I'm a Fathead, Men!
I Am the Deaf Man!

Unscrambling the cryptic messages — anagrams, Detective Carella called them — delivered to the 87th Precinct confirmed that the master criminal who has eluded them time and again is not only alive and well, but may or may not be behind a deadly revenge shooting. For that matter, the Deaf Man may or may not be deaf. But he's getting through loud and clear with clues drawn from Shakespeare's works — taunting hints and maddening riddles pointing to his next plan of attack. It doesn't take a literary scholar to know there's no room for misinterpretation. For when the Deaf Man talks, everybody listens...or somebody gets hurt.

"Recovered from his wounds, the Deaf Man is bent on revenge and determined to rub the collective face of the 87th in the dust of his brilliance in McBain's latest zany romp. After striking first at the woman who betrayed him, the Deaf Man turns to taunting the 87th with cryptic hand-delivered messages (quotes from Shakespeare or anagrams) that are interpreted or misinterpreted with hilarious results. The saga of Fat Ollie's book, which began in Fat Ollie's Book (2003) and continued in The Frumious Bandersnatch (2004), resumes and promises to have a long life of its own. There are a lot of soap opera flourishes to the personal relationships of the 87th crew, and McBain milks them for humor and pathos. Steve Carella faces paying for the double wedding of his mother and his sister. Bert Kling knows his beautiful surgeon girlfriend is cheating on him. Cotton Hawes and his glamorous TV news girlfriend, Honey Blair, are under attack, but which one is the real target? It's vintage McBain, complete with pitch-perfect dialogue, subplots that thrust various precinct cops into the spotlight, a pace that encourages the reader to forget about dinner or a good night's rest, and a plot that teases and tantalizes from start to finish. Agent, Jane Gelfman. (Aug. 4) FYI: The Deaf Man, a villain introduced in The Heckler (1960), has also appeared in Let's Hear It for the Deaf Man (1972), Eight Black Horses (1985), and Mischief (1993). MWA Grand Master McBain was the first American to receive the British CWA's Diamond Dagger Award." Publishers Weekly (Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information, Inc.)

"McBain has written the series since the mid-1950s yet his key players keep evolving...and the setting is always contemporary. McBain remains the quintessential Grand Master of the genre. If his name's on it, read it." Booklist (Starred Review)

"It takes a deft touch to mix horror scenes of police work with the banter of kicking back and brainstorming what the bad guy is going to do, but it's one reason McBain is called a master." Boston Globe

"The whole performance is deft and light, like a magician's sleight of hand: The trick is pulled off while you look the other way. There's nothing lasting here, except the pleasure of watching a master having fun — and that's a kind of Shakespearean delight in itself." The Washington Post

"McBain here combines many story lines involving the detectives in an exceptionally well-plotted encounter with the criminal genius who always underestimates the intelligence of the cops he taunts and the women he uses." Library Journal

"McBain...has infused this work with what is possibly his most complex plot to date....Hark! is the best of the 87th Precinct Deaf Man novels, combining a complex plot with McBain's considerable storytelling talents and abilities." BookReporter.com

With the same electric style that continues to garner raves, McBain again fuses gritty crime narrative, dead-on comic timing, and rich characterization to deliver one of his most satisfying capers to date. The detectives of the 87th Precinct must scramble to foil the Deaf Man's ingeniously meticulous scheme and stop him from committing the perfect crime.

In the New York Times bestselling author's gripping new novel, the detectives of the 87th Precinct must scramble to foil the Deaf Man's ingeniously meticulous scheme and stop him from committing the perfect crime.

The pen name of author Evan Hunter (1926–2005), Ed McBain held the Mystery Writers of America's prestigious Grand Master Award and was the first American to receive the Diamond Dagger, the British Crime Writers' Association's highest award. The author of more than one hundred books, he passed away on July 6, 2005.