The Pusher by Ed McBain

16May. Kindle.

The rough, grungy 87th precinct seemed pretty straightforward and rational after that last one.

Of course, he did shoot everyone's favorite character, newly married Steve Carella, early on. His intent was to remain faithful to his original vision of a series where the "hero" was not a person, but the police department of the precinct as a unit. Fortunately for all of us, his editor and publisher refused to allow him to go through with it - and Carella lives.

I have been inescapably reminded of my favorite television police series of all time - Hill Street Blues. The "ensemble cast," the anonymous setting, --- the ending of the first episode where two of the central characters were shot down in the last scene, and miraculously revived in the next episode. So - out to Google - to find (surprise!) that the 87th precinct was one of the sources that inspired the TV series. I remember long discussions about what city was the model for the city in Hill Street - popular theory was that it was Chicago, Google concurs, but like the 87th precinct, Hill Street is deliberately set anonymously. McBain explains his decision - he wanted to have the freedom to ignore the geography of a real setting. It works.

The theme of this one is obvious from the title and he carries it through from the death of a small- time Puerto Rican junkie and pusher to the involvement of the son of one of the senior officers of the precinct.

I have read (and watched) police procedurals in which the various crimes in a book or episode are random and unrelated. This is probably far more realistic, but I really like the way he draws the theme into everything.