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Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets

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Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets

By: David Simon  

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Average Customer Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Description:
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.


Description:
This 1992 Edgar Award winner for best fact crime is nothing short of a classic. David Simon, a police reporter for the Baltimore Sun, spent the year 1988 with three homicide squads, accompanying them through all the grim and grisly moments of their work--from first telephone call to final piece of paperwork. The picture that emerges through a masterful accumulation of details is that homicide detectives are a rare breed who seem to thrive on coffee, cigarettes, and persistence, through an endlessly exhausting parade of murder scenes. As the Washington Post writes, "We seem to have an insatiable appetite for police stories.... David Simon's entry is far and away the best, the most readable, the most reliable and relentless of them all.... An eye for the scenes of slaughter and pursuit and an ear for the cadences of cop talk, both business and banter, lend Simon's account the fascination that truth often has."

Publisher: Holt Paperbacks

Release Date: 2006-08-22

Customer Review: 4 out of 5
Good book - Good book, very interesting view into the workings of the Baltimore PD. It has many interesting stories and insights. The thing that keeps it from being a five-star book are that it is somewhat disjointed, which means that it remains on the edge of being gripping without quite crossing the line. Solid 4 stars.

Customer Review: 3 out of 5
Photos missing from Kindle edition - The print edition of 'Homicide' has a 8-page set of black and white photos in the middle:

1) 6 portraits of detectives that appear in the book.
2) below them 6 pictures of the characters they inspired in the TV series.
3) and three more: 2 detectives at a crime scene, David Simon at the pub with the guys, The Board.

These pictures are gone from the Kindle edition. Whereas this is a rather minor loss, you are not missing anything essential from the reading experience, something has been subtracted from one edition nevertheless. So you've been warned.

Customer Review: 3 out of 5
Underwhelming - Given the hype, I expected to like this book more than I did. As the author was "embedded" with the detectives there is little balance in his reportage of them. They are all likeable types with some quirkiness. Perhaps I might have enjoyed the book more had I read it when it was first published in 1991. Reading it now, I found its style to be a bit dated.

Customer Review: 4 out of 5
Been there and done it - I was very familar with this book as I am a former member of the Baltimore homicide unit. I did not have a chance in the past to read it, but now that I am retired I read it and thoroughly enjoyed it. I know most of the homicide members that are mentioned in the unit and some of them worked in my squad when I was there. It certainly depicts what goes on daily in the Baltimore homicide unit.

Customer Review: 3 out of 5
Interesting Plot, author has difficulty presenting it - The author develops this plot so slowly that I'm amazed he is a journalist by profession. Perhaps that's a refelction of why journalism today is so lousy. I found the development of the plot and the writing of the book so cumbersome that I've put it down and read other books three times.... Oh I'll finish it on some night when I've read and reread all other books in the house....

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