The 41st book in the 87th Precinct series. Not the one to begin reading the series. The multiple plotlines are good if you know how to put them in context of the series characters - like coming into the middle of a TV series and not knowing any of the backstory. McBain’s writing is solid and I will instead check out the first book in the series, Cop Hater. I read Lullaby directly after reading one of his standalone books (Downtown - 4 stars) and was expecting it to be in the same vein/style – suspense with occasional moments of dry humour. This was much more brutal and with no discernable humour in the first 150 pages…at which point I stopped reading. Perhaps I will end up coming back to this book after reading their precursors.... ( )

“Love or money,” Meyer said and sighed. “It never changes.”

2 murders on the first day of the new year. A baby and the babysitter. A brutal case for the detectives of the 87th Precinct. And one with quite a lot of twists and turns, all of which were entertaining to read!

The secondary plot was about a Jamaican gang, and a Latino man named Herrera, and drugs. Not the best story.

And the tertiary plot was Eileen going to therapy to talk about her rape, her subsequent shooting of a suspect, and her desire to quit the force. Though not a part of either of the above plotlines, this was really well written and quite illuminating for Eileen's character.

Put all together, another good read! I'm going to be quite sad when I reach the end of these novels. ( )

I found this one a bit of a mixed bag. There’s a traditional double homicide which is hard to take at times but still gripping, a second storyline about a drugs buy which I found confusing and the continuing subplot about Eileen Burke which I thought was very well handled. My main problem was with the drugs story which was convoluted and relied on portrayals of characters from various ethnic minorities which felt very dated. McBain usually does race pretty well, but he really didn’t here. The main storyline wasn’t his best either, but I thought the book would have been stronger with just that and the Burke subplot. ( )

One of the better ones. Carella and Meyer are called to the scene of a double murder: a young infant and her babysitter, and the city is outraged. Meanwhile, Kling saves the life of an ungrateful Puerto Rican from a Jamaican gang, and gets involved in stopping a major drug shipment and preventing a drug war. And Bert's cop girlfriend, Elaine, is battling her demons and consulting a police psychologist. ( )

I could only read half this book before putting it down... I think is is well written and probably a good crime novel, but I just could not care about any of the characters, or the plot either- it just did not engage me. ( )