Cop Hater

Written by Ed McBain

Narrated by Dick Hill

As a cop with the city’s famed 87th Precinct, Steve Carella has seen it all. Or so he thinks. Because nothing can prepare him for the sight that greets him on a sweltering July night: fellow detective Mike Reardon’s dead body splayed across the sidewalk, his face blown away by a .45.

Days later, Reardon’s partner is found dead, a .45-caliber bullet buried deep in his chest. Only a fool would call it a coincidence, and Carella’s no fool. He chalks the whole ugly mess up to a grudge killing…until a third murder shoots that theory to hell. Armed with only a single clue, Carella delves deep into the city’s underbelly, launching a grim search for answers that will lead him from a notorious brothel to the lair of a beautiful, dangerous widow. He won’t stop until he finds the truth—or until the next bullet finds him.

The debut novel from EdMcBain’s gritty 87th Precinct series, Cop Hater was hailed by the New York Times as “the best of today's procedural school of police stories—lively, inventive, convincing, suspenseful, and wholly satisfactory.”

• Language: English
• Publisher: Brilliance Audio
• Release date: Jan 15, 2013
• ISBN: 9781469217277

Ed McBain

Ed McBain, a recipient of the Mystery Writers of America's coveted Grand Master Award, was also the first American to receive the Diamond Dagger, the British Crime Writers Association's highest award. His books have sold more than one hundred million copies, ranging from the more than fifty titles in the 87th Precinct series (including the Edgar Award–nominated Money, Money, Money) to the bestselling novels written under his own name, Evan Hunter—including The Blackboard Jungle (now in a fiftieth anniversary edition from Pocket Books) and Criminal Conversation. Fiddlers, his final 87th Precinct novel, was recently published in hardcover. Writing as both Ed McBain and Evan Hunter, he broke new ground with Candyland, a novel in two parts. He also wrote the screenplay for Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds. He died in 2005. Visit EdMcBain.com.

Reviews for Cop Hater

[fhudnell-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Very old fashioned police procedural, but not bad.

[cherilove · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I would have given this a higher rating if I were reading this in the 50s. Now it's mainly an interesting record of the initial stage of the procedural mystery; little detecting going on, much "mood."

[skinglist · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The classic in the field and originator of all police procedurals.Ed McBain's series is a classic and I was... meh. I'm not sure if it was because I didn't care for the case or 1950s NYC, but this story just didn't do much for me. Still, it was a Kindle Unlimited two day read so nothing lost.

[arubabookwoman · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I've heard of this series forever, but don't remember reading any. The introduction by the author, written in 1989 (more than 30 year after the book was first published) provides some interesting insight. McBain states that he didn't believe that a series could be successfully written about a single cop, and that it would be "something new" to write about a squad room full of cops, each with different traits, who when put together would form a conglomerate hero.In addition, he considered setting the series in NYC, but discovered that there would have to be too much coordination with the NYPD to make sure all the procedures were authentic. So he decided to go with a "mythical city," which itself would become a character. He also states that the weather, which features in this book, would figure prominently in each book in the series.This first entry involves someone who is killing off the cops in the precinct.. I have to say I found the story somewhat dated and lackluster. However, I often find the first book in a crime series to be a little lacking. (I probably would not have continued with the Rebus series if the first Rebus book I read was the first entry in the series). So I will probably read a few more from this series.2 1/2 stars

[ericlee_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I began reading the 87th Precinct novels by Ed McBain nearly 40 years ago, having stumbled upon them entirely by accident in a library. McBain (real name Evan Hunter) is widely seen as the inventor of the ‘police procedural’ — a new genre of crime fiction that has become immensely popular. Over the decades, I read dozens of his books in no particular order as I found them in second-hand bookshops and libraries. I even got to meet the author briefly in London just a few years before he passed away. And now, never having read the books in any order, I thought it might be interesting to read them in sequence — in some cases, for a second time. Cop Hater is the very first book in the series, first published in 1956.Someone is killing police officers, using a .45 handgun. But all is not as it appears. The officers are not in uniform when they are gunned down on the street. They are all detectives and they all work in the 87th precinct of a fictional city obviously based on New York. The main character in the series, detective Steve Carella, is introduced here, as is the woman who is the love of his life, Teddy (Theodora).In a short introduction to the book, McBain recounts how it was written and reveals his original big idea. Instead of writing crime fiction with a genius detective as the hero, McBain wanted to create a team of heroes: the detectives of the 87th precinct. After writing more than 50 more novels over the course of more than four decades, it turns out to have been a very good idea.I can’t wait to read the next book.

[stahl2ricco · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

“He had been a citizen of the city, and now his blood poured from his broken face and spread around him in a sticky red smear.”And, he was a cop. One of their own. From the 87th precinct. Then two more. “Who else would senselessly take three lives? It has to be a cop hater.”I finally read the first 87th Precinct Mystery! And it's cool, you really don't have to read these in order! But I enjoyed reading the first and getting the official intro to the city and the detectives! My favorite is Carella, so I was tickled that he was so prominently featured in the very first book! Teddy too! Like I said, you don't have to, but I may try to read the rest of the series, the ones I haven't already read, in order from here on out! I wonder how many I have left...

[bridgey_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Last year I read a book called Ghosts by an author I had never before heard of. I enjoy a gritty crime novel so decided to start at the beginning. For some reason I ordered the first book in the 87th precinct series and since then it has languished on my shelf. Feeling it was about time I started at the beginning I decided to pick it up and see just where it all began.Cop Hater introduces us to Steve Carella, a detective in the precinct that has been assigned the task of hunting down the man who has been shooting cops in apparently random attacks. Armed with only the slightest of clues he must pool all his resources before more of his colleagues end up on the mortuary slab, how many will die before the killer is brought to justice? I just loved this book, particularly the way there are no heroics or superhuman efforts to find the killer, just good old fashioned police work. The author writes with such a gritty realism that reminds me of the hard boiled detective writers such as Chandler or Cain. The characters are believable and well rounded and McBain allows you enough of the mundane home life and behind the scenes for you to build a picture of the daily grind.When you consider this book was written in 1956 it has aged extremely well, some the words used are dated and you may have to look a few of the slang terms up but I think it easily stands up against newer books in the same genre, especially these days where science/forensics seems to have taken a forefront instead of old fashioned police work. It is also refreshing to read books without todays ultra PC slant and I am sure some may find certain aspects a little shocking. My only criticism, and this is nothing really to do with the book, is that the blurb on the back was far too revealing and gave away much of the plot before you even had chance to begin.To sum up, a near perfect police novel told in a matter of fact style. Apparently there are 55 novels in the series... can't wait to try the next.

[deltaqueen50 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Cop Hater by Ed McBain was originally published in 1956 and it’s the first book in his popular 87th Precinct series. This is a well-written police story about the murders of three detectives of the 87th precinct which has the police force of this fictional city, a thinly disguised New York, on the alert and working overtime to hunt down this apparent “cop hater”. The featured detective, Steve Carella has had his friends and now his partner gunned down in the street. He has a slightly different theory as to who is behind these killings but unfortunately, an unscrupulous reporter tricks him into saying too much makes both him and his fiancee a target for the killer.While the trend at the time of publishing was toward noir and the anti-hero, McBain goes in a different direction by writing about ordinary people who happen to be policemen. This “cops as good guys” sets the style of his long running series which puts it’s focus on the group who work out of the 87th precinct as opposed to a single hero. These books helped to give birth to the popular Police Procedural sub-genre and this fact plus the author’s descriptive writing and masterful dialogue elevate Cop Hater to it’s well deserved position on the U.K. Crime Writer's Top 100 Crime Novels.

[waldhaus1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

McBain or as I discovered Evan Hunter was very prolific yet is never read his work before until seeing an offhand reference to him in Stephen King's last book. King has good taste in writers so I decided to give McBain a try. This is there first McBain book and it starts with a preface by the author describing his creation processes. There book itself introduces a police precinct in a fictional City. The story is there work there detectives do to find a man who is meeting police. The solution is unexpected. The characters will drawn. I found myself disliking the newspaper reporter because of his dishonesty in dealing with police. Also the story clearly predates Miranda. Few clues to three solution that I recognized even after I finished.

[seriousgrace · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Someone is going around killing cops. One right after another in quick succession, three plain-clothed detectives are gunned down. At first glance Joe Public assumes someone out there is a serious cop hater. That seems to be the only connection between the three victims. They are all law enforcement. So, someone must really hate the fuzz, right? The only other common denominator is the heat. It's summertime and every day is blazing hot, hot, hot. Tempers are flaring but is it hot enough to drive someone to murder? That's what protagonist Detective Steve Carella needs to find out. What I loved about McBain's style is how he drops clues along the way. Once you know "whodunit" you can go back and see the answers peeking out way before the individual crimes are solved. While the details are a little dated and police procedures are very different than they were in the 50s, Cop Hater is still an entertaining read.

[gpangel_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Cop Hater by Ed McBain is a 2012 Thomas & Mercer publication. This book was originally published way back in 1956 and is the first in the 87th precinct series, one of the longest running crime series in history, with a whopping fifty-five installments. I’m not one hundred percent positive, but as far as I can tell, the entire series of books is available in the Amazon Kindle store, the digital format published by Thomas & Mercer, I believe. I also noticed that some of the books are part of the Kindle Unlimited program, (though, not all), which is nice if you are a subscriber. As a vintage paperback collector, I have a healthy collection of Ed McBain novels, but not all of them are from this series. I keep my eyes peeled for them here and there and hope to someday own the entire collection, without breaking the bank. But now that the books have been reissued in digital format, I am entertaining the idea of reading through the entire series, in order, if possible. This first installment introduces us to the 87th precinct, set in the fictional location of Isola, which is obviously based on the city of Manhattan. The series is a straightforward police procedural, which no doubt, was a real trailblazing novel back in 1956. The plot and dialogue would have been cutting edge, filled with ‘street’ vernacular that the ordinary person might not have been familiar with. Now, however, the story is a little dry, and may even put you in mind of the old “Dragnet” series. The dialogue is hilariously outdated, at times, and the plot was easy to figure out. But, it’s an easy read, with a scant 224 pages, and despite being outdated, there is a Noir feel to the story, though that is rarely mentioned, which gave it a touch of style. The series is dark, gritty, and its realism paved the way for many influential novelists, books, television shows, and movies. If you haven’t read any of the books in this series, try thinking of ‘Hill Street Blues’ as an example of how the series is constructed. There is an ensemble cast, with recurring characters, which I think is a very good idea. Although the novel is a bit past its prime, I still enjoyed reading it, and appreciated the author’s approach. I can see why the series was so popular and why it continued for as long as it did. I think it’s going to be fun and entertaining to work my way through these classic crime novels!! 4 stars

[toobusyreading · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

This first in a well-known series might have been good if read during the 1950s, but now it is just tired and dated. The dated language and dated technology are understandable, but the characters' behavior just doesn't hold up to time.The police procedures would never hold up today – bullying and denying what are now considered to be just and necessary rights. A character keeps a loaded gun in the top drawer of a dresser when kids live in the house. And rape, as opposed to homicide, is considered by the cops to be “mundane.” Stereotyping women is common.This one just didn't work for me.I read this ebook as part of my Kindle Unlimited membership.

[leslie398 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This first book in the 87th Precinct series is a landmark in the mystery genre. It was the first mystery in which the hero wasn't an individual cop but a whole precinct & it was also the first to be set in a realistic but fictional city. This series paved the way for many other novels and also TV shows such as Hill Street Blues, NYPD Blue and others.

Given that significance, I was a bit generous with my rating. The actual plot was engrossing but I was able to figure out the solution about 3/4 of the way through -- although if I had been reading it in 1956 I might not have! One feature I have not run across before was the images of police forms and documents -- that was cool!

Oh, and this Kindle edition had a hilarious typo, when in the autopsy report of the first victim says "Approximate weight 210 pounds; height 28.9 cm." (my underlining) This makes Michael Reardon about 11 inches tall!!! It is a strange typo too as it couldn't be 289 cm as that would make him over 8 feet tall! Either a humunculus or a giant it would seem - LOL!

[jimmaclachlan · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

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 book is dogged. It's hot, damn hot. The city is cooking & on the edge when a cop is killed. The investigation starts & goes on. The cops are snatching at rags & being complete jerks about every thread they can find, but they keep trudging along. They don't have electronic data, just file cards, etc... No Internet, cell phones or anything. How did they solve anything? Sheer brute determination.

Unfortunately, when read in Shay's monotone, I wanted to scream after a while. It was too depressing & not going anywhere. I almost didn't continue, but heard the book was good. I'm glad I hung in there. It was. It might have even been worth another star if the reader hadn't made me want to cut my throat. So, I'll look for another by this author, if not by this reader.

[johnplatt · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I've read a number of 87th Precinct novels over the years, but I have never read the first book in the series until now. It's almost stunning how good it is, even more than 50 years after its original publication. I only knocked it down from five stars because of a couple of small, dated elements and an almost-too-quick conclusion.

[gttexas · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

For some reason I never got around to reading any of the 87th Precinct books before now. The first at least is somewhat different than the usual telling of a mystery tale, and was interesting to read. I liked it. Think I'll try a few more for sure!

[stevealdous · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Fascinating to re-read this 87th Precinct debut after so many years. Its simple plot and pulp fiction style give little indication of the more complex books to come. That said McBain's ear for dialogue is apparent right from the start and this is an undoubted page-turner. His cops are flawed, but likeable and a number of the series' recurring charactersbegin their stories here.

[finxy · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

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 for the wedding.As with quite a few of his books McBain makes good use of the weather conditions. You can almost feel the heat throughout. The last time I read one of these it was to the other polar extreme, with the city literally freezing in the depth and dark of winter. What really makes 87th Precinct books work though is the to and fro between the cops, the banter, some of it digging into the investigations or just the mix of everyday talk of a bunch of guys doing a day to day job, friendships, rivalries - real dialogue. McBain doesn't let the plot rule him. He takes time to develop characters and aspects of the city that sometimes have little or nothing to do with the central plot line. It's all canvas for the picture. Don't expect summarised forensic reports either. For example if Carella gets a lab or ballistic report expect to hear it line for line. With this being the first book there's quite a lot of technical and scientific stuff to cover too. Fingerprints - here comes a breakdown of the chemical process that results in finger prints being created. It's just one of those signature elements that makes the series what it is.Cop Hater isn't going to be the best book in the series but it does serve as a great introduction. The book was adapted for a 1958 movie of the same name starring Robert Loggia in the Carella/Carelli role.

[johnbsheridan · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I've read a few novels from Ed McBain's 87th Precinct series and decided to go back to the beginning with "Cop Hater" which was originally published in 1956. Obviously with a book written back then there are going to be instances where there are references that date the book such as quoting a cop's salary or phrases that have fallen out of frequent use but these don't impact adversely. In terms of a police procedural novel this is an excellent one which starts with a bang with the first character you're introduced to being portrayed in an appealing family situation but being dead two pages later. What follows is a well told story that doesn't rely overly on forensics (but they are present). For those that are more familiar with something like Michael Connelly's Harry Bosch series you can see where some of the inspiration comes from. The introduction to the home life of Detective Steve Carella is also a nice touch and I look forward to reading more of the 87th series.

[tarablythe · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This book was originally published in 1956. So a lot of the terminology and police techniques are way dated. I don't normally read anything this old, but I wanted to start this series from the beginning. I'm glad that I did. A lot of the slang terms used in this book were those which I had never even heard of. "Being heeled" was akin to our "packing heat" Little things like that kept things interesting for me. I liked that we learned things from different viewpoints, there wasn't just one protagonist. I liked that aspect of the book. And the "who-dun-it" part, I thoroughly enjoyed finding out who the bad guy was - it definitely wasn't who I thought it was!! I would definitely recommend this book.

[gaskella_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Ed McBain is the author who really created the police procedural novel, with his series of fifty-five 87th Precinct books written between 1956 and 2005. In the introduction to Cop Hater, he tells how he came up with the idea of a squadroom of police officers, all with different characters, whom together would make a `conglomerate hero`. Thus was the 87th Precinct born, set in a fictional city similar to New York. Different policemen star in the novels, and as in real life, they will come and go from the squadroom, with one detective in particular, Steve Carella, holding a central position. Cop Hater is set at the height of a sweltering summer - everyone is suffering from the heat and humidity, even the cops - especially as they know that with the heat comes open windows, raised tempers, and more crime for them to deal with. The novel starts with a man getting up to go to work on the evening shift. But he'll never get there - for a gunman shoots him in the back of the head. The corpse is no ordinary body either - `Mike Reardon was a cop'. Steve Carella leads the investigation which faces difficulties from the outset as there were virtually no clues. Then events take on a more frenzied turn when another cop is murdered, and then a third. It must be a `cop hater' - who will be next? Carella is then put in a difficult situation when a journalist prints Carella's off the record remarks and puts his girlfriend in danger leading to a final twist that I never saw coming. The drama is backed up by wonderful descriptions of solid policework, taking casts of footprints, blood typing and spatter analysis - telling us how its done without being too heavy-handed, (remember this is the 1950s, so no DNA testing or computers here). Anyone who's seen the later TV series Hill Street Blues, or NYPD Blue will be able to picture the squadroom, complete with typewriters, and the bar separating the desks at the entrance. Carella is a solid, dependable and likeable detective with a surprisingly tender side to him in his relationship with Teddy, his girlfriend. The other policemen are also well-drawn and complementary, and those who survive will come to the fore in some subsequent novels. I definitely want to read more 87th Precinct novels.

[cyndavaz · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

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 was introduced. So the big 'reveal' at the end wasn't really a reveal at all. But other than that, I enjoyed this first entry.

[darrol_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I liked the deadpan style of this book. I look forward to the rest of the series.

[smik_3 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The classic first novel of the 87th PrecinctThe heroes of the city's streets are becoming the hunted. 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 is killed. Swift, silent and deadly, someone is picking off the 87th Precinct's finest, one by one. The how of the killings is obvious: three .45 shots from the dark add up to three very dead detectives. The why and the who are the Precinct's big headaches now. With one meagre clue, Detective Steve Carella begins his grim search for the killer, a search that takes him into the city's underworld to a notorious brothel, to the apartment of a beautiful and dangerous widow, and finally to a .45 automatic aimed straight at his head[Ed McBain is just one of the many pseudonyms used by one prolific writer, Evan Hunter.Born in New York in 1926 as Salvatore A. Lombino, the master of the police procedural has used many pen names, including Curt Cannon, Ezra Hannon, and Richard Marsten, but he is best known for his police novels written under the name Ed McBain.The first, "Cop Hater" (1956), introduced the famous members of the 87th precinct, set in the fictional city of Isola. Steve Carella, Meyer Meyer, Andy Parker, and the other hard-working precinct cops are usually seen tackling several cases simultaneously and have remained ageless over the course of four decades. This was necessary, according to McBain, because, he says, "If I hadn't done that, I'd now have a precinct of doddering old men." (Great Detectives)In McBain's books, police life is presented in a gritty, realistic style that has only added to their popularity.]