Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets by David Simon
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Book Reviews of Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets
Book Review: Great book
Summary: 5 Stars
I had seen the the Homicide: Life on the Streets TV series before. Also was a big fan of David Simon's "The Wire".
This is an excellent book and I am looking forward to reading his other book, The Corner.
Book Review: Excellent Read
Summary: 5 Stars
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I love Mr. Simon's writing style, which is both intresting and easy to follow. The only negative about this book is the language, which may offend some people.Book Review: I'm a satisfied customer
Summary: 5 Stars
Thanks for sending my book in a timely matter. I will order from this person again.Book Review: The malady of murderousness
Summary: 4 Stars
Journalist David Simon's homicidic tome, published in 1991, follows a group of detectives from the Baltimore Police Department's Homicide Unit for an entire year, beginning in January 1988. It is a gritty, great read about the matter-of-factness of murder in a city with one of the highest rates in the nation. An article in a recent (April 19, 2008) issue of New Economist highlights a recent drop in that rate (from 282 homicides in 2007). During the year of Simon's internship, there were 234 murders, followed by (p 618) 262 in 1989 and 302 in 1990. Based on those four years, that's an average of one violent death every 18 hours.
What Simon was able to put together from his year's worth of journalistic scribblings on life with the good guys and the bad guys is a fantastic fly on the wall's eye view: the graphic violence of crime scenes, the raunchy humor of and banter between the detectives, the despair of the victims' family members, and the utter stupidity of many of the criminals: (p 16) "the investigator's saving grace is the killer's overwhelming disposition toward incompetence or, at the very least, gross error." His Guidebook of Death Investigation Rules are remarkable: (p 34) "Rule Number One...the page 1 entry in a detective's lexicon: Everyone lies." Rule Five is equally profound (p 237), "It's good to be good: it's better to be lucky." Best of the book: Simon's ability to capture the events in a comprehensive and cohesive manner, even with several welcome change ups to the overall chronological format. Covering every aspect of "life on the killer streets" Homicide is a perfect read for tome-loving crime buffs, neither category of which I belong. Also good, In Cold Blood by Truman Capote, The Executioner's Song by Norman Mailer, and Green River, Running Red by Ann Rule.
Book Review: Great journalism, but could be more readable
Summary: 4 Stars
I read this book because I'm a huge fan of the television series that came out of it. And, I found it to be a well chronicled account of the author's year of work in the Baltimore PD Homicide unit.
So, why 4 stars instead of 5? Simply because the book was something of a chore to read rather than being a page turner. Maybe it was all of the careful detail reporting about addresses, crime scenes, evidence, etc. and the general lack of writing which helped the reader identify with and understand the individual detectives better than just knowing their names. Or, maybe there were just too many detectives and crimes to do that. But, for whatever reason, I found this lengthy book to be more of a chore to read than the vastly more desirable status of being a joy to read. It was worthwhile and educational, but not as gripping and entertaining as the actual experience surely must have been. I liked it and respected it, but I didn't love it like I love the television series.