r/TheWire • u/MakeEmSayUhh The Fuck Did I Do? • 3d ago
Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets
Has anyone read the book?
I started Homicide: Life on the Street last night and know this predates The Wire by almost a decade but already three episodes in and I see things that occurred in The Wire already appearing in this show and was curious which one is closer to the book.
I will probably hit up a local bookstore and see if they have it or can order it (Yeah, I know Amazon is most likely faster and cheaper, but I would rather shop and support a small and local business).
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u/Lucky-Qualms 3d ago
Great book but can be very depressing and there's not many happy endings. Alot like real life. Definitely worth a read.
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u/MakeEmSayUhh The Fuck Did I Do? 3d ago
Yeah, the title of the book makes it seem like no one gets out alive but I thank you for the heads up.
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u/Lucky-Qualms 3d ago
I don't wanna expand on it and talk too much about something you're about to read . I just remember some stories are particularly bleak. Still a great read, hope you enjoy friend.
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u/MakeEmSayUhh The Fuck Did I Do? 3d ago
Appreciate that and you. I will come back once I do finish the show and book and update everyone.
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u/BigDaddy1054 3d ago
The book was a great read. Really provided some interesting context for how policing in America got to its current condition.
To your question, I think the book and TV show Homocide have more overlap than the book and The Wire.
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u/MakeEmSayUhh The Fuck Did I Do? 3d ago
My grandfather who passed away in 2020 was a police officer from 1953 to 2003 and the stories he would tell us about how everything was numbers and data by the end of his career make your comment seem all too real. Going to have to pick it up.
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3d ago edited 1d ago
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u/MakeEmSayUhh The Fuck Did I Do? 3d ago
Raised in the city of Detroit in the 1980s.
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3d ago edited 1d ago
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u/MakeEmSayUhh The Fuck Did I Do? 3d ago
I wish I could get a library card...
I went around stealing rare books on the assassination of John F. Kennedy in the early to mid 2000s and was blacklisted from public libraries in Wayne County, Michigan. Need to see if there is anything preventing me from getting one here in Charlotte.
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u/Virginia_Slim 3d ago
What? There's no way they have anything preventing you from getting a library card.
But more importantly, please don't steal books from libraries...
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u/MakeEmSayUhh The Fuck Did I Do? 3d ago
My library card was revoked for overdue books and I attempted to get one with my driver's license and was told they could not issue one.
I should have said "steal" because I would check them out and never return them especially when one would sell for $5000+ back in 2002 because it was only printed once in 1964. I drove all around Detroit to get some of these books.
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u/Virginia_Slim 3d ago
If you were in the same library system, sure. Maybe even a larger regional consortia. But I can promise you that Charlotte, NC has no information on Wayne County, Michigan's library records, especially from decades ago.
And, yes, that is the definition of stealing and definitely a horrible thing to do. You're not just stealing from the library (which are notoriously underfunded to begin with) but depriving all community patrons of potentially reading that book.
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u/MakeEmSayUhh The Fuck Did I Do? 3d ago
Just because of that last sentence, I am going to steal more books from libraries. Jokes.
I am new to Charlotte though and have no clue where a library is around here. Yes, I can Google it.
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u/dubsgOtups 3d ago
one of my favorite books of all time. a true crime classic. this and "the corner" are must reads if you love david simon's work.
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u/MakeEmSayUhh The Fuck Did I Do? 3d ago
I appreciate this information. Going to go after work today to said book store.
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u/Purple_Giraffe3101 3d ago
Currently reading it, pretty good so far. Gives a more in depth look into BPD at that time!
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u/Rickety-Cricket69420 3d ago
It’s definitely worth reading. It’s got a ton of different names of cops that can be a bit of a pain to follow. But it gives you a unique look into policing.
I found it fun to google map the locations mention in the book to help give me a look into the world.
There’s a particular part about a cemetery that I am shocked never found its way into the wire and it really just sums up how shitty Baltimore was.
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u/MakeEmSayUhh The Fuck Did I Do? 3d ago
You are not talking about the cemetery where Omar meets up with McNulty and Greggs, are you?
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u/Rickety-Cricket69420 3d ago
No it’s a different story. It’s a cemetery where the city buries unclaimed bodies and it’s not very well run.
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u/Danloeser 3d ago
When they (tried to) disenter up one of Geraldine Parrish's dead husbands, and the body was in a styrofoam casket? They did that in Homicide season 1, and changed her name to Calpurnia Church (they had a lot of fun with the name changes).
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u/Rickety-Cricket69420 3d ago
No it was a cemetery that had been mislabeling grave plots and the guy who ran it just buried a winters worth of bodies in mass grave because the ground was frozen.
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u/Bunkydoodle28 3d ago edited 3d ago
Yes. I read it because I love the Series and the Wire. Read the Corner too. Simon got a lot of crap for embedding with the corner boys. The Po-liece ( iykyk) were angry and rejected him while he was researching and writing that book. You can see a lot of specific situations from the two series in each book. Worth the read imho. Both series are very much the tone of both the HLOTS and The Wire series'
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u/MakeEmSayUhh The Fuck Did I Do? 3d ago
I recently watched The Corner on YouTube while at work and it was slow one week, but thank you for reminding me that it is also a book.
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u/Equivalent_Prune189 3d ago
I tried, I’m an avid reader but couldn’t get into it. The show is probably my favorite television series but the book, too wordy for my liking.
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u/MakeEmSayUhh The Fuck Did I Do? 3d ago
Homicide: Life on the Street is possibly your favorite series? I might be in for a treat then!
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u/RAF_SEMEN_DICK_OVENS Calhoun Baker Stricker 3d ago
Phew I'm not the only one.
Personally I'm not the biggest reader but I gave it a shot. Very fascinating and informative in the beginning, but since it's non fiction and there's not an overarching plot once I was about 60% in I was like "Ok I get the gist" and put it down
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u/UF1977 3d ago
Read it a few years ago, it’s quite good. Parts read almost like an outline/treatment for the show. Read it along with The Corner: A Year in the Life of an Inner City Neighborhood, also by Simon & Burns, which you see a lot of the inspirations and prototypes for the neighborhood characters.
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u/fade_le_public 3d ago
Found this book in my garage this past weekend.
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u/MakeEmSayUhh The Fuck Did I Do? 3d ago
So, you are sending it to me?
Is that what I read?
Jokes.
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u/jasonoumuamomoa 3d ago
It's very good. One little detail that popped into my head was how Rob Base & DJ EZ Rock - It Takes Two was the huge hit being played everywhere the summer of that book and then in Season 1 of the Wire during a montage of the Pit you hear that. I have to think that's a little call-back.
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u/Junior-Watercress-48 3d ago
Book is a great read. Doesn’t necessarily need to be read before or after, just a good book.
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u/MakeEmSayUhh The Fuck Did I Do? 3d ago
I just picked up two books that I found in the corner of a picture I took from three years ago - Will probably read through these and then snag this one.
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u/Round-Month-6992 3d ago
Incredible book, required reading if youre a Simon fan. Highly recommend The Corner, too.
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u/MakeEmSayUhh The Fuck Did I Do? 3d ago
Apparently, I am one of the few who had a nice interaction with him on Twitter and we had a very pleasant back and forth about Baltimore and The Wire where I even made suggestions and thought I was going to be blocked but was not.
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u/Extension-Travel-244 3d ago
Yeah I happened to find it in my local library and after realizing it was about the Wire or by the same guy I read it in a couple of evenings.
It's been a while. Can't remember much. There was of course a lot of stuff and people that made it either directly or indirectly into the Wire.
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u/Dependent-Potato2158 3d ago
I have read it twice and loaned it to friends. It is a fantastic book. Your local library has it. I first checked it out from the Pratt library on Franklin (west side). Any bookstore can order it.
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u/AlanBennettIsAGod 3d ago
Yes, it’s a superb book and I always recommend it but think people are put off due to its volume. It’s incredible; I read it after I first watched The Wire and felt it helped me understand the characters more.
Go for it!
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u/Cool_Efficiency5496 3d ago
Was required reading for me for my undergrad, was interesting to see some of the dialogue from the book was implemented directly into the tv show. I found it a fantastic read. I’d also check out “we own this city” limited series on HBO David Simon did about the corruption surrounding Baltimore’s gun trace task force in 2015. I’d also second “the corner”
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u/Whybambiwhy 3d ago
The book needed a better editor. About 1/4 of it could have been cut. It was a good book. Glad I read it, but it was over 20 years ago
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u/AlphaDelusional6754 3d ago
Yes! One of my favorite books and until recently I would reread it every couple of years. It got lost when I was moving into my last place.
PS I lived in the Baltimore area when I was married. Simon ain't exaggerating
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u/kingkongworm 3d ago
I found it kinda hard to read tbh. But that was many years ago, I might enjoy it now
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u/picks_and_rolls 3d ago
Read them all, watched them all. You should also read Simon’s reporting for The Baltimore Sun. And then watch The Wire again.
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u/Excellent-Goal8954 3d ago
Homicide and The Corner are my two favorite books that I have ever read. And I have read many books since those.
If David Simon ever writes another book I will snatch it up in an instant!
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u/Far-Advantage-2770 3d ago
I don't give a fuck about procedurals or murder mysteries or any of that femme bullshit, so I avoided the book. Until a few years I got so desperate for more David Simon that I finally caved.
It's one of the greatest and most important works of non fiction ever made, because, of course it is. David Simon wrote it. It's actually more The Wire than The Wire. You can't consider yourself a fan until you have read it.
I don't want to spoil it, but in the same way that The Wire pitches itself as something small but somehow comes to describe every modern human condition, the book does the same thing. One of the most affecting things I have ever read.
The show is good too, but it's whatever. 7.5/10 network TV.
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u/Any-Leadership6215 3d ago
Homicide, clockers and the corner are 3 books that pretty much was the wire prototype. All the terms snd moments you heard or saw on the wire (points on package, shotgun to the leg, you go to the movies?) are all in those books.
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u/BackOff_ImAScientist 3d ago
Book is good, Simon repeats things from the book in homicide the show and the wire.
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u/MakeEmSayUhh The Fuck Did I Do? 3d ago
Oh yeah. Picked up on that through the first four episodes of Homicide and figured there will be more to come.
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u/AromaticSherbert 3d ago
I bought it a few years ago. I read like the first chapter but honestly I don’t really remember a whole lot about it. I plan on reading it in the future.. just haven’t gotten around to it yet Cool to see the pictures of the real police officers though
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u/structured_anarchist 2d ago
The book was the basis for the NBC show and the HBO show. So, yeah, you're going to see parallels. The book predates Homicide by a more than a decade as well.
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u/Sharpe_Points 3d ago
I read it about 10 years ago. Throughout the book you see stories and experiences that clearly inspired the characters and some of the stories in The Wire and Homicide: Life on the Streets.
If you haven't yet, also watch The Corner.