Sarah's review of Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets

Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets
by David Simon

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<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18956.Homicide_A_Year_on_the_Killing_Streets?utm_medium=api&amp;utm_source=blog_review" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img alt="Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets" border="0" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1167171317m/18956.jpg" /></a> <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18956.Homicide_A_Year_on_the_Killing_Streets?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/11395.David_Simon">David Simon</a> 
 <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/17440675?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review"><h3>My review</h3></a>
 rating: 5 of 5 stars “The Wire” is over. “The Wire,” which salvaged so many depressing Sunday nights. “The Wire,” which was the only reason we subscribed to HBO. “The Wire,” one of the few television dramas where I’ve repeatedly found myself thinking of all the characters and their situations as real.
 
 I’m sure I’m not the only one who feels the same way. Fictional or not, Omar got obituaries in publications across the country when his character died a few weeks ago. Whole NFL teams gather together to watch. And even Barack Obama has mentioned his love for the show on the road several times. What do we do now that it’s over?
 
 I have at least a temporary solution. A few weeks ago, Ben bought Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets by David Simon, one of the two creators of the show and a former Baltimore Sun journalist. The non-fiction book follows 30 or so Baltimore detectives through a year of cases - starting on New Year’s day in 1988 and ending on New Year’s Eve 1988. When Ben started reading it, it did nothing less than take over his life, and when I started reading it the day he finished it, it took over mine. In the good way.
 
 Reading Homicide is like reading the true story behind the myth of “The Wire.” You meet the real characters who where mixed up and re-pieced together to create Bunk, McNulty, Lester, and Keema. More than that, it offers a back-stage pass into the details of detective work that are only glimpsed during the show - whole chapters are devoted to what it’s like to work in the city morgue and what it’s like for a detective to testify in court. Vocabulary words from “The Wire” that you always wondered about like a “yo” and a “redball” are finally clearly defined.
 
 In short, Homicide makes me better understand why we loved “The Wire” so much: it is truthful and (as much as a television drama can be) it is real. No wonder that the world has taken Omar’s death as if it he once actually lived. No wonder it was heartbreaking to know that Bubbles makes it but Dookie doesn’t.
 
 There weren’t any fireworks at the end of Homicide - some of the biggest murder cases of the year are never solved and none of the hardworking detectives are recognized or even given enough overtime. There also weren’t any big fireworks at the end of “The Wire” - and Homicide helped me understand that that’s how it should be.
 
 So if your schedule is still empty on Sunday nights, or if you start missing the late-night antics of detectives waiting for the phone to ring, don’t worry: there’s still Homicide, and it’s a solid 650 pages long.
 <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/48216?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">View all my reviews.</a>

Sarah's review
rating:

status: Read in March, 2008

“The Wire” is over. “The Wire,” which salvaged so many depressing Sunday nights. “The Wire,” which was the only reason we subscribed to HBO. “The Wire,” one of the few television dramas where I’ve repeatedly found myself thinking of all the characters and their situations as real.

I’m sure I’m not the only one who feels the same way. Fictional or not, Omar got obituaries in publications across the country when his character died a few weeks ago. Whole NFL teams gather together to watch. And even Barack Obama has mentioned his love for the show on the road several times. What do we do now that it’s over?

I have at least a temporary solution. A few weeks ago, Ben bought Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets by David Simon, one of the two creators of the show and a former Baltimore Sun journalist. The non-fiction book follows 30 or so Baltimore detectives through a year of cases - starting on New Year’s day in 1988 and ending on New Year’s Eve 1988. Whe...more “The Wire” is over. “The Wire,” which salvaged so many depressing Sunday nights. “The Wire,” which was the only reason we subscribed to HBO. “The Wire,” one of the few television dramas where I’ve repeatedly found myself thinking of all the characters and their situations as real.

I’m sure I’m not the only one who feels the same way. Fictional or not, Omar got obituaries in publications across the country when his character died a few weeks ago. Whole NFL teams gather together to watch. And even Barack Obama has mentioned his love for the show on the road several times. What do we do now that it’s over?

I have at least a temporary solution. A few weeks ago, Ben bought Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets by David Simon, one of the two creators of the show and a former Baltimore Sun journalist. The non-fiction book follows 30 or so Baltimore detectives through a year of cases - starting on New Year’s day in 1988 and ending on New Year’s Eve 1988. When Ben started reading it, it did nothing less than take over his life, and when I started reading it the day he finished it, it took over mine. In the good way.

Reading Homicide is like reading the true story behind the myth of “The Wire.” You meet the real characters who where mixed up and re-pieced together to create Bunk, McNulty, Lester, and Keema. More than that, it offers a back-stage pass into the details of detective work that are only glimpsed during the show - whole chapters are devoted to what it’s like to work in the city morgue and what it’s like for a detective to testify in court. Vocabulary words from “The Wire” that you always wondered about like a “yo” and a “redball” are finally clearly defined.

In short, Homicide makes me better understand why we loved “The Wire” so much: it is truthful and (as much as a television drama can be) it is real. No wonder that the world has taken Omar’s death as if it he once actually lived. No wonder it was heartbreaking to know that Bubbles makes it but Dookie doesn’t.

There weren’t any fireworks at the end of Homicide - some of the biggest murder cases of the year are never solved and none of the hardworking detectives are recognized or even given enough overtime. There also weren’t any big fireworks at the end of “The Wire” - and Homicide helped me understand that that’s how it should be.

So if your schedule is still empty on Sunday nights, or if you start missing the late-night antics of detectives waiting for the phone to ring, don’t worry: there’s still Homicide, and it’s a solid 650 pages long....less

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message 1: by Paul

03/10/2008 02:20PM

Hi Sarah - there's no inkling in your review here that Homicide the Book led directly to Homicide The TV Series, which then led to The Wire. I trust you are aware of Homicide The TV Series

http://tinyurl.com/3dsv2a

It remains my ultimate favourite tv show. Homicide The Book is just as you describe - utterly brilliant - and the TV show takes the whole thing to another level.
I recently began watching The Wire & so am still on the first series. So far it's top quality stuff but doesn't have the overpowering beauty and humanity of its predecessor.
Rereading your review it really does seem like you ain't heard of H the TV show - I can't believe it - but if that can possibly be true then a whole new wonderful world has just opened up for you.

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message 2: by Sarah

03/10/2008 06:52PM

Hi Paul

yes, I knew about Homicide the tv show, but I've never seen it -- there was an epilogue in the book that describes it a bit, but I've been so obsessed with the Wire recently that I haven't thought to look into it. I'll have to see if I can Netflix it. Thanks for the recommendation.

You should keep watching The Wire - it gets better and better with each season.

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message 3: by John

04/26/2008 10:15AM

I felt a real loss when OMAR! was assassinated. It was elequently rendered by the film makers. It was seen as the only honourable way for him to go die without an oldwest gunfight between him and Marlo. Kunnard?!, what's gonna happen to him? I can't wait to read "Killing Streets". I have seen "Homicide" but even Simon says that it pales in comparison to his book and "The Wire" because of network restrictions.

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message 4: by Andy

04/29/2008 08:36AM

You also will want to know about Simon's other book, "The Corner", which was also turned into a short-lived HBO miniseries. I'm not sure if it's available on DVD at this point. "The Corner", is the other side of "Homicide", focusing on the denizens of the Baltimore street. The miniseries is harrowing, to say the least.
I'm also a huge fan of both "The Wire" and "Homicide" (both book and TV series). The TV series is actually titled "Homicide: Life On The Streets", so they tweaked the title a bit, maybe to streamline it. It's much like "The Wire", though more strictly from the point of view of the cops, and only sporadically serialized. Simon wanted it to be serialized like "The Wire", but the network nixed that idea.

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message 5: by Jeff

05/31/2008 09:44AM

The Corner is available on DVD. I rented it through Netflix.

The Corner + Homicide = The Wire.. (along with the docks and politicans)

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message 6: by Paul

05/31/2008 10:47AM

Thanks, I need to see that. But I had to give up The Wire. Like a novel by Henry James it eventually became far too complicated to follow.

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message 7: by J

05/31/2008 05:24PM

I just started reading The Corner. It's exceptional.

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