Bread

"Bread" is the 29th installment of the "87th Precinct" novel series, and maybe the best up to this point. Not only are we given a great story (yes there is only one in this book) but we are also introduced to one of McBain's best characters, Oliver "Fat Ollie" Weeks of the 83rd in the Diamondback district. Ollie is only slightly about Parker in the hygiene department and can match him BO to BO on any day. Ollie though is a good detective, but with the mouth of a bigot who doesn't understand why some people are upset by the way he talks and acts and smells. The story starts with an arson investigation, then leads to another arson and then two murders and the beating of a woman. Involved are a group of business partners who add new meaning to the expression 'cya'. They are so busy double dealing and trying to screw each other that even they lose track of who's doing what to who. It's a great story and much more realistic and believable then the "Deaf Man" stories. I'm looking forward to more of "Fat Ollie". Zeb Kantrowitz

McBain captures the tense relationships of city life in "Bread." The heroes and the villians are equally memorable characters. McBain provides it all: humor, suspense, and action all in perfectly written prose.