[Ed McBain] has, in some ways, broken his usual format [in "Hail to the Chief"].

Gang war is the substance of the book. There is no mystery. McBain, early along, introduces us to the strange mind of the guiding genius of one of the teen-age groups, the young man responsible for all the trouble. His name turns out to be Randall M. Nesbitt. He has dark hair, dark brooding eyes, a sloping, bulbous nose and heavy jowls. He looks as though he always needs a shave. And he has his own kind of logic….

It's a bleak, curiously convincing character McBain presents. You'd almost think he patterned him after a living model. Could the title of the book offer a clue? (p. 49)

Newgate Callendar, in The New York Times Book Review (© 1973 by The New York Times Company; reprinted by permission), October 21, 1973.

["Streets of Gold" is a] pop epic...