"A masterpiece." (Martin Amis). "The best book about homicide detectives by an American writer." (Norman mailer). Based on a year on the killing streets of Baltimore, David Simon's true crime masterpiece reveals a city few will ever experience. Day in day out citizens are shot, stabbed, or bludgeoned to death. At the centre of this hurricane of crime is the city's homicide unit, a small brotherhood of men who fight for whatever justice is possible in a deadly world.