FORGOTTEN BOOKS #172: LIGHTNING By Ed McBain

I found this First Edition of Lightning at a library book sale. I’d read most of the 87th Precinct series, but not Lightning. Lightning was published in 1984. It’s the 37th volume in the 87th Precinct series. The body of a girl attending a local college is found hanging from a lamp post. In a parallel plotline, women are being preyed upon by a serial rapist. The rapist is raping the same women over and over. Although this novel is 27 years old, it holds up well. Yes, the computer is just being used in police investigations so it has a novelty factor in this book. But the characters, Carella, Meyer, Kling, Burke, and Fat Ollie Weeks carry the action to a satisfactory conclusion.

32 thoughts on “FORGOTTEN BOOKS #172: LIGHTNING By Ed McBain

  1. Jeff Meyerson

    I was just going to say the self same thing. There are a few duds in the long series, but very few indeed.

    Reply
    1. george Post author

      LIGHTNING weighs in at 300 pages, Jeff, but none of it is padding. McBain just adds more detail and richness, like Meyer Meyer’s new wig.

      Reply
  2. Sergio (Tipping My Fedora)

    I love this series George and look forward to catching with this one later this year (I’m currently on book # 18 in the series) – I even liked the TV-movie adaptation of this book, which being one of the longer titles probably transferred better at feature-length

    Reply
    1. george Post author

      You’re going to love the 87th Precinct novels published during the 1980s, Sergio. I find them richer and more detailed than those slim paperbacks from the 1950s.

      Reply
  3. Jerry House

    It’s one of my favorites in the series, along with DOLL and my all-time favorite GHOST. With the exception of some of his soft-core stuff as Dean Hudson, I’ve read just about every book that McBain/Hunter/Marston/Collins/etc. wrote and enjoyed them all.

    Reply
    1. george Post author

      I have DOLL and GHOST in my Read Real Soon pile, Jerry. LIke you, I hope to read everything McBain/Hunter/Marston/Collins, etc. wrote.

      Reply
  4. Jeff Meyerson

    I’ve read a lot of his books – 92 to be exact, which puts his ahead of Christie and only behind Simenon. I’ve read all the 87th Precinct and Matthew Hope books and the Curt Cannons. I’ve even read a play he wrote! Still, I bet Crider has me beat. I know he’s read his science fiction and probably his YA books.

    I’ve got a handful still unread, including titles as by Ezra Hannon, Hunt Collins and Richard Marsten.

    Reply
    1. george Post author

      I’ve read about 70 books of McBain’s vast oeuvre, Jeff. I’ve read all the Matthew Hope novels and dozens of the 87th Precinct series. I have plenty of McBain to choose from if Patti decides to do a McBain Forgotten Book Friday.

      Reply
  5. J F Norris

    I’ve only read GHOSTS from the 80s. Very unusual for McBain in that it contains genuine supernatural content. I found a Curt Cannon book at my local vintage paperback haunt a couple months back. Didn’t realize it was one of the real rarities or that it was a McBain pseudonym until I got home and did some bibliographic research. I may write up that one for the McBain tribute whenever we get around to it.

    Reply
    1. george Post author

      Yes, those Curt Cannon paperbacks are very collectable, JF. I have GHOSTS on my Read Real Soon stack so that may be one of my choices for Forgotten Book Friday in the next couple of months.

      Reply
  6. Jerry House

    The supernatural content in GHOSTS only lasts for a few pages, but it is one of the scariest things I’ve read.

    Jeff, don’t forget SCIMITAR by “John Abbott”, a one-shot use of this pen-name.

    Reply
  7. Richard R.

    I haven’t yet read ANY McBain, but I’m waiting until the single author FFB to get started. Otherwise there is a LOT of SF on the summer reading list, including the Tanya Huff you sent me, which I’m a third into now.

    Reply
    1. george Post author

      You can thank Carl for giving me a heads-up on Tanya Huff, Rick. I’m sure you’re enjoying her work as much as I did.

      Reply
  8. Jeff Meyerson

    Right, Jerry. I remember when that came out the rumors started almost immediately thatn Hunter was the author. Haven’t read that one either.

    Reply
  9. Jerry House

    Despite the rumors, Hunter denied authorship of SCIMITAR for quite a while, Jeff. He finally claimed credit and started signing copies of the book. Makes one wonder if there are any other “hidden” Hunters out there.

    Reply
    1. george Post author

      I think you’re right, Jerry. Evan Hunter probably published several “hidden” books that scholars will have to unearth. I wonder what library has the Evan Hunter papers…

      Reply
    1. george Post author

      Let me know which 87th Precinct novel you need, Randy. I have multiple copies of some of the series and would be happy to mail you a copy if I have the book you need.

      Reply
  10. Jeff Meyerson

    I’ve got the early paperback originals in the Permabound editions. Never did get them signed, however.

    Reply
    1. george Post author

      I had those Permabound editions, too, Jeff. I never ran into Evan Hunter at a Bouchercon. I’m not sure he would do a signing. He seemed like a prickly person.

      Reply
  11. Todd Mason

    I still haven’t read anything by Lombino/Hunter I’ve found fully satisfying (though his contributions to the symposium on crime fiction in THE PARIS REVIEW were pretty amusing, not least his distaste, shared with Elmore Leonard, for Chandler’s fiction…whose work I like better than I like Lombino/Hunter’s, but I can see his points). I might give this or another of those 1980s McBains a try sometime.

    Reply
    1. george Post author

      I’ve read that PARIS REVIEW article, Todd, and I agree with Hunter on Chandler’s fiction. Great style, but much of it doesn’t make any sense.

      Reply
  12. Todd Mason

    Chandler’s work I like better than Hunter’s, that is. Leonard’s too…even if the artifice in Leonard can come to the fore rather easily, too.

    The Curt Cannon I’ve read is at least somewhat clearly meant to be self-parody, so there’s that.

    Reply

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