Downtown

By Ed McBain

Book Overview

Ed McBain, author of the bestselling 87th Precinct series, now takes readers Downtown in a bold, new departure of a novel that will have readers cheering for a lone out-of-towner running for his life... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0380707616
• ISBN13: 9780380707614
• Release Date: January 1993
• Publisher: Avon Books
• Length: 340 Pages
• Weight: 0.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 4.2" x 6.8"

Customer Reviews

McBain's best non-87th Precinct novel

Besides the excellent 87th Precinct novels, Ed McBain has also written several crime and detective novels. Of these, "Downtown" is the best, as well as one of his best, period."Downtown" starts on Christmas Eve as Florida orange grower Michael Barnes, in New York on business, runs afoul of bogus cops, thieves, the mob, and a slimy movie producer. McBain piles on the action and absurdity at a furious pace as Barnes sinks deeper and deeper into the worst New York has to offer. McBain has always been adept at infusing his hard-boiled fiction with a sardonic humor that borders on the ludicrous. In "Downtown," he proves he can still walk that tightrope as he balances the hilarity of Barnes' situation with a lean, hard-hitting narrative style. In fact, McBain's humor is so deliberately distracting, you don't realize it when he turns deadly serious. Michael Barnes may be bounced from one jam to another, but he too has a dark side, like most McBain characters. When pushed enough, he too becomes as deadly as his foes and as hard-boiled as any Raymond Chandler creation. "Downtown" is another example of Ed McBain at his best. Highly recommended.

Take this trip to New York!

Reminiscent of the "Out of Towners," this business trip to New York is tough on the hero but endlessly entertaining for the reader. Definitely one of McBain's best