The Confession of Joe Cullen

A pilot, who has thrown a priest to his death in Central America, confesses his crime in a New York City precinct, opening up a world of drugs, faith and deception, and governmental conspiracy

The prolific novelist ( The Pledge ) weighs in with his 46th book, a crime thriller-cum-political allegory. Mel Freedman, Jewish police lieutenant in a largely Catholic/black New York City precinct house, and his Puerto Rican sidekick, Ramos, stumble onto what looks like a Washington-run cocaine-smuggling operation in Central America. Their tip-off is Joe Cullen--Vietnam vet, pilot-for-hire and guilt-ridden Catholic--who saw a priest thrown out of a helicopter in Honduras. After more murders, Cullen flees the N.Y.C. police, who want him as a suspect; he's also evading the drug cabal which may include an army colonel who resembles Oliver North and a multimillionaire WASP society figure. This tough-guy tale has a soft heart: Freedman dates his ex-wife; a pretty assistant D.A. falls head-over-heels for fugitive Cullen. Although the characters at times resemble props in a morality play and the plot is schematic, Fast's grimly chilling fa ble delivers a resounding message about the decline of America's values, its corrupt leaders and the duplicity of a U.S. government that, clandestinely or openly, supports death squads and dictators in Latin America.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Joe Cullen makes more than one confession: to the police, to a priest, and to a hooker. The confession concerns the death of a priest in Honduras, and the details weave a startling web of intrigue involving the CIA and the Feds trading guns to the Contras for cocaine. When the hooker and the priest confessed to are killed, Lieutenant Freedman of the New York City Police involves himself in tracking down the brains behind the whole scheme. While this fast-moving story succeeds on the level of a thriller, there is also substantive probing into guilt and mysticism in Catholicism. An unexpected and welcome book from the author of April Morning ( LJ 4/1/61) and many other well-known works. Highly recommended.
- Robert H. Donahugh, Youngstown and Mahoning Cty . P.L., Ohio
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.