Hark!

Starred review from July 19, 2004
Recovered from his wounds, the Deaf Man is bent on revenge and determined to rub the collective face of the 87th in the dust of his brilliance in McBain's latest zany romp. After striking first at the woman who betrayed him, the Deaf Man turns to taunting the 87th with cryptic hand-delivered messages (quotes from Shakespeare or anagrams) that are interpreted or misinterpreted with hilarious results. The saga of Fat Ollie's book, which began in Fat Ollie's Book
(2003) and continued in The Frumious Bandersnatch
(2004), resumes and promises to have a long life of its own. There are a lot of soap opera flourishes to the personal relationships of the 87th crew, and McBain milks them for humor and pathos. Steve Carella faces paying for the double wedding of his mother and his sister. Bert Kling knows his beautiful surgeon girlfriend is cheating on him. Cotton Hawes and his glamorous TV news girlfriend, Honey Blair, are under attack, but which one is the real target? It's vintage McBain, complete with pitch-perfect dialogue, subplots that thrust various precinct cops into the spotlight, a pace that encourages the reader to forget about dinner or a good night's rest, and a plot that teases and tantalizes from start to finish. Agent, Jane Gelfman. (Aug. 4)

FYI:
The Deaf Man, a villain introduced in
The Heckler (1960), has also appeared in
Let's Hear It for the Deaf Man (1972),
Eight Black Horses (1985) and
Mischief (1993). MWA Grand Master McBain was the first American to receive the British CWA's Diamond Dagger Award.

Starred review from September 6, 2004
Audio reviews reflect PW
's assessment of the audio adaptation of a book and should be quoted only in reference to the audio version.
Fiction
HARK!
Ed McBain
, read by Ron McLarty. Simon & Schuster Audio
, abridged, four cassettes, 5 hrs., $26 ISBN 0-7435-3675-4

Several excellent narrators, including the author, have lent their voices to McBain's long-running series about the detectives of the 87th precinct, but none seems as perfectly tuned in to the sleuths' personalities and attitudes as actor, playwright and author McLarty. He picks up all of McBain's nuances and adds a few of his own when delineating the lengthy lineup of characters—from the thoughtful, heroic Steve Carella, somewhat distracted by the impending dual marriages of his mother and sister, to the Deaf Man, the velvety smooth recurring nemesis of the 87th. This time the puzzle-happy villain bedevils the precinct with Shakespearean quotes, giving McLarty the rare opportunity to show off his flair for classical locution. But of his many audio achievements, the finest is his interpretation of the overweight, obnoxious Det. Ollie Weeks, to whom McLarty gave voice in Fat Ollie's Book
(2003). In that audiobook, Weeks found love in the form of Officer Patricia Gomez. Near the end of this audiobook, there's a beautifully written vignette in which Ollie and Patricia take a skim milk break, with him trying to alter his chauvinistic, racist lingo while she tries to bolster his flagging self-esteem. McLarty captures the humor, poignancy and, yes, romance of the scene, shifting between the two very different voices with eye-blink speed and even adding asides from an acerbic waitress. It's a magic moment and not the only one to be found in this highly entertaining adaptation. Simultaneous release with the S&S hardcover (Forecasts, July 19).

August 1, 2004
The Deaf Man, nemesis of the 87th Precinct, returns in the 53d novel in McBain's long-running series. After shooting the Deaf Man and stealing $30 million from him, Gloria Stanford must face the consequences. The day after she is killed, Steve Carella begins to receive notes full of Shakespearean references and anagrams that point to the Deaf Man's next crime. While decoding the notes keeps the detectives busy, Bert's bad experiences with women cloud his relationship with Sharyn Cooke, Cotton is almost killed by a sniper, Ollie continues to emerge as a caring human being, and Carella must plan the double wedding of his mother and his sister. Having set the standard for police procedurals since this series's inception in 1956, McBain here combines many story lines involving the detectives in an exceptionally well-plotted encounter with the criminal genius who always underestimates the intelligence of the cops he taunts and the women he uses. For most mystery and crime fiction collections. McBain lives in Weston, CT. [See Mystery Prepub Alert, LJ 4/1/04.] Jo Ann Vicarel, Cleveland Heights-University Heights P.L., OH

Copyright 2004 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from July 1, 2004
The Deaf Man is not a dead man. The brilliant criminal, double-crossed by his female partner in " Mischief" (1993) and left for dead, is back to make life miserable for the detectives of the 87th Precinct. The cops' frustration begins with the murder of the Deaf Man's former accomplice, a crime that leads the investigating officers down a dead end. But then come the notes, hand delivered to the precinct by a parade of junkies, prostitutes, and panhandlers, and containing combinations of Shakespearean quotes, encrypted anagrams, and palindromes. The Deaf Man is providing clues to the crime he is going to commit, if only the detectives are clever enough to decipher their meaning. As Steve Carella, Cotton Hawes, and Fat Ollie Weeks--who also has a lead on his missing novel (see " Fat Ollie's Book, "2003)--struggle with the Deaf Man's missives, the Deaf Man himself is dealing with the fallout from his own nearly fatal flaw: underestimating his new female partner. Melissa Summers may be a hooker, but she's no victim and is slowly hatching her own plan as the Deaf Man executes his. McBain has written the series since the mid-1950s yet his key players keep evolving--there are always character-driven subplots woven carefully into the crime story--and the setting is always contemporary. McBain remains the quintessential Grand Master of the genre. If his name's on it, read it.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2004, American Library Association.)