Sign in with Facebook
Loading...
372nd out of 3,394 books
—
7,825 voters
Cop Hater (87th Precinct #1)
by
Ed McBain
When Detective Reardon is found dead, motive is a big question mark. But when his partner becomes victim number two, it looks like open-and-shut grudge killings. That is, until a third detective buys it.
ED MCBAIN'S FIRST 87th PRECINCT NOVEL
ED MCBAIN'S FIRST 87th PRECINCT NOVEL
Paperback, 160 pages
Published
April 1st 1987
by Signet
(first published 1956)
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
Community Reviews
(showing
1-30
of
2,238)
When a cop is cut down with a .45, Detectives Carella and Bush spring into action. But can they stop the killer before he kills again?
I was looking for another crime series to begin reading when the 87th Precinct series by Ed McBain caught my eye. I'd read one McBain book before, The Gutter and the Grave, and I enjoyed it enough to take a change on the long long long series of 87th Precinct books..
Cop Hater is a police procedural about someone killing cops, set in the fictional city of Isola. W...more
I was looking for another crime series to begin reading when the 87th Precinct series by Ed McBain caught my eye. I'd read one McBain book before, The Gutter and the Grave, and I enjoyed it enough to take a change on the long long long series of 87th Precinct books..
Cop Hater is a police procedural about someone killing cops, set in the fictional city of Isola. W...more
Mine is a 1989 edition by Books On Tape. Not abridged, read by Paul Shay who added absolutely NOTHING to the book. Actually, his voice just sucked. It wasn't a bad novel, although dated. That added to & subtracted from it, but more adds, IMO. I got a little tired of McBain explaining things that we've come to take for granted like fingerprints, but I guess some of the stuff wasn't common knowledge back when he wrote it. It really added to the atmosphere & tone, though.
The tone of the boo...more
The tone of the boo...more
10 likes · like · see review
Review from Badelynge.
This is the first book in Ed McBain's long running police procedural series 87th Precinct. McBain would continue writing the ongoing series for half a century until 2005, the year of his death.
Someone is killing cops with a 45 calibre handgun. Steve Carella and the rest of the precinct have to find the killer before he kills again. Carella and Teddy are unmarried still and between the exhaustive investigation the pair try to snatch enough time together to decide on a date f...more
This is the first book in Ed McBain's long running police procedural series 87th Precinct. McBain would continue writing the ongoing series for half a century until 2005, the year of his death.
Someone is killing cops with a 45 calibre handgun. Steve Carella and the rest of the precinct have to find the killer before he kills again. Carella and Teddy are unmarried still and between the exhaustive investigation the pair try to snatch enough time together to decide on a date f...more
Jan 17, 2013
Tfitoby
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
black-as-night,
whodunnit
My first experience of the 87th Precinct novels was good fun, unexpected in its style and content but an enjoyable read. Having recently read Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets I felt that the banter and camerarderie of the station house detectives felt both familiar and authentic which for me helped to give the book the edge over continuing or giving up early on.
It's a novel that's nearly 60 years old now and it hasn't really dated which is incredibly impressive. Sure we've all become immu...more
It's a novel that's nearly 60 years old now and it hasn't really dated which is incredibly impressive. Sure we've all become immu...more
10 likes · like · see review
Robust first title (1956) starts the long-running 87th Precinct cop series. "Cop hater" takes out cops. Uses lots of 1950s CSI forensics. Heat wave hitting Isola (sort of made-up city) jacks up the misery. Terse dialogue.
4 likes · like · see review
How wonderful it was to finally get my hands on the very first book! I had actually started this series with Blood Relatives; not sure what number it was in the series but its copyright date was either '73 or '75. After reading several in this series it was easy for me to see which cop was "wearing the red shirt" while a cop killer was on the loose. It was also great seeing Kling as a little rookie cop. Carella and Teddy were just dating but very much in love. Ah, it was just wonderful to see wh...more
This was an interesting one, I think I must have snatched it up in a Kindle sale or Daily Deal somewhere, as I do so love the start of a series. It surprised me to find this was written way back in the 1950s, and that there was a whole world of sequels out there waiting, but the first had to grab my attention.
It certainly did that, although not in the way I was expecting. It was old-fashioned, naturally, slow-paced and a little bumbling and it felt like for the majority of the time, the cops rea...more
It certainly did that, although not in the way I was expecting. It was old-fashioned, naturally, slow-paced and a little bumbling and it felt like for the majority of the time, the cops rea...more
Here is a novel where the men are the men, the women are the women, and never the 'twain shall understand each other. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, it just leads to some pretty chuckle-worthy writing in regards to the vast gulf between the two sexes, such as where Carella finds his partner’s wife & their home so female & cloying that he somehow “had the feeling she would suddenly explode into a thousand flying fragments of breast and hip & thigh, splashed over the landscape lik...more
4 likes · like · see review
Originally published in 1956, this is the first novel in Ed McBain's long-running 87th Precinct series. It introduces Steve Carella, who would be the most prominent of the detectives that McBain created to populate his mythical precinct; it also introduces the large mythical city where the books are set and which is based loosely on New York City.
As the book opens, a plain clothes police detective is shot and killed as he is walking to work. The investigation into the killing has barely begun w...more
As the book opens, a plain clothes police detective is shot and killed as he is walking to work. The investigation into the killing has barely begun w...more
14 likes · like · see review
A good start to the popular police procedural series, and a wordy one,
clocking in at some fifty pages more than the tauter entries that
immediately follow it.
McBain uses a lot of those extra words on description, seeming to pause
and linger longer on descriptions of the city, which at the time of the
story is undergoing a heatwave, as it seems to in so many of his books.
He is not quite good enough to avoid cliches like buildings that "point
fingers" at the sky, but his prose is admirably workman-li...more
clocking in at some fifty pages more than the tauter entries that
immediately follow it.
McBain uses a lot of those extra words on description, seeming to pause
and linger longer on descriptions of the city, which at the time of the
story is undergoing a heatwave, as it seems to in so many of his books.
He is not quite good enough to avoid cliches like buildings that "point
fingers" at the sky, but his prose is admirably workman-li...more
This is the first in the 87th Precinct series by Ed McBain (aka Evan Hunter who wrote "The Blackboard Jungle"), written in the late 1950's. I really liked this book. Concise and well written. The 87th Precinct books focus on the detective division of a fictional large city. The main detective in each of the books is not always the same, some playing a primary role in one or more books, then a minor role in others, then perhaps disappearing from the series altogether due to a job transfer, moving...more
This is my review for the entire 87th Precinct series:
“The 87th Precinct” series by Ed McBain are mysteries at their finest. This series spans several decades in “real” time, but not nearly as long for its fictional characters. The action takes place in a fictitious city (clearly New York City), with recurring well-developed characters and plots, which are both realistic and stimulating . Not only are these novels different from the too-often formulaic products usually associated with mystery s...more
“The 87th Precinct” series by Ed McBain are mysteries at their finest. This series spans several decades in “real” time, but not nearly as long for its fictional characters. The action takes place in a fictitious city (clearly New York City), with recurring well-developed characters and plots, which are both realistic and stimulating . Not only are these novels different from the too-often formulaic products usually associated with mystery s...more
Feb 14, 2013
Cathy DuPont
rated it
2 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
No one I like
Recommended to Cathy by:
No one, gratefully
Ho, hum. Finished with that so can now move on to something worthwhile.
Have been reading the prolific writer Ed McBain (Evan Hunter), and have loved the Matthew Hope series which, in my mind, are cleverly, well written mysteries.
Having about nine or so 87th Precinct books on my shelf, thought it important that I begin the series, so fortunately, spent no money but got this one from the library. I hate to waste money, so giving it two stars, I was happy I didn’t spend my hard earned cash, fifty...more
Have been reading the prolific writer Ed McBain (Evan Hunter), and have loved the Matthew Hope series which, in my mind, are cleverly, well written mysteries.
Having about nine or so 87th Precinct books on my shelf, thought it important that I begin the series, so fortunately, spent no money but got this one from the library. I hate to waste money, so giving it two stars, I was happy I didn’t spend my hard earned cash, fifty...more
2 likes · like · see review
Been on my bookshelf for quite a while, but I somehow never got around to reading it before... "Cop Hater" turned out to be an exceptionally good read, way better than I'd been expecting! The pacing and the dialogue were superb, and while I can usually pick the ending ahead of time, this one genuinely surprised me.
When I was writing my thesis back in 2010, I read several articles about Ed McBain and the 87th Precinct but up until now, I've only known about his work from a theoretical perspective...more
When I was writing my thesis back in 2010, I read several articles about Ed McBain and the 87th Precinct but up until now, I've only known about his work from a theoretical perspective...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
1 like · like · see review
The American police procedural begins more or less here, with Ed McBain's first 87th Precinct novel in 1956. The prose is slapdash, but the plotting is impressive in its willful directionlessness. Someone murders a detective from the 87th Precinct, and the other detectives from the precinct, naturally, want to catch the killer, but the novel resists falling into a clichéd gathering of clues that lead inexorably to his identity. Rather, the detectives spend most of the novel frustrated as they fo...more
This was the first 87th Precinct Novel by one of my Favorite author EdMcBain A.K.A Evan Hunter. I was curious as how his character came to evolve. It told us how Steve Carella and Teddy get to marry and how they really were in love with each other. The plot was a little slow until almost at the end of the book where it took a sudden turn. Clearly he is one of the pioneers of police procedural works in his time. But reading the book and its old technology(since it was written in the 1950s) made i...more
Return visit to this book, which I originally read in a Signet edition as I recall -- there was a period when I just burned through the 87th Precinct books. I was interested in revisiting this one -- the first of the series -- having just seen the movie version, which makes some changes but somehow manages to incorporate many of the major story elements and the overall sense of misery and tension.
As with another reviewer, I'm doing the revisit (while recovering from eye surgery) via the 1989 Boo...more
As with another reviewer, I'm doing the revisit (while recovering from eye surgery) via the 1989 Boo...more
Während eine Hitzewelle die Einwohner der Stadt Isola fest im Griff hat, läuft ein Unbekannter durch die Straßen des Abschnitt 87 und schaltet Polizisten aus. Wird Komissar Steve Carella den Mörder stellen können, bevor er selbst zur Zielscheibe wird?
Cop Hater ist der erste Roman aus der 87th Precinct Reihe, mit der Evan Hunter das Police Procedural Format etablierte, das heutzutage unsere Medien überflutet.
Statt eines einsamen Helden, stand in dieser Serie erstmalig eine ganze Polizeitruppe im...more
I'd rather give this book 3.5 stars, but Goodreads limits me to whole star ratings. I see a lot of promise in this book series - and I know it's got a good reputation, so I'm looking forward to the other installments. It's possible that the narrator had more to do with my inability to rate this a full 4 stars than the actual quality of the storytelling. He was quite monotone and dry - not much passion. However, I did figure out who the main culprit was from pretty much the moment the character w...more
my first 87th precinct novel and I enjoyed it. I'll go back to the series now and then (as I'm doing with Perry Mason, Parker, Nathan Heller, etc) and, as Margie suggests, keep it in order. It's simply good, fast reading cop/bad guy stuff.
To those who haven't read it - a spoiler is coming up. To those who HAVE read it I'd love your opinion of what I say next....I have one gripe with the book. I think McBain "jumped the shark" when Carella opens up and blabs to the journalist Savage. Carella eve...more
To those who haven't read it - a spoiler is coming up. To those who HAVE read it I'd love your opinion of what I say next....I have one gripe with the book. I think McBain "jumped the shark" when Carella opens up and blabs to the journalist Savage. Carella eve...more
I read these books many years ago, and if because of my review someone else reads them then I hope they get the same pleasure that I did. I got my sister and daughter hooked on these books and hope to make new fans of Ed McBain. I think I read every Ed McBain 87th pct book that he ever wrote, and loved them all. As a former NYPD officer I could feel the comradery between the squad members as well as the dislike for others. If you like cop novels these are so good and you need to read them in ord...more
1 like · like · see review
Aug 04, 2008
Matt
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Anyone into police procedurals
I've long been a fan of police procedural TV shows, from old Dragnet reruns to Law & Order to The Wire. I've seen McBain's (or Hunter's) 87th Precinct series all over the place over the years, but I've never actually tried to read one until now. What better place to start than with the first book?
The story is solid, and despite the advances in technology since the 1950s, the investigation of the titular "cop hater" progresses much as it would today-- forensics, canvasing, etc. I suppose peop...more
The story is solid, and despite the advances in technology since the 1950s, the investigation of the titular "cop hater" progresses much as it would today-- forensics, canvasing, etc. I suppose peop...more
Excellent police procedural from 1956. This is the first book Ed McBain (a.k.a. Evan Hunter) wrote in his 87th Precinct series, which takes place in a fictionalized version of New York City. This book was obviously influenced by radio (later TV) shows like Dragnet and films like He Walked by Night, but I think it may have been one of the first prose treatments of the genre.
Cop Hater really hits all the notes one wants from a good police procedural ... tracking down possible witnesses, interviewi...more
Cop Hater really hits all the notes one wants from a good police procedural ... tracking down possible witnesses, interviewi...more
I really wanted to like this book more than I did; I like the idea of the "ensemble cast" of detectives as collective hero.
The book never seemed to quite settle on a narrative style, at times swinging between somewhat overdone description and “close up” almost first person viewpoints with occasional interludes of “CSI: 1950” info dump.
And yet ... it still captures the interest and moves at a good pace, leaving me with a desire to give at least one more book in the series a try.
The book never seemed to quite settle on a narrative style, at times swinging between somewhat overdone description and “close up” almost first person viewpoints with occasional interludes of “CSI: 1950” info dump.
And yet ... it still captures the interest and moves at a good pace, leaving me with a desire to give at least one more book in the series a try.
This was written close to fifty years ago. Pot-boiler procedural? Hard-boiled procedural? It was one of the first cops-in-the-squad-room books, and spawned a whole new subgenre for mystery.
For me? I think this first book needed a better editor, and wow, the language is florid. I kept thinking, "Dude, get to the point." But that was the point.
Beyond the florid language, the plot was tight and the characters memorable. Just need to be in a specific kind of mood for this specific kind of story, an...more
For me? I think this first book needed a better editor, and wow, the language is florid. I kept thinking, "Dude, get to the point." But that was the point.
Beyond the florid language, the plot was tight and the characters memorable. Just need to be in a specific kind of mood for this specific kind of story, an...more
This book is great for anyone who wants to learn what to do right in creating a gripping story. Sure it's cliche and dated and misogynistic, but Ed McBain could sure write a story that kept you at the edge of your chair page after page. There are no wasted words - everything contributes to the plot and it's great to remember that every small action is going to put us closer to the solution.
I recommend this book to everyone who wants a lesson in plotting.
I recommend this book to everyone who wants a lesson in plotting.
I’ve been hearing about the 87th Precinct series for a while and finally decided to try one. I tend to get attached to the main character, and I don’t know how I’ll do with the fact that each book seems to “star” a different cop. The second murder victim is described as a Negro, and I nearly fell out of my seat before I remembered the book was published in the early fifties, when that particular term was considered perfectly fine.
The 87th Precint books are one of the longest running and police procedural series of novels ever written. COP HATER is the first of the series and it tells a great story. Published in 1956, some readers might find the writing and procedures dated but the style is a perfect example of that era. I am planning on working my way through the entire series in order even though this will mean I'll be re-reading a number of the books..
This series comes highly recommended. I was ready to give this book 3 stars until the last chapter, when Evan Hunter, the real name of Ed McBain, blunders everything that came before. I was actaully angry at this book. Because the series is so highly regarded in general and by my friend Will in particular, I'll try another soon, but the 87th Precinct is on a short leash.
There are no discussion topics on this book yet.
Be the first to start one »
Ed McBain is a pseudonym of Evan Hunter, who was born and raised as Salvatore Lombino in New York City, living in East Harlem until the age of 12, at which point his family moved to the Bronx. He attended Olinville Junior High School, then Evander Childs High School, before winning an Art Students League scholarship. Later, he was admitted as an art student at Cooper Union.
Hunter served in the Nav...more
More about Ed McBain...
Hunter served in the Nav...more
Share This Book
No trivia or quizzes yet. Add some now »
Jan 24, 2013 10:27am
Jan 24, 2013 12:38pm