The Hundred Percent Squad [Paperback]

Earl W. Count (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This procedural, based on Count's research into an NYPD squad that claimed 100% success in solving homicides over a three-year period, concerns a dedicated Manhattan police lieutenant investigating a series of drug-related murders while facing a transfer. "With nonstop suspense, this one hits you like heat rising from the asphalt," said PW .
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Journalist Count researched this novel with New York City's real "hundred percent squad." In this novel Lieutenant Flynn's New York detective squad boasts 100 percent clearance of its murder cases, but two gruesome drug-related murders threaten to destroy its record. Subsequent violence and the vicious rape/murder of a ballet dancer all point to notorious crime wheeler-dealer "Irish" Viera (who also wants revenge on Flynn), but no one will rat on him for fear of reprisal. While Viera's cohorts and police procedure get much of the author's attention, his slow-moving pace, stock situations, and mediocre prose detract from the overall focus.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 416 pages
• Publisher: Warner Books (June 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0446361216
• ISBN-13: 978-0446361217
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,836,175 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2.0 out of 5 stars Needs good editing, November 29, 1997

By 

Frank (Stockton CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Hundred Percent Squad (Paperback)

This is a good first draft of a mystery novel, with some good characterizations and plot and use of suspense, but it's just not a final product.

The book is too drawn-out, and the author repeatedly hits us with the same descriptions as if the reader isn't bright enough to "get it" the first two times a scene or concept is described -- such as the drug king-pin's desk with the built-in phone, and why this squad is called the "100% squad."

The plot device of the young neighborhood kid, "Salsa," being simultaneously accepted into the inner circle of the drug king-pin, at the same time "Salsa" is virtually the foster son of a detective, and torn between the two worlds, is not credible. The use of untranslated Spanish dialogue would be frustrating to a reader who doesn't speak Spanish.

Author E.W. Count's later book, "Cop Talk," is a much-better factual recitation of NYPD detectives' lives and work.