An "up-all-night" story set on Halloween in a lightly fictionalized 1980s NYC, which happens to also be part of the 87th Precinct series. Perfectly interwoven murder mysteries, robberies, and parties create an abundance of incidents allowing for Tricks to be move quickly. Though it's crass and violent it's an easy recommendation. I could imagine rereading this one. ( )

As in most McBain novels set in the 87th Precinct, each team of detectives in this effort is working on a different case with some crossover. The most tension filled example is Detective Eileen Burke's assignment undercover as a prostitute to bring down a man who kills and mutilates prostitutes with a knife. Other cases to be handle this particular Halloween evening are liquor store robberies by what at first appear to be 11 and 12 year old girls; a magician disappears following a show at a school; body parts start showing up in elevators and garbage cans all over the Precinct. Just another regular day in the 87th. ( )

an 87th precinct novel - not bad - very quick read ( )

“It’s Halloween night, and hell has opened its gates on the 87th Precinct.”

The bad guy in this one is spreading body parts around the precinct, like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle - a very bloody jigsaw puzzle. Are the pieces from the same body?
In another plot line, a group of eleven-year-old kids are robbing liquor stores and shooting the owners, saying “Trick or treat!” as they run in and out.
Carella gets shot, again. (how many times has he been shot in this series?) And it looks like Kling is losing a woman, again. These two detectives are just abused.

A good book all around, and a nice rebound from the previous book in the series, which I didn't like.
The wrap up of all the story lines, the last 15 pages or so, is really enjoyable! Definitely a treat - NOT a trick! ( )

On a McBain binge at the moment. The fourth I’ve read back to back was ‘Tricks’. It’s a slightly unusual entry in the series, having four storylines running in parallel and being set (pretty much) in a single day (Halloween). Like most of the 87th Precinct books it’s very entertaining- hard hitting at times and wonderfully comic at others. There are a couple of quite brilliant dialogue scenes where 2 conversations take place at the same time, something that McBain manages to pull off with aplomb. ( )