Customer Reviews

Nocturne: A Novel of the 87th Precinct (87th Precinct Mysteries)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I have read about fifteen 87th precint novels. There all great. Ed mcbain is probably the most underated novelist today. He should really get more credit. Kepp craking them out ed!!!!we love em.

Nocturne was one of the 87th Precinct novels I looked forward to most because I was hoping it will continue the stories started in Romance. I devour every Ed McBain/Evan Hunter book and I still have to find one that I did not love. Nocturne is still great, but not what I expected. Maybe that is why it left me a bit disappointed and betrayed. Nevertheless, it is another stellar addition to my library and I would not give it up for the world. Go, 87th Precinct, go!

Mcbain gets better with every book,if thats possible.I enjoyed Nocture mostly for its fast pace,great suspense and of course those lovable cops.I have read every Mcbain I have been able to get my hands on and have yet to be disappointed!

Ed McBain is an underrated writer and a grandmaster of the police procedural genre. Two murders are investigated and near the end of the book the trail of both lead to the same spot. If you have never experienced an 87th precinct novel you will devour this one and feel good knowing McBain has written about 30 others.

The police officers of the 87th precinct have a new homicide to work. The two detectives on the case, Carella and Hawes figure that this is an open and shut case. All the evidence points to an attempted robbery turned into the murder of a poor elderly citizen. The two detectives are a little surprised to learn the victim was Svetlana Dyalovich, a once renowned classical pianist. Still the case remains simple enough until the officers learn that Ms. Dyalovich had withdrawn $125,000 from her bank that very day she was murdered. There are suddenly too many suspects who might be willing to do anything to obtain such a quick windfall. ...... At about the same time, another officer from the precinct, "Fat Ollie" Weeks is investigating the killing of a pimp, drug dealer, and a hooker. As the evidence accumulates in this case, it crisscrosses with the Carella-Hawes investigation. The police better find their culprit soon because no one seems safe on the city streets as long as this killer is loose. ... The 87th precinct series has been on going for over four decades and still Ed McBain continues to write some of the freshest police procedurals on the market today. Fans of the series will love NOCTURNE because it is the usual fantastic gritty who-done-it that brings alive the city streets and the officers, criminals, and civilians living on them. For any mystery fan who has not read a McBain novel, this is a great place to start - it will be one reading experience that will prove to be worth your dead presidents. ........Harriet Klausner

I read this a few weeks after it came out-it was my first McBain book, and it got me hooked on the rest. Carella, Hawes, Kling, Meyer, Brown, and all the rest are now favorites of mine. Ed McBain draws such vivid charcterizations of very different people-cops, hookers, rich brats, pushers, and even one crazy wack-a-loon. I guarantee if you read this novel, you'll be a McBain fan for life.

However, there are so many of the 87th precinct books, I wasn't worried about not enjoying this one as much. I suppose it was the ending bummed me out. It was like...huh? I was kinda let down. It was good though and Ed McBain's references to THE BIRDS and other works of his (that some readers may not be aware that he wrote) cracked me up. The book does age itself with many popular references but that's ok. Sometimes, due to the fact that the series takes place over such a LONG SPAN of time, it's kinda nice to catch up.
I enjoyed the infusion of Ollie Weeks...though I thoroughly dislike that man! I did enjoy the way he was allowed to solve the case involving Marie--though I would have rather had my guys from the 87th do it! (smile)All in all I enjoyed the book as much as Romance--another book that was just 'okay'.
I did enjoy Carella speaking the Italian, however. Nice touch.

I have only recently "discovered" Ed McBain's "87th Precinct" novels, and have been reading them in random order. Like all the others, "Nocturne" was a rapid paced page-turner.

The two simultaneous plots are filled with characters with jaunty attitudes on both sides of the law---hookers, pushers. cops, wackos, pimps.

The two cases crisscross and dovetail into the same place. The ride to that place is filled with suspense with lotsa twists and turns.

Along the way, each cleared suspect leads to another and another until all the pieces meld into the solved puzzle. It is police procedural at its best.

I was hooked in no time and could not put "Nocturne" down.

I have been an Ed McBain fan for decades. Each time one of his books came out, I'd save it as a treat for when I had my work done. I've probably read 90% of what he has written. So, he was a really talented writer. But now he is gone, his books are old and somewhat dated, so why are they being offered at newly published prices?

McBain pushes a bit too far into the darkness behind sexual assault in this disappointing addition to the 87th precinct series. A group of college boys out for a wild night that ends up in page after page of depravity, something that is there to shock, but does very little to move the book forward. It starts to become violence for its own sake and if McBain was looking to desensitize the reader he succeeded. Violence is necessary in these books, they depend on authenticity to create this world effectively, but here McBain just seems to get carried away by it and the story suffers. For me, probably one of the most disappointing books in the series and I'm pretty sure the only time I've ever given one star to a series that I've enjoyed.