Book Review: NYPD 2025

Book Review: 'NYPD 2025' by Hal Stryker

0 / 5 Stars

'NYPD 2025' (185 pp.) was published by Pinnacle Books in May, 1985. The cover art is by John Berkey. 

'Hal Stryker' apparently is a pseudonym, as the book is copyrighted by George H. Smith (1922 - 1996). According to his Wiki entry, Smith churned out more than 100 novels, in a variety of genres, for a variety of paperback publishers, making him a genuine 'Paperback Writer.'

So, how well does a forty year-old novel set in the 'future' predict what 2025 actually will be like ? The answer is, not very well. Indeed, 'NYPD 2025' essentially is an exercise in facetiousness.

As Stryker imagines it, the New York City of 2025 is like something out of 'Magnus, Robot Fighter,' or the film The Fifth Element. Meaning, 200-story skyscrapers, thousands of aircars buzzing though the skies, wall-sized TVs that transmit 3-D programs called 'solidios,' miraculous medical technologies, androids / robots, ray guns, colonies on Mars, communications devices wired directly into brain tissue, etc., etc.

The novel's opening chapters introduce us to the lead character, the square-jawed, rugged, All American man of action Zack Ward. A veteran of campaigns waged in Central America against the commies, Zack is in a spot of trouble, having been kidnapped by a team of anarchists. Led by the villainous Pablo and Kruger, the anarchists, trusting that the Media is the Message, want to abuse him for a solidio, this being the best vehicle to discredit Zack's anti-communist ideology and advance the cause of the Socialist International.

Luckily for Zack, he meets up with the eponymous NYPD 2025 unit Ten. This is a team of operatives, including the unfortunately named android 'Andy Jumbles,' who are led by the stunning Judge Portia van Wyck. The Ten are something of an extralegal unit, tasked with using all means at their disposal to combat the epidemic of crime loosed on the city, and the greater USA, by the ultra-liberal rule of President Buchanan.

Judge Portia sends Zack off on a mission to investigate leading silidio producer Dynamic Studios, whose hit show is a 'snuff' feature starring '...the Slasher of Slaughter Gulch, who has dismembered thirty-five victims so far in his demonic search for [the lubricious young woman] Foxxy [van Pelt].'

This sets Zack on a course for a fateful encounter with the Slasher, one sure to end in bloodshed and death - !

I picked up 'NYPD 2025' with the realization that it is a 'Men's Adventure' novel in a thin sci-fi coating. I wasn't expecting deathless prose, measured pacing, or in-depth characterization. 

But even when giving the novel wide leeway in evaluative terms, it comes up as a very, very lame entry in the genre. While author Stryker suffuses the book with sarcastic humor that takes aim at liberal and progressive idiocies, the constant stream of winking asides quickly grows tiring, as does the contrived nature of the action sequences and the inane dialogue. It's not difficult to see why, despite the cover blurb, no additional volumes in the series ever saw print.

Even dedicated fans of the Men's Adventure novel genre are going to find 'NYPD 2025' forgettable. I give it a Zero Star Rating. With prices for used copies starting at $23 on up, you're better off passing on this one !