Author: Don Winslow
Don Winslow’s “The Force” starts, not too slowly, but with a good deal of background and setting of the plotline. About a quarter of the way through, I wondered whether that was going to be the whole book, but Wow!
This police crime thriller picked up and took off until it hurtles the reader into the explosive conclusion. The writing is simply terrific, putting readers squarely inside NYPD Detective Denny Malone's head and life. Winslow has created a totally believable and up-to-date NYC tale, with a large and well-drawn cast of characters.
The Force opens with the main character, NYPD detective sergeant Denny Malone in federal custody, tagged as a dirty cop, a disgrace to his fellow officers and most of all to himself. All that Detective Malone ever wanted was to be a good cop, but now he must find a way to redeem his sins, to make something good after all the bad he did in his 16 years on the job. He was part of ‘The Force’, the most renowned and celebrated task force in the NYPD. Malone and his team were like brothers, family, they were heroes, they were kings among men, and they were all in big trouble now.
The story is thrilling, unpredictable and just when the readers think that it’s over, the story kicks you in the face with a steel towed cop boot! The characters are real, lifelike in their humanity, in their faults and especially in their flaws. This is a dark and grim book, the sad story of a good cop doing bad things, the story of a corrupt New York City administration.
There are drugs, addicts, weapons, parties, hilariously funny jokes, deeply dramatic side stories, call girls, crimes, executions, car chases, gun fights, bribes, wire taps, indictments, local cops, feds, lawyers, prosecutors, judges, gang bangers, mobsters, and riots that were brought on by agony and hope!
Undoubtedly one of the ‘best’ police, crime thrillers that I’ve ever read! An intense tale of the ‘rise-and-fall’ of civic corruption which reads like a mirror image of the gangster movie, “Goodfellas.” It was a slippery slope of rule bending by cops becoming rule breaking and trying to rule ‘Gotham City’. Hard hitting and fascinating read! Simply WoW!
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