Homicide: a Year on the Killing Streets

The scene is Baltimore. Twice every three days another citizen is shot, stabbed, or bludgeoned to death. At the center of this hurricane of crime is the city's homicide unit, a small brotherhood of hard men who fight for whatever justice is possible in a deadly world David Simon was the first reporter ever to gain unlimited access to a homicide unit, and this electrifying book tells the true story of a year on the violent streets of an American city. The narrative follows Donald Worden, a veteran investigator; Harry Edgerton, a black detective in a mostly white unit; and Tom Pellegrini, an earnest rookie who takes on the year's most difficult case, the brutal rape and murder of an eleven-year-old girl Originally published fifteen years ago, Homicide became the basis for the acclaimed television show of the same name. This new edition--which includes a new introduction, an afterword, and photographs--revives this classic, riveting tale about the men who work on the dark side of the American experience Remarkable . . . A true crime classic . . . A journalistic masterpiece . . . [A] saga of a brutal, bloody, bewildering year in the Baltimore Police Department's homicide unit . . . This is interior reporting at its finest." Associated Press We seem to have an insatiable appetite for police stories . . . . David Simon's entry is far and away the best, the most readable, 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 . . . . Fueled by coffee, cigarettes and the drive to 'put down' (i.e., close) cases, these heroes keep at it long after ordinary mortals would have lost heart." The Washington Post This may be the best true-crime book, the best naked look at murder and cops and crime and life on the killing streets of big-city America in the late 20th century . . . . A rich, revealing look at the twisted lives of killers and their victims and at the men who are obsessed with solving the most heinous and baffling murders." San Diego Union