Blue Blood - Softcover

Edward Conlon

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0091937604 ISBN 13: 9780091937607

Publisher: Ebury, 2010

Synopsis

'Superb. The most stunning memoir ever written about the cop world' - Joseph Wambaugh. 'Beautiful and inspiring, terrifying and heartbreaking' - James Frey. 'More chilling than even the most realistic cop dramas on TV' - "People". 'A great book...with the testimonial force equal to that of Michael Herr's Dispatches' - "Time". "Blue Blood" is the fast-paced, insider story of Edward Conlon's career in the NYPD. Conlon can really write, but is a cop's cop through and through (the fourth generation of NYPD cop in his family). The book is part memoir, part action, set in the Bronx starting in the mid-1990s. We follow Conlon's rise within the force, from rookie beat cop through a stint in the narcotics division to finally achieving gold-shield detective status as he is today, but he also manages to portray a fascinating social history of the Bronx over the last twenty years and a history of the NYPD and its often violent evolution. The writing is gripping, with stories of shoot-outs and drug dealers interspersed with domestic disputes and runaways.

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Review

As a Harvard graduate and regular writer for the New Yorker, Edward Conlon is a little different from most of his fellow New York City cops. And the stories he tells in his compelling memoir Blue Blood are miles away from the commonly told Hollywood-style police tales that are always action packed but rarely tethered to reality. While there is action here, there's also political hassle, the rich and often troubling history of a department not unfamiliar with corruption, and the day to day life of people charged with preserving order in America's largest city. Conlon's book is, in part, a memoir as he progresses from being a rookie cop working the beat at troubled housing projects to assignments in the narcotics division to eventually becoming a detective. But it's also the story of his family history within the enormous NYPD as well as the evolving role of the police force within the city. Conlon relates the controversies surrounding the somewhat familiar shoo! ting of Amadou Diallou and the abuse, at the hands of New York cops, of Abner Louima. But being a cop himself, Conlon lends insight and nuance to these issues that could not possibly be found in the newspapers. And as an outstanding writer, he draws the reader into that world. In the book's most remarkable passage, Conlon tells of the grim but necessary work done at the Fresh Kills landfill, sifting through the rubble and remains left in the wake of the World Trade Center attacks on 9/11 (a section originally published in The New Yorker). In many ways, Blue Blood comes to resemble the world of New York City law enforcement that Conlon describes: both are expansive, sprawling, multi-dimensional, and endlessly fascinating. And Conlon's writing is perfectly matched to his subject, always lively, keenly observant, and possessing a streetwise energy. --John Moe

About the Author

Edward Conlon is a detective with the New York City Police Department. A graduate of Regis High School in New York and of Harvard, he has published articles in The New Yorker and he lives and works in the Bronx.

About this edition

• Publisher: Ebury
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 0091937604
• ISBN 13: 9780091937607
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 576