Homicide Author:David Simon The scene is Baltimore, the year is 1988. Twice every three days another citizen is shot, stabbed or bludgeoned to death. And 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 is the first reporter ever to gain unlim... more »ited 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 focuses on three detectives, each driven in his own way to find out how and why the bodies fall. Donald Worden--the Big Man--is a natural, a veteran investigator who uses his astonishing memory and years of experience like weapons. Harry Edgerton, a black detective in a mostly white unit, insists on going his own way, and his slightly eccentric methods are a constant source of tension within his squad. And Tom Pellegrini is the earnest rookie who takes on the year's most difficult case, the brutal rape and murder of an eleven-year-old girl.
As the detectives make their rounds, some cases go down easy ("dunkers"), some go down hard or not at all ("whodunits") amd some--the biggest cases, the "red balls" --capture the attention of the entire department. But Baltimore, like so many other cities, is plagued by racial tensions and a drug epidemic, and the detectives often feel that the rising tide of chaos is about to swamp them completely. Meanwhile, their battle for a little law and order is joined by a vivid cast of supporting players. Lab techs and beat cops, prosecutors and judges, bureaucrats and politicians, victims and murderers --all are locked in a never-ending conflict between crime and punishment.
The homicide detective is an American icon, the hero of a mythology created by film and television. But until now, no journalist has spent enough time on the killing streets to get behind the myth and show us how a detective really operates. In a book that boils with drama, humor, and haunting truth, David Simon tells a riveting tale about the men who work on the dark side of the American experience. A fascinating read!« less