Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets

By David Simon

Book Overview

From the creator of HBO's The Wire, the classic book about homicide investigation that became the basis for the hit television show

The scene is Baltimore. Twice every three days another citizen is shot, stabbed, or bludgeoned to death. At the center of this hurricane of crime is the city's homicide unit, a small brotherhood of hard men who fight for whatever justice is possible in a deadly world.

David Simon was the first reporter ever to gain unlimited access to a homicide unit, and this electrifying book tells the true story of a year on the violent streets of an American city. The narrative follows Donald Worden, a veteran investigator; Harry Edgerton, a black detective in a mostly white unit; and Tom Pellegrini, an earnest rookie who takes on the year's most difficult case, the brutal rape and murder of an eleven-year-old girl.

Originally published fifteen years ago, Homicide became the basis for the acclaimed television show of the same name. This new edition--which includes a new introduction, an afterword, and photographs--revives this classic, riveting tale about the men who work on the dark side of the American experience.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0805080759
• ISBN13: 9780805080759
• Release Date: August 2006
• Publisher: Picador USA
• Length: 672 Pages
• Weight: 1.26 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 5.4" x 8.1"

Customer Reviews

A must read to all lovers of Law and Order but the real stuff

Okay I have not finished the book yet. But what a writing it's epic in its own style. I am hooked like an addict. It is just about how everything in the judicial part of american society is complicated but is so easy to understand once the writer gives you all the tips to how really everything works. Up to now, my view is of a long time reader of crime stories and police work. And this work is a work of total commitment to what is the reality of things and how the judicial machine eats up each and everyone that is mixed up with it. A true lesson of life when questioning the hows and whys of it all. Plus, humour is on the menu as well so to make the hole process a crazy journey.

Engrossing, Cannot Put it Down

This is one of the greatest books I’ve ever read. Needing another fix of something similar to “The Wire,” I went straight to the source. This book really opens your eyes and gives a new found respect of police work, particularly that of the Baltimore Police Department. The book details a year that the reporter spent following around detectives, and it spares nothing. I couldn’t put this one down. Give it a read!

David Simon gets me everytime

One of my favorite books ever.

Solid read.

I couldn't put this book down! If I had to complain about anything, it would be the incredibly small font. It is absolutely KILLER. It also is a little dated (1991), so the context can be skewed. A very good read!

Best Cop Book Ever

I will keep this short: I have been a city cop for almost eighteen years and I defy anyone to find a better book about policework than this one. This is the closest you can come to knowing what being a cop is all about short of actually wearing a badge.

Brilliant and readable

Here's a book that gets into the minds of homicide detectives like no other. The author is insightful and thorough, but his writing style is a celebration of brevity. Working within the law and sometimes around it or even in spite of it, the detectives are revealed as all-too-human but praiseworthy individuals. Read this with Randy Sutton's "True Blue : Police Stories by Those Who Have Lived Them" and you'll have the best writing on cops and crime available today.

Amazing

Appropriately enough, one of the best cop shows in the history of television was based on one of the best true crime books ever written. Journalist David Simon spent a year observing Baltimore Homicide detectives and it is their poignantly true stories -- almost all as funny, heartbreaking, and memorable as any fiction -- that make up this book. While fans of the TV show will immediately recognize the initial templates for such beloved characters as Frank Pembleton, Bayliss, Munch, and others, this amazing book is much more than just a basis for a classic television show. It is, quite simply, one of the most insightful books about modern law and order ever written. All of the detectives live brilliantly on the page and Simon's prose reminds us what great writing actually is. Though this is a word I've probably overused in this review, there is no other way to describe Simon's achievement: amazing.

First Rate Journalism

I've always felt that the main problem with the TV show version of "Homicide" is that, good as it is, it just can't match the gritty realism of the book it is based on. Journalist David Simon spent a year as a fly on the wall observing the Balitimore Police Homicide Unit, and dutifully recording everything he saw by and large without editorial comment. The result is absolutely indespensible for anyone with an interest in law enforcement. Being a homicide detectives is a tough job both emotionally and professionally with many hours of tedium that can often result in the frustration of an unsolved case. Particularly poignant is the story of a unsolved child murder case that haunts one of the detectives to the point of endagering his mental well being. The value of this book to the nation's hard working law enforcement professionals simply cannot be understated.

The finest non-fiction book I have ever read

Simon's Homicide reads not as a murder mystery, not as a documentary, and not as a dramatic novel, but as a life lived in the Baltimore homicide unit. The reader does not feel passive, as though he were watching the goings-on through a filter like a television or even a bystander. The reader is there, with the detectives, sharing their experiences, sharing their very thoughts. This book is a masterpiece, a book that completely enthralls you to the point where during the time you are reading, nothing means more to you than the resolution of each case, each obstacle, each crisis. Please, do yourself a favor and read this remarkable book.