THE FRUMIOUS BANDERSNATCH by Ed McBain
Evan Hunter, who writes mysteries under the name of Ed McBain, is one of America's literary treasures. No one, and I mean no one, can craft a plot like he can or invent characters who fascinate like he can. In his latest 87th Precinct novel, THE FRUMIOUS BANDERSNATCH, McBain shows that his talent is as fresh and as new today as it was thirty years ago.
McBain should get our attention just by naming his book THE FRUMIOUS BANDERSNATCH. This phrase comes from a poem by Lewis Carroll and is the inspiration for a musical video in the story. Tamar Valparaiso is an up and coming musical artist and "Bandersnatch" is the name of her new CD. The video of the song is set for release and to kick it off Tamar is set to do a live performance on a boat cruising up the river near the city of Isola (which is McBain's fictional; name for New York City).
While she is performing the song a trio of people come on the boat and kidnap her at gunpoint. Later a ransom demand is made. Steve Carella takes the call for the City Police Department but there is some controversy over whether or not the FBI should be involved.
Ed McBain describes the inner workings of the music industry while keeping the story of the kidnapping moving along. The reader gets to know Tamar as a performer and a person. We even get to know the kidnappers and their personalities, which allows for an element of fear and dread to creep into the situation.
Carella is the central character in the story but there are also subplots involving other great McBain characters. One of these is the policeman known as Fat Ollie. This slightly overweight man is out on the town with a female officer. Through them, the tentative early stages of the dating game are explored with tenderness and perception.
You never know exactly where McBain is going with his plot. Will the ransom be paid and Tamar freed? Will Steve and the FBI agents come to a parting of the ways over procedure? Will Fat Ollie blunder into the kidnapping situation and mess things up, or save the day? These and a barrel full of other questions are raised and ultimately answered, and yet the book seems to be over in the wink of an eye.
If you are not yet one of the converted followers of anything McBain/Hunter writes then you are missing out on literary pleasure of the highest order. This man writes so skillfully that you are never aware you are being totally absorbed by his story. It is just when you lift your eyes from the page and realize that you have been completely in another world and another place, that you understand the depths of his skills.
Ed McBain's THE FRUMIOUS BANDERSNATCH is another gift from the talent of one of America's foremost novelists. It is a small but perfect gem of a story that shows the magic true talent offers.
THE FRUMIOUS BANDERSNATCH is published by Simon and Schuster. It contains 287 pages and sells for $25.00.