In the Heat of the Night

by John Dudley Ball

Book Overview

The pioneering novel featuring African American police detective Virgil Tibbs "They call me Mr. Tibbs" was the line immortalized by Sidney Poitier in the 1967 Oscar-winning movie adaptation of In the... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B000GRJRQK
• Release Date: January 1967
• Publisher: Bantam Books
• Length: 152 Pages
• Weight: 0.22 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Character-driven examination of Social Issues Disguised as a Mystery

When Sam Wood, an officer with the Wells police department discovers the body of a famous Italian conductor lying in the road, it spells trouble for the small Carolina town. For the conductor was in town to perform at a musical festival designed to lift the town's sagging economy. The chief of police, Bill Gillespie, is no detective. But salvation inadvertently arrives when Wood arrests a black man with a wallet full of money in the train station. That man, Virgil Tibbs, a detective from Pasadena, quickly becomes Gillespie's out card. But as the tenacious Tibbs begins to hunt down the killer, there are plenty of people in town who prefer that their racial hierarchy remain intact, regardless of the truth. For those who have seen the film "In the Heat of the Night" (and if you haven't, your loss), reading the original novel by John Ball will be something of a revelation. Not because the film changed the plot. While many details are altered in the plot(the victim in the film was a Northern industrialist, the town's name was Sparta), the film kept the same killer and motive. The revelation for fans of the film is the huge difference in how Ball wrote his characters and how they were portrayed in the film. Tibbs is uber-competent, much as portrayed in the film. He knows how to investigate murders, and brings a veteran's confidence to the proceedings. However, unlike Sidney Poitier's simmering portrayal, Ball's Tibbs rarely displays impatience with the racial situation in Wells (contrast Poitier's angry delivery of the famous line "They call me MR. TIBBS" with the line as Ball wrote it, which suggests perfect calm). He understands that raging at every white man in sight is not going to change anything. He simply wants to do the job assigned to him, and not get killed for his skin color. Gillespie in the book is not as competent as Rod Steiger's portrayal in the film. While the film didn't reveal much about the character's past, it did create the impression that Gillespie, while not the brightest bulb, has at least a rudimentary understanding of police work. In the book, Gillespie is a former prison guard who gets the job of police chief precisely because he will uphold the ingrained racial system of Wells. Throughout the book, much like the film, he is hostile to Tibbs, but gradually coming to respect him. Finally, there's Sam Wood. In the film, Sam is basically a plot device. First he arrests Virgil, then he gets to be a murder suspect. In the book, Sam is fully fleshed-out character. He's earnest, dependable, and in the end, quite respectable. Initially expressing his fair share of racist attitudes, Wood develops legitimate respect for Tibbs' abilities as a detective, particularly as he realizes that Gillespie is no role model, and that Tibbs is more than simply the color of his skin. While Ball is interested in examining race relations, he seems far more interested in telling a murder mystery. Plot-twists and blind alleys abou

I read this book, it's entertaining, and interesting

I have watched the movie when it came on TBS. Then I decide to read the book. I thought the book was going to be boring, but I couldn't put it down. The book takes place in an Carolinan city call Wells. There's the chief, William Gillespie and the officer, Sam Woods. Suddenly, an African American dectective name Virgil Tibbs, which is from Pasenda, California, was coming through Wells, but the cops caught him. At the station, Tibbs told the chief he was a detective from California. This book will enlight and anger people on how blacks was treated in the deep south.Ok, in the book, they are busy trying to solve a murder of some musician. So, Tibbs decide to help them, because he was a detective. They finally find the criminal, and they find out Sam Woods was a pervert. And at the end, Tibbs return back to California and Gillespie decide to become friends with Tibbs. Ok, I read this book 2-3 times. I also watch the series on TNT and WGN and I can't even change the channels... Read the book today, because you won't be able to put it down!

better on race than its more serious rivals

Winner of the Edgar Award for Best First Mystery and subsequently made into an Academy Award winning movie and successful TV series, In the Heat of the Night is only a decent mystery, but it's a great book about race. Though the book is different in many respects from the better known film, at its core it is still about the dilemmas faced by a proud black detective who is forced to help with a murder investigation in the Deep South, and by the white police officers who are forced to confront the disparity between their prejudices and the reality of this competent, likable fellow officer.Though the main clash of characters occurs between Virgil Tibbs and Chief Gillespie--particularly in the movie where Poitier and Steiger were the stars--in many ways the key character in the novel is Sam Wood, the conscientious patrolman, later a suspect in the crime, who is young enough, open-minded enough, and resentful enough of Gillespie to give Tibbs a fair shake. More than anything, Sam is enamored with his own role as a law enforcement officer. He's clearly looking for a role model and it's fascinating to watch him struggle with the idea that Virgil, though black, may be the ideal person to emulate.The racial and moral questions that animate the story help to overcome some rather stilted dialogue and a too frequent recourse to ending scenes with a shocking cliffhanger revelation from Virgil--for instance : "You see, sir, I know it for a fact that you've got the wrong man." Then again this was Ball's maiden effort, and some lapses into formula are to be expected. The book deserves to be read and remembered for its groundbreaking presentation of an unreservedly heroic black and its salutary message : that men should be judged by the content of their character rather than the color of their skin. The online magazine Salon ran a column several years ago suggesting that the film version of In the Heat of the Night might be one of the most profound movies ever made about race in America. The book too can stand its own ground alongside other, more "literary," texts like Invisible Man and Native Son; and it's message of hope and the possibility of progress has proven it more prophetic than its more revered rivals.GRADE : A-

i read this book by choice!

actually my friend said that she had seen this show before and said that the book would be pretty good. At first i thought that the book was gonna be boring but i found out that i couldn't put it down. my friend didn't like the book and didn't recomnd it to people but then i finished the book and thought it was the best book i ever read and i recomended it to everybody i knew.

A story that inspires, angers, and educates the soul

In the Heat of the Night by author John Ball is a novel that will be interpreted differently by every person that reads it. For some, it will inspire them. For others, it will be a tool to intensify their anger toward others. Taking place in a Carolinian city called Wells, Chief of Police Bill Gillespie along with Officer Sam Wood must apprehend the murderer of Maestro Mantoli, organizer of a Music Festival that was to put Wells on the map. However, in comes Virgil Tibbs, an African-Americain homicide investigator from Pasedena, California. He is asked to help, hesitantly of course. This book shows us everyday life in the deep south of the US where racism has been so deep-rooted over the years. It portrays the struggle of the "black" community for equality, the contrasting opinions of the North and South, as well as the thrilling, main plot of a murder mystery. My grade 10 English class has recently finished the novel as a class. I'd say the only fault the book has, is those darn questions at the end of the book! Ryan Poirier, grade 10 student