding (So Long as You Both Shall Live). And what about Killer's Wedge, where Carella himself is kidnapped and chained to a radiator?
So rising star Tamar Valparaiso, also chained to a radiator, is treading old ground. And just like the little boy in King's Ransom, she's vulnerable, attractive, smart. And just like the little boy in King's Ransom she is being held by two men (one much more vicious than the other) and a woman who takes pity on her. Ed McBain, however, has no pity at all. Tamar is raped. It is a horrible episode, with sadistic detail that borders on pornographic. It made me feel sick. A few scenes further on, the female kidnapper (the one who pitied her) shoots her in the face.
McBain likes to create sharp contrast, short scenes that balance terror with comfort, violence with gentleness. But some shifts are too sharp. The sadistic rape scene ("Viciously he spread her legs and forcibly entered her, tearing tissue as he plunged inside her. She screamed at the forced penetration [ ... ] and then his hands were on her breasts, squeezing her nipples hard, thrusting his overpowering rigidity into her below, grunting, his hands seeming not to know where to hurt her next, her face, her breasts, her buttocks, squeezing, slapping, punching her now, pinching her, punching her breasts, punching her face ...") shifts immediately to a relaxed Conference Room where agents and detectives are bantering. And suddenly, it's a comedy scene, throwing Lewis Carroll nonsense terms into the narrative: "The Squad was somewhat perturbed. One might even say they were quite blaxitomed! [ ... ] 'A shitty little squad uptown,' he complained, visibly hummered. [ ... ] All except Lieutenant Charles Farley Corcoran, who was pacing the floor, quite red in the face, even for an Irishman. 'Dismissed my complaint,' he muttered, all visibly perscathed." The contrast is too insensitive. Inappropriate, I would say, to feed in jokes so soon after a violent rape, and a weakness in handling the narrative.
For a good while now, I've thought McBain likes to write about rape at little too much. I suspect he prides himself on his realistic take, his insights, perhaps even his empathy for victims. But here, he simply lays into the girl, with repetitive, rhythmic, onomatopoeic phrasing, and then moves on, as if her brutal attack was another minor incident. But it was his choice to let that happen to her, and then follow up with a particularly nasty death. Shocking and memorable, yes.
Can a crime thriller be morally questionable? I was angry with McBain by the end of this one, and a day after finishing the book, I am still pissed off with him. I admire so much about his skill as a writer. But there are moral responsibilities, and I thought he failed on that score here. I'm not saying characters can't get raped, can't get brutally killed. Of course they can. It's a question of how such acts are depicted, and whether the writer deliberately caters to salacious reader instincts.
Fat Ollie (Detective Ollie Weeks) who was the main character in Fat Ollie's Book appears early on. My heart sank because I am thoroughly sick of Ollie, ah yes. However, he has been acting out of character lately and never less than here, where he is hardly racist at all, develops serious tendencies towards compassion and vulnerability, bursts into tears and falls in love.
Unfortunately, his creator (McBain) has not gone soft, except towards Ollie Weeks.
SPOILER ALERT
For the first two thirds of the book I was enjoying the ride, especially when Carella sets out to do some proper intelligent detecting and gets on the trail of the kidnappers. Meanwhile Honey Blair (Channel 4 News) and Detective Cotton Hawes experience mutual intense attraction (they're quite well matched) with predictable consequences.
There have been at least two previous kidnapping plots in the series. King's Ransom, for example, also has a particularly vulnerable kidnappee, a little boy. And there's Kling's short-lived marriage, when his wife Augusta is kidnapped on the eve of the wedding (So Long as You Both Shall Live). And what about Killer's Wedge, where Carella himself is kidnapped and chained to a radiator?
So rising star Tamar Valparaiso, also chained to a radiator, is treading old ground. And just like the little boy in King's Ransom, she's vulnerable, attractive, smart. And just like the little boy in King's Ransom she is being held by two men (one much more vicious than the other) and a woman who takes pity on her. Ed McBain, however, has no pity at all. Tamar is raped. It is a horrible episode, with sadistic detail that borders on pornographic. It made me feel sick. A few scenes further on, the female kidnapper (the one who pitied her) shoots her in the face.
McBain likes to create sharp contrast, short scenes that balance terror with comfort, violence with gentleness. But some shifts are too sharp. The sadistic rape scene ("Viciously he spread her legs and forcibly entered her, tearing tissue as he plunged inside her. She screamed at the forced penetration [ ... ] and then his hands were on her breasts, squeezing her nipples hard, thrusting his overpowering rigidity into her below, grunting, his hands seeming not to know where to hurt her next, her face, her breasts, her buttocks, squeezing, slapping, punching her now, pinching her, punching her breasts, punching her face ...") shifts immediately to a relaxed Conference Room where agents and detectives are bantering. And suddenly, it's a comedy scene, throwing Lewis Carroll nonsense terms into the narrative: "The Squad was somewhat perturbed. One might even say they were quite blaxitomed! [ ... ] 'A shitty little squad uptown,' he complained, visibly hummered. [ ... ] All except Lieutenant Charles Farley Corcoran, who was pacing the floor, quite red in the face, even for an Irishman. 'Dismissed my complaint,' he muttered, all visibly perscathed." The contrast is too insensitive. Inappropriate, I would say, to feed in jokes so soon after a violent rape, and a weakness in handling the narrative.
For a good while now, I've thought McBain likes to write about rape at little too much. I suspect he prides himself on his realistic take, his insights, perhaps even his empathy for victims. But here, he simply lays into the girl, with repetitive, rhythmic, onomatopoeic phrasing, and then moves on, as if her brutal attack was another minor incident. But it was his choice to let that happen to her, and then follow up with a particularly nasty death. Shocking and memorable, yes.
Can a crime thriller be morally questionable? I was angry with McBain by the end of this one, and a day after finishing the book, I am still pissed off with him. I admire so much about his skill as a writer. But there are moral responsibilities, and I thought he failed on that score here. I'm not saying characters can't get raped, can't get brutally killed. Of course they can. It's a question of how such acts are depicted, and whether the writer deliberately caters to salacious reader instincts.
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