Mischief by Ed McBain
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

"[...] slain by the person the newspapers were currently calling the Sprayer Slayer. In America, everything needed a title because everything was a miniseries concocted for the enjoyment of the populace."

A good entry in Ed McBain's monumental saga of the 87th Precinct! Like in several previous novels, Mischief (1993), the 45th title in the series, has multiple parallel storylines that do not intersect, other than through the characters of the detectives.

A blurb on the cover screams "The Deaf Man Returns," and indeed one of the parallel threads is the story of the Deaf Man, the archnemesis of the 87th Precinct cops. As usual, the Deaf Man (the author has fun inventing the aliases - one of them used here is Harry Gimperde, a pun based on the criminal mastermind's impairment) is planning to cause a major calamity. And, as usual, Steve Carella is the Deaf Man's main target.

The thread that opens the novel deals with serial murders of graffiti writers:

"He shot the boy one more time, in the chest this time, and then he reached down to pick up the can in his gloved hand, and pressed the button on top of the can, and squirted red paint all over the boy's face oozing blood, his chest oozing blood, red paint and red blood mingling [...]"

It is a complex plot thread, with quite surprising twists and turns.

Another storyline features "Granny dumping" - leaving elderly people, who are unable to care for themselves and are too burdensome to care for, in public places, such as in front of hospitals or nursing homes. I hope that in real life police treat these cruel acts with the same seriousness as the 87th Precinct detectives do.

We also have the storyline of a rap group preparing for a concert - that thread is connected to one of the previous stories. The reader will also find two interesting vignettes: one featuring Teddy Carella (the detective's wife) engaged in an act of social activism, and the other about a dramatic hostage situation and Eileen Burke's role in direct negotiations with the hostage taker.

From the plot point of view, the novel culminates with a dramatic situation and its rather unexpected resolution. However, to me, the strongest ending moment comes when the author recites a litany of lofty ideals that are said to have inspired the birth of the U.S. of America:

"In this land of the free and home of the brave, men and women of every religion and creed would loudly sing the praises of freedom while reaping all those amber waves of grain. [...] Men and women would come to respect each other's customs and beliefs while simultaneously merging into a strong single tribe with a strong single voice [...] Here in America, the separate parts would at last become the whole, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."

Quite biting and bitter sarcasm, and let's not forget that 28 years ago, when the novel was written, the divisions in the American society were likely not as deep as they are now.

Three-and-a-quarter stars.

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