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Underground > Books, Criticism & Writing >

Dead McBain

Benny the Ball

17:39 / 09.07.05

I've only read a couple of his books, and enjoyed them a lot, saw his obituary in the paper the other day. What do other 'Lithers make of him? Can anyone recommend which of his many many novels we should be looking at? No McBain, no Homicide, Life on the Streets, Gotham Central and others?

Axolotl

10:37 / 12.07.05

McBain is an author I have read little of, mainly because the sheer volume of his work is a bit overwhelming. Also I am quite anal & like to start reading a series at the beginning and I have yet to see the first 87th precinct novel for sale. What I have read I enjoyed & I may well ignore my compulsion and pick a few random books up in memory.

Hattie's Kitchen

12:03 / 12.07.05

I've not read any Precinct books, but McBain also used the pen name of Evan Hunter, and wrote "Strangers When We Meet", which is IMHO a very compelling and claustrophobic story of adultery in the suburbs of '50s America - worth checking out.

Axolotl

12:22 / 12.07.05

yeah, and as Hunter he also wrote "The Blackboard Jungle" and the screenplay for "The Birds".
As an aside I'm always inpressed by the sheer work rate of a lot of the authors from that kind of time. Authors like Hunter/McBain, Gardner & Stout seemed to produce an incredible volume of (quality) work.

Axolotl

09:40 / 16.08.05

Inspired by this thread I have started to hunt down the early 87th Precinct novels. They're really good & very readable, though the first one especially suffers a bit from a deus ex machina ending, though I suppose that could be deliberate. As they were written in the 50's they've dated somewhat, but I'm really enjoying them.
Having read these I was then watching Law & Order and I reckon Benny was right, these novels have had a huge influence on the crime genre.

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