Customer Reviews

The Heckler

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"The Heckler" is the 87th Precinct Mystery which features the first appearance of the elusive and recurrent McBain villian known only as the Deaf Man. In this installment, you learn why this mastermind of evil has a particular affinity for the "boys of the 87th," particularly Detective Steeve Carella, who excells at thwarting his nefarious schemes (but never quite catching him). This is one of the best examples of early 87th Precinct writing from McBain. For those who love police procedurals, there are none better.

As the other reviewers noted, this is the first appearance of the Deaf Man the infamous villian who haunts the 87th Precinct and Detective Steve Carella. This book has a very clever plot and keeps the reader on edge until the ending. The Deaf Man is one of the most interesting characters in McBain's books because he is such an enigma.
McBain gets right to the point. He does not waste any words at all on description. As a reader I have always found his books impossible to put down. Indeed, description would be superfluous.

Someone is making threatening phone calls to various upright citizens. The 87th Precinct meets the Deaf Man for the 1st time in this exciting procedural. This mastermind always hatches a convulted scheme to pull off his crimes and the 87th is usually roped in. We also get Bert Kling trying to find the vicious thug behind the brutal beating of a beautiful woman. This is among the tops in the early entries in the series.

The publishing date of this volume of "The Heckler " is a RE-Publish of the novel of the same name done years ago. To suggest that this is a new or current 87th Precinct novel is misleading

Ed McBain's long-running series of mystery novels spanned fifty years and over fifty books. Based in the fictional city of Isola (with its eerie similarities to New York), McBain's conscientious cops spent thousands of pages chasing down every sort of villainous behaviour. From 1956 to 2005, readers were introduced to serial killers, money laundering, granny dumping and more.

The volume, The Heckler (originally published in 1960), introduces the Deaf Man, who would rapidly become the criminal nemesis of the 87th Precinct.

The Deaf Man is their total antithesis - he's callous (almost inhuman) and a methodical planner, while the detectives rely on emotion, legwork, and (invariably) luck. McBain tries not to make the Deaf Man a sympathetic character (at least, at first). The criminal mastermind is, however, irresistably cool. He wins at poker, makes women want him through the force of his superior mind alone, is a crack shot, and gives rousing speeches on the laws of probability.

He's also a monster, with no regard for human life. In later appearances, he becomes more and more overtly sadistic - perhaps changing with the times. Still, the Deaf Man is the star of this book. In The Heckler, the 87th is entirely clueless, and the eventual resolution (such as it is) of the case is entirely reliant on luck.

The book is entertaining enough (and the Deaf Man new enough) to make it a captivating read, but as a mystery, it lacks the punch of the better books in the series. It also marks one of the many occasions where Something Awful happens to Steve Carella, one of the nicest detectives in fiction.

This book arrived on time and in good condition. I am happy with the seller and will continue to buy from them.

I have always enjoyed reading Ed McBain, and THE HECKLER is no
exception. Mr. McBain's style of writing is a 'page turner', and I
am anxious to finish reading this book in order to start the other
two that I ordered.
Thank you for the prompt attention that you give to every order.
Sincerely,
Richard Sheldon