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The Frumious Bandersnatch (87th Precinct Series #53)

Name: The Frumious Bandersnatch (87th Precinct Series #53)
Author: Ed Mcbain
ISBN: 9781439194331

by Ed Mcbain

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Overview

The kidnapping was audacious,

and there were plenty of witnesses...

But no one attending the dazzling launch party for up-and-coming pop idol Tamar Valparaiso knew what they were seeing when, halfway through her performance, masked men whisked the sexy young singer off a luxury yacht and into a waiting speedboat. Now, the evening that was supposed to send Tamar's debut album, Bandersnatch, skyrocketing with a million-dollar promotional campaign has instead kicked off a terrifying countdown for Steve Carella and the detectives of the 87th Precinct. Time is their enemy in the race to find Tamar's abductors — before the rising star is extinguished forever.

Synopsis

The kidnapping was audacious,

and there were plenty of witnesses...

USA Today

The Frumious Bandersnatch is Ed McBain's 53rd 87th Precinct novel. Yet the grand master of the police procedural certainly hasn't mellowed. In fact, this newest installment might be one of his most delectably cynical, out-and-out corrosive tales since he started writing the series in 1956 … This is McBain as savagely satisfying as a very rare filet mignon. — Diedre Donahue

About the Author, Ed Mcbain

Ed McBain, a recipient of the Mystery Writers of America's coveted Grand Master Award, was also the first American to receive the Diamond Dagger, the British Crime Writers Association's highest award. His books have sold more than one hundred million copies, ranging from the more than fifty titles in the 87th Precinct series (including the Edgar Award-nominated Money, Money, Money) to the bestselling novels written under his own name, Evan Hunter — including The Blackboard Jungle (now in a 50th anniversary edition from Pocket Books) and Criminal Conversation. Fiddlers, his final 87th Precinct novel, was recently published in hardcover. Writing as both Ed McBain and Evan Hunter, he broke new ground with Candyland, a novel in two parts. He also wrote the screenplay for Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds. He died in 2005.

Visit www.edmcbain.com.

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Editorials

From Barnes & Noble

The Barnes & Noble Review
Even after more than 50 novels in the entertaining 87th Precinct series, Ed McBain proves he can still deliver the goods in this, vital, insightful, and timely tale that satirizes everything from fat-cat politicians to the glam music industry.

Rising young hip-hop star Tamar Valparaiso is reenacting her latest music video (in which she fends off a would-be abductor from a Lewis Carroll poem), when -- in an ironic "life imitates art" twist -- two kidnappers snatch her from the yacht where she's performing and escape via speedboat. Soon steadfast cop Steve Carella is on the case, aided by fellow 87th Precincters Ollie Weeks and Cotton Hawes. Although the FBI interferes at every turn, the true "villains" are the voracious media and a desensitized public willing to turn someone's anguish into a three-ring circus. McBain's breezy, entertaining style and storytelling skills -- which have, if possible, only strengthened over the years -- make this a consistently winning series with a likable cast of characters who seem like old friends. It's a testament to the author's craftsmanship that no single element or plotline outweighs any other; all contribute equally to the perfect blend and balance of the novel. With this amusing entry, McBain shows us just why he's the undisputed master of the field. Tom Piccirilli

USA Today

The New York Times

O frabjous day! In his new 87th Precinct police procedural, The Frumious Bandersnatch, Ed McBain takes us through the looking glass and into the surreal world of the music business. Armed with lots of informative dope on the cutthroat marketing practices of this $12 billion industry, McBain spins a riotous, if ultimately sobering, tale about a record release that goes awry. — Marilyn Stasio

The Washington Post

This is not McBain at his grim, gritty best, but McBain in an antic mood, having fun with a crime caper that keeps us smiling until the very end, when he delivers a kick in the teeth that reminds us that at heart he is a writer with an extremely dark view of our species. — Patrick Anderson

Publishers Weekly

Amazingly, MWA Grand Master McBain remains as fresh and sharp-edged as ever in his 53rd 87th Precinct novel (after 2003's Fat Ollie's Book), which takes on the culture of celebrity. Bison Records' self-styled impresario Barney Loomis runs into a snag in his effort to catapult his newest performer, Tamar Valparaiso, to stardom. As Tamar is lip-synching the provocative video of her first album aboard a rented yacht, two men in Saddam Hussein and Yasir Arafat masks snatch her before a stunned audience. With his usual expert pacing, McBain alternates the action among a number of characters, including the kidnappers and Tamar; series stalwart Steve Carella, who must endure political maneuvering within a Joint Task Force of police bigwigs and FBI agents; and misogynist Ollie Weeks and his new amour, Det. Patricia Gomez. McBain injects enough humor to leaven the underlying tragedy-the fate of a vulnerable, talented young woman. Although it's soon obvious who's behind Tamar's kidnapping, we don't read McBain for surprising denouements but for his true-to-life dialogue, skill at defining characters and effortless transitions. The Lewis Carroll theme provides an extra level of enjoyment. (Jan. 2) FYI: McBain is only one of two Americans (the other being Sara Paretsky) to win a Diamond Dagger, the highest award from the British Crime Writers Association. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

McBain (winner of the Mystery Writers' Grand Master Award) is back with his 53rd 87th Precinct novel. Tamar Valparaiso, a hot young singer on the verge of superstardom, is set to launch her debut CD and video Bandersnatch when she is kidnapped in the middle of a performance for a record industry party and the press. The whole episode is caught on camera, but the masked abductors flee, leaving behind few clues. Steve Carella and Cotton Hawes of the 87th Precinct are called in and are soon joined by a Joint Task Force and FBI agents. Detective Ollie Weeks, resident racist, homophobe, and misogynist, is also back on the scene, this time romancing a fellow officer. McBain displays his usual mastery of the police procedural along with an astute grasp of the music industry, the news media, and publicity, as well as political ramifications within the force. Taut plotting, crisp and believable dialog, and memorable characters make this another McBain success. Narrated by actor Ron McLarty, it's recommended for fiction collections.-Phillip Oliver, Univ. of North Alabama Lib., Florence Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

The latest challenge for the boys of the 87th Precinct is the kidnapping of a rising rock star. Of course, Tamar Valparaiso, 20, doesn't think of herself as a rocker; what she does is more Contemporary Hit Radio-Pop. And what she's done in her debut single and video is to get assaulted by a masked Bandersnatch out of Lewis Carroll's "Jabberwocky." As she's reenacting the video, complete with luscious lip-synching, for an audience of 112 movers and shakers handpicked by Bison Records mogul Barney Loomis aboard the launch River Princess, three intruders wearing their own masks-Yasir Arafat, Saddam Hussein, and George W. Bush-burst onto the scene, make off with tomorrow's diva, and toss the mess onto the laps of Steve Carella and Cotton Hawes. Even after an FBI Joint Task Force headed by Carella's former friend, Lt. Corky Corcoran, muscles into the case, Loomis insists Carella stay on it, and he's on hand for the ransom drop, which goes off without a hitch, but without results either. Witless Det. Oliver Wendell Weeks of the 88th (Fat Ollie's Book, 2001) is on hand to contribute nothing but idiot-sage remarks about how "ze clock, she is ticking," helps make the adventure, for all its violence, so relaxed, even playful, that it's more carnival than mystery. Does anybody need a reason to start reading this venerable series now? If you do, try this: It's the freshest 48-year-old in town.