But, at the end of the day, Denny’s frame of mind, his thought process, is at the very center of the entire book, as is the mindset of the city, where the fight isn’t just on the streets, it’s in the twisted system, and is more about politics than keeping citizens safe. I did get to ask him a questions: "Which contemporary writers intimidate you? Make you feel like hanging it up? Question why you even write because they are THAT good?" Detective Sergeant Denny Malone was kingpin of the Manhattan North Special Task Force. NYPD's most respected, elite unit. They were responsible for reducing violent crimes and drugs in their precinct. No matter what it took, who they rolled over, they got the job done. It could be said, they were the CIA of the NYPD Blue. Esta vez nos sumerge en un cuerpo de policía y nos adentra en sus vísceras, en su humanidad, en su imperfección. Winslow takes the reader into a concrete world of gangs and guns, the darkness of NYPD culture, and a racially combustible city set to incinerate. Told to the rhythmic beat of the NYC cop vernacular, this epic boils with vicious battles, blood-soaked hands holding dying cops, and double-crosses by rat bastards to brew up an atmosphere in which, as in Macbeth's Scotland, "foul is fair and fair is foul."

This is not a criticism by any means. I think it’s great when a writer of talent decides to use that skill in a genre piece. It would be going too far to say that Winslow redefines the life-on-the-streets novel. Certainly, though, he delivers a stunning epic of cops and drug dealers and cops who are drug dealers. Ultimately, the novel is an indictment of a bedlam system rife with corruption, graft and favors for the penthouse set, giving color to the phrase, "the fish always stinks from the head downwards."

Reader Reviews

Hang with me a second here. At many points throughout the novel, Denny Malone is referred to as "the king of Manhattan North." He refers to himself that way, and talks (often, internally and externally) about ruling the streets of his kingdom. The cops have their castles. The bad guys have theirs. There's turf, divvied up between mobsters and gangsters and the police — all of them lords and barons of their territory, ruling with violence, struggling to keep a status quo where everyone earns, everyone eats, and no wars break out. Winslow’s narrative style is a fast paced and frenetic stream of consciousness dialogue and internal monologue wherein we analyze the motivations behind Malone’s actions and he shares with the reader a character study of a tortured soul. Malone is drawn not so much as an anti-hero but rather as a tragic hero – we know where his path leads but we cannot look away as he confronts his demons and walks resolutely towards an absolution that may not be recognized by society but one that is ultimately even more personal and real. The final scene is as poignant and appallingly beautiful in its ironic tragedy as any I’ve read before. Ho iniziato a leggere questo libro per alternarlo a un’altra lettura di tipo ben diverso (McEwan). È successo che l’altra lettura è passata in coda, e finché non ho finito questo, non sono riuscito a chiuderlo e posarlo. Winslow’s knowledge of the history of New York’s crime, cops, politicians & scandals is encyclopedic. I can’t begin to imagine the hours of research & the whole thing reads like a dark, violent love letter to the city.

A few months go by, and Devon starts a war with the Dominicans. The Dominicans appoint a new leader, Carlos Castillo. He plans to kill Devon and dominate the New York drug scene. Denny’s boss calls him in to tell him that he’s not working hard enough on the case. He moves around members of Denny’s task force; telling him to get the job done or he won’t be leading the team for much longer. It’s also like watching The Gangs of New York – our gang is bigger than your gang. The NYPD is the biggest gang on the streets and it’s a turf war. But like in Scorsese’s film, the Feds are the biggest gang of all. La scrittura è quella solita di Winslow, quella alla quale mi sono abituato dopo 5 o 6 suoi romanzi letti: scorrevole, senza guizzi particolari, fin troppo piana. What only a few know is that Denny Malone is dirty: he and his partners have stolen millions of dollars in drugs and cash in the wake of the biggest heroin bust in the city’s history. Now Malone is caught in a trap and being squeezed by the Feds, and he must walk the thin line between betraying his brothers and partners, the Job, his family, and the woman he loves, trying to survive, body and soul, while the city teeters on the brink of a racial conflagration that could destroy them all.

When Da Force makes the biggest heroin bust in the city, they're hailed as hero cops. Yet Malone and his partners actually steal some of the drugs and some of the money before turning everything else in. They're entitled. But this sends them down their slipperiest slope yet, and when Malone catches the eye of the feds for a fairly routine (but still illegal) thing, he finds himself caught in a trap, and has to decide whether to save himself or betray his fellow officers, something he vowed he'd never do. As you might expect, there is a lot of violence in this book, and in a book which takes place in a culture greatly affected by racism, there is strong language and racial and cultural epithets used throughout. None of it felt gratuitous to me, but I know some may find that triggering or troublesome. It's a book that made me doubt the corruption itself and the very injustice of our capitalist system where the one who least risks is the one who earns the most and the one who most puts his own life at risk is the one who goes home with nothing to feed his children. Winslow offers a close up look at a dark element of police culture. How does being on the take work? Who gets what? How is money distributed? Who is it ok to accept bribes from? What is allowed that would otherwise be justiceable? And why do the cops here consider it ok? He offers as well a moving look at the human relationships that make up police life, the code of honor, the power of partnership, the requirement that all members of the team partake of the ill-gotten, if only as a means of self-protection, the wives who turn a blind eye to where that extra cash may have originated, and what their breadwinner may be up to when the crew parties hard, up to a point anyway. The interaction between the police and people in their area is rich with real affection, as well as the expected cynicism. Some of these scenes are stunningly moving, tissue worthy.