Before we launch into this book.......sorry for our semi-vacation last week. The second week of February is like the week before Christmas for BQ.....since it includes both Valentine's Day and the birthday of BW (Beloved Wife)......and means lots of last minute shopping, celebratory dinners out, and special custom-written cards for BW and BD (Beloved Daughter)......all in all, an exhausting week......
But now, let "The Force" be with us.......a title we sought out after we heard a major film version is in the works for Matt Damon......
If you loved all the violent, gritty New York cop movies of the 1970's ("French Connection", "Badge 373", "Taking Of Pelham One Two Three", "Across 110th St."......this book's the ultimate evocation of them........
It's a virtual epic Greek Tragedy of corrupt NYC cops operating in a boiling cesspool of racial hatred, gang warfare and a climate of total immorality and greed that starts at the highest levels of Big Apple society.....
In this hellish atmosphere, there's little difference between the street-level inhuman scum and the movers and shakers who rule the city from their penthouses.......
The 'hero' in the middle of this urban Dante's Inferno is veteran, decorated cop Denny Malone, whose Task Force commandos attempt to hold back the gory apocalypse that Harlem seems on the verge of.......
But Denny and his cops are as corrupt and heartless as the murderous thugs they police.......they've lined their pockets with kickbacks, payoffs and cocaine they've stolen from their own legendary raids on drug lords......
Just about everybody's after Denny's scalp.......the cartels, Internal Affairs and rival cops whose corruption more than matches his own......
But it's the Feds who finally entrap him, forcing him to turn informer on the entire rotted food chain of New York's law enforcement and judicial systems.........dirty cops, dirty D.A.'s. dirty judges, dirty politicos........
Denny's futile attempts at keeping the walls from closing in on him coincide with an imminent verdict on a cop who shot and killed an unarmed black teenager........a verdict that could turn New York into a fiery repeat of the Los Angeles Rodney King riots.....
Brutal stuff every step of the way, with none of the large cast of characters coming away unscathed.......(and yes, you may find yourself sort of rooting for Denny, if only to see if he can outwit and outmaneuver the massive forces arrayed against him.....)
There's no telling how much of this story will make it into the movie, so we recommend, as always, you dive into the book first........it's a 4 star (****) rollercoaster ride to hell.......and as it races through its end-of-days climax, you'll tear through the pages like crazy.
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