This later entry in the series from McBain is one of the best of his now legendary 87th Precinct novels. Though it's cold outside for the boys of the 87th, Ice turns out to be something different from what you think.

There are some very true-to-life moments in this entry, and many of them are between Carella and the detectives of the 87th Precinct as they try to connect a murder outside their precinct with another which happened on their turf. When no connection other than the weapon presents itself, the possibility that it might be random is even scarier.

For those who followed the series and are going through them again, or those who have just discovered Ed McBain, there is a lot going on here besides the cases. Kling is still reeling from a personal tragedy, which is explored in both his loneliness, and his budding relationship with the sweet yet tough undercover police woman, Eileen. Never one to shy away from grit and truth, no matter how politically incorrect it may have become by modern snowflake standards, Ice is the notorious entry where Eileen reveals to Kling her sexual fantasy, which is, on the surface, very much in conflict to her undercover work.

The police procedural part of the story is very good in Ice, and this entry is held in high regard by critics. As a reader, however, it is more than likely the dynamic between Eileen and Kling in this one you’ll remember most if you follow the series. Another excellent one in the long-running series of which we’ll sadly get no more, now that Ed McBain has passed. Most were solid reads, a few entries just mediocre, but Ice and some others I've reviewed are the cream of this series. ( )

Firstly I think it's only fair that I point out that despite this being no 36 in the 87th Precinct series this is the first that I've actually read (it was sent to me by a friend and I thought that I would at least give it a go) and murder/mystery isn't a genre that I habitually read . Both may have a bearing on my rating.

The story takes place during a brutally cold winter in an unnamed US city that is obviously New York with a dancer from a successful show walking home late at night after a performance. As she nears her apartment building, someone steps out of the shadows and shoots her dead. Ballistics soon reveals that the same gun had been used in the murder of a small-time drug dealer a week or so earlier.

Steve Carella of the 87th Precinct, and his fellow detectives work diligently, but are unable to find a link between the two victims or any plausible motive so when another apparently unconnected person is shot with the same gun it seems that they are after crazy person killing people at random. This is the worst possible scenario for the team.

Meanwhile Detective Bert Kling spends most of his nights lying awake staring at his gun following his recent divorce and there are also a couple of other crimes taking place simultaneously.

I'm not sure if this the norm or if have they had been fully fleshed out in previous books but there was little in the way of characterisation here. I managed to work out who the perpetrator was quite early on as well as the conclusion, the action was largely procedural with few twists and turns but no great leaps either. Overall I felt that this was a steady rather than spectacular piece of writing and whilst I wouldn't avoid reading other books in the series I wouldn't rush to grab them either. ( )

“Crazies make police work difficult.”

3 people murdered by the same gun, with no apparent connection. The work of a crazy? That’s what the detectives of the 87th Precinct have to find out! Ice can be frozen water, diamonds, or it can be a verb that means to clinch. Or to kill. Ice, theater ice, “…is that someone in the box office puts aside a ticket, usually a house seat, Mr. Carter, and later sells it to a broker for a much higher price.”

This is a really good book, much better than the previous one in this series! I really liked the side story of Brother Anthony and the Fat Lady! Now there’s a couple of characters! Same can be said about the Dirty Panties Bandit! AND the Mad Shitter!
The Kling ‘affair’ from the previous book doesn’t get mentioned until page 101 of this edition, which seemed pretty late to me, as it was such a big part of that book. Oh well.
Good read, especially for the 36th book in a series! ( )

Like ‘Heat’ this is a very solid, but somewhat unremarkable entry in the series. It’s gripping, horrifically violent at times and amusing at others. Aside from the fairly complex main plot about a series of apparently unconnected murders, there’s a nice sub-plot about Bert Kling and Eileen Burke. And it’s McBain, so even when he’s unremarkable, he’s remarkable. ( )

Better than others in the 87th Street Precinct series, perhaps because the book had more plots than usual. Also, I was anxious to see what had become of Bert Kling following his discovery of his wife's infidelity, especially on top of his prior love life disasters. A .38 caliber gun is used in a series of murders of seemingly unrelated people: a low level drug dealer, a dancer from a show, and a jewel merchant. Meanwhile, two street smart partners are trying to capitalize on the dealer's death. McBain does a nice job in weaving a story around these stories, and has even gotten modern enough to include money laundering. ( )