Edward Conlon

Red on Red is a complex, gritty, and satisfying cop story that delves into more than police work. Two partners of different backgrounds, Meehan and Esposito, are New York City detectives. But this is not a clichéd police story in any sense. The detective’s personal lives as well as their work lives – often the two cannot be separated - are examined. No one in the story escapes the damage sustained in life – or in some cases, the criminal life. Conlon writes about police work with show more truth and respect – but never with blinders. show less

Red on Red is a cop book, but not in the traditional police procedural vein. While there is a thread of related and unrelated crimes none of these take precedence in this novel. Instead, Mr. Conlon offers us a lyrical look at the city he loves and reveals what it's like on the job.

Throughout this book we get to ride along with two homicide detectives - Meehan and his new partner, Esposito (Espo). Theirs is an unlikely pairing - Meehan, Irish, withdrawn, dragging himself through the days; and show more Espo - Italian, family man with many women on the side, a taker of risks, filled with flash and charm. As we ride along with them, the true complexity of a police partnership is revealed.

Conlon has written believable and whole characters with real problems in a real city. Even his minor characters are unforgettable - Sister Agnes, the tough and scary Indian nun; Raul da Costa - potential murderer and rapist in red women's underpants; and Daysi - Meehan's impossible love.

Mr. Conlon moves through all the extraordinary parts of an ordinary day as a cop and takes us along for the ride. With beautiful prose and lyrical descriptions of New York (that often reminded me of Dylan Thomas' Under Milkwood) Red on Red doesn't sensationalize events, but lets them unfold of their own accord each moving to each as the days are melded together.

This is an extraordinary book and just what I expected from its writer, the author of Blue Blood, one of the best memoirs I've ever read. show less

Reading Red On Red by Edward Conlon was too much like a job. A job that you have difficulty going to some days. Wading through 400 pages of murder and mayhem was at times difficult. I realize the lives of police officers are not all cops and robbers, but I need a spark, a magnet, something to keep me coming back to a book. Instead, it just sat and looked at me for many days. Now, if you enjoy the day-to-day of police work, the good, bad, the ugly, the bathroom breaks, then give this book a show more try. Mr. Conlon has a way of putting you at a crime scene looking over the shoulder of the detective. I read mysteries regularly, but felt the "weight" of this story was too heavy. I want something that fits comfortably. I certainly would give another one of his books a try it's just Red On Red was a job I couldn't get into. show less

This book is not short. This book is not a murder mystery. This book does sometimes give you a short blurb about a 70s show or movie you may have seen. If you are okay with the above, and really, you should be, you need to read this book.

Detailing his days as a cop, from patrolling the projects through sifting the crime scene that 9/11 left behind, there is an easy conversational mood to it all, while remaining engaging and aware. He never sleeps, even in regurgitating brief plot points so show more as to draw a comparison of something for. (Personally they were helpful, because I had barely heard of the things he was referencing.)

I had so many details I was going to reference in the review, but I think I'll just let you discover the gems yourself. I should have kept better track of all the sweet things, so as to entice you! Unfortunately I can only share the things that made me laugh in the last chapters. Lt. Zerbo was a highlight, as was any training program he went through. His brief lapses into street-talk, shedding his Harvard educated diction, are wonderful, because they sound funny, but not like a sitcom.

He keeps everything real, he never becomes some godly narrator, and everyone he mentions has some degree of depth to them. His detailings of lining the sidewalks at a parade, watching an inactive drug spot, are intense as well as interesting. He never over-does it however, you can feel the difference between going after a drug dealer and after a gun-collar. I was surprised again and again how interesting I found each aspect of his work to be, except for the paper-work and the bullshit from above. I was surprised by the Palestinian 'Day of Rage' and various other things I had never seen more than one angle of--especially 9/11. Poignant and affecting me in a new way, might be the reason to read everything else for some people.

Bosses can be divas, divas can be bossy, bullshit can hit you from one or 20 rungs up, and this book gives very interesting insight into the recent history of the NYPD as well as delving back a hundred years, which annoyed some, for sure. But he writes well, he doesn't linger, and if he does *shrug* skim ahead, you'll survive, it'll be over in a page.

His father is an important figure for him in this book, and his understanding of NYPD history figures importantly as well, to say this novel has too much history--you're missing the point. A memoir discusses his story and everything important to him.

His informants were funny and annoying, Charlie was a bittersweet case, but as he said, you can't be friends. Jack wasn't so much an informant as a validation of the good work that men can do, and the bad that they can overcome. Jack's story was a highlight for me, as it was for Conlon. Glad that we had that.

I really enjoyed the history. So now when I hear about Melancholy baby I can smile with the reference this book gives me, whether it's true or not is irrelevant. Stories are great to hear, other people's families have just as much history as your own.

The detectives are great--I feel like TV Shows and Novels are missing out by not making them more like the real NYPD. That's what they get for writing out of LA, haha.

The strangest things happen, and their veracity lend a very strange appeal for me as well. The 8 year old murderer, and the volunteers at Ground Zero, and the idiot bosses. We sympathize with his frustration and disbelief, and all in all, he is a very impressive narrator without being self-satisfied. Our satisfaction comes from his pleasure at doing his job. show less