Superb Non-Fiction Cop Stories

Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets

By David Simon (non-fiction)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

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."

 

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Amazon Customer Reviews

 5 Stars

79 of 81 people found the following review helpful

Amazing

By Jeffrey Ellis on September 19, 2001

Format: Mass Market Paperback

Appropriately enough, one of the best cop shows in the history of television was based on one of the best true crime books ever written. Journalist David Simon spent a year observing Baltimore Homicide detectives and it is their poignantly true stories -- almost all as funny, heartbreaking, and memorable as any fiction -- that make up this book. While fans of the TV show will immediately recognize the initial templates for such beloved characters as Frank Pembleton, Bayliss, Munch, and others, this amazing book is much more than just a basis for a classic television show. It is, quite simply, one of the most insightful books about modern law and order ever written. All of the detectives live brilliantly on the page and Simon's prose reminds us what great writing actually is. Though this is a word I've probably overused in this review, there is no other way to describe Simon's achievement: amazing.

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5 Stars

The finest non-fiction book I have ever read

By Paul Fidalgo on March 15, 2000

Format: Mass Market Paperback Verified Purchase

Simon's Homicide reads not as a murder mystery, not as a documentary, and not as a dramatic novel, but as a life lived in the Baltimore homicide unit. The reader does not feel passive, as though he were watching the goings-on through a filter like a television or even a bystander. The reader is there, with the detectives, sharing their experiences, sharing their very thoughts. This book is a masterpiece, a book that completely enthralls you to the point where during the time you are reading, nothing means more to you than the resolution of each case, each obstacle, and each crisis. Please, do yourself a favor and read this remarkable book.

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5 Stars

First Rate Journalism

By Brian D. Rubendall HALL OF FAME on July 28, 2000

Format: Mass Market Paperback

I've always felt that the main problem with the TV show version of "Homicide" is that, good as it is, it just can't match the gritty realism of the book it is based on. Journalist David Simon spent a year as a fly on the wall observing the Baltimore Police Homicide Unit, and dutifully recording everything he saw by and large without editorial comment. The result is absolutely indispensable for anyone with an interest in law enforcement. Being homicide detectives is a tough job both emotionally and professionally with many hours of tedium that can often result in the frustration of an unsolved case. Particularly poignant is the story of an unsolved child murder case that haunts one of the detectives to the point of endangering his mental well being. The value of this book to the nation's hard working law enforcement professionals simply cannot be understated.

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5 Stars

Best Cop Book Ever

By B. Cross on October 25, 2005

Format: Mass Market Paperback

I will keep this short: I have been a city cop for almost eighteen years and I defy anyone to find a better book about police work than this one. This is the closest you can come to knowing what being a cop is all about short of actually wearing a badge.

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5 Stars

The absolute best of its kind

By Tyler Hewson on November 10, 2004

Format: Mass Market Paperback

The television show was excellent, but HOMICDE the book is much better. It is perhaps one of the finest pieces of narrative non-fiction of the past 50 years. David Simon's background as a journalist for the Sun makes him uniquely qualified to examine the inner workings of a homicide unit, and to lay bare the shortcomings and serious flaws of Baltimore's city government (the action in the book takes place during the worst of the crack wars in the late 80s, but it's remarkable how little things have changed).

What's more, Simon writes with great deadpan humor and is able to find both humanity and wit in this true-life story of the "murder police." He is truly one of the most accomplished narrative writers of our time. I also highly recommend THE CORNER, another look into Baltimore's gritty urban landscape.

http://www.amazon.com/Homicide-A-Year-Killing-Streets/dp/0805080759/ref=wl_mb_wl_huc_mrai_1_dp