Blue Blood

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 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 show more 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

With 'Blue Blood,' former detective Edward Conlon delivers an engrossing memoir about his time in the NYPD, starting with his days as a rookie on the street up through finally obtaining his detective badge.

For anyone who's ever been curious about day to day life is like for the, as it were, "boys in blue," the book offers plenty of fascinating insights on all manner of subjects - from the squadroom atmosphere and camaraderie between coworkers, through the bureaucratic BS that Conlon and others had to suffer through. Readers hear about what its like to spend your days chasing down criminals, petty and otherwise, while dealing with a community that's at times welcoming, at other times not so much. Conlon also shares stories from his show more family history. His father was an FBI agent; his uncle, a colorful cop's cop, and well-liked. His great grandfather, as it turns out, was on the take, something Conlon tried to be forthright about without dismissing him as just another crooked cop. Overall, the stories make for interesting character snapshots, which work well woven in with Conlon's own experiences.

Readers also get some insight on scandals such as the Amadou Diallo trial and how they affected the lives and work of officers just trying to do their jobs. The degree with which the public sometimes distrusts the police becomes evident as Conlon shares stories of his frustration over open-and-shut cases that get thrown out time and time again because the ADAs know juries will never convict, even for the most ludicrous of reasons. It's frustrating to read about as well, particularly for those with a keen sense of justice.

I enjoyed my ride-along with Mr. Conlon, rather lengthy though it were. He's an excellent writer and it shows (in fact, he's since retired to pursue writing full-time and has a novel out). He does a good job of introducing us to his vibrant "cast of characters," making them not just abstract names, vague figures from his past that exist to the reader as little more than letters on a page, but memorable, real people whom I almost wished I knew, all unique and colorful even in their flaws. I think there's a lesson to be taken from that too - cops are just people, and trying to sweep them all under the same label, whether that be Hero or The Enemy, is erroneous. show less

Blue Blood tells the story of Edward Conlon's campaign from Harvard English major graduate to gold shield NYPD Detective. While chronicling his own journey, he also peppers readers with info about his family and general NYPD history. I enjoyed it; though, it runs a little long, coming in at over five hundred pages. Fielding domestic violence calls--which he doesn't seem to think much of--and the like, he tires of the smallness of patrol, acquiring a taste for chasing drugs and guns, not because of having made any case as to why that might be more important, but because it was simply more fun. He perfectly captures the ineffectiveness of poor leadership, the degree to which human pettiness can find a friend in the mechanisms inherent in show more a large bureaucracy. I completely understand his frustrations with juries that refuse to return indictments or guilty verdicts because of biases against the police or "the system." His interactions with illogical prosecutors who are afraid of trying cases and are constantly looking for easy ones that result in guilty pleas rang true with what I've seen in bigger jurisdictions. I've spoken with detective friends, trying to find someone to talk to about the book with, but I keep getting the same response: "that's the book by the Harvard plant that got a job as a cop for the purpose of writing his book." I don't think that he got the job to be able to write the book, but I do think that he knew at the time of taking the job that he would write a book about his experiences. show less

Great book! I have a great respect for the men and women that do their best to keep the streets free of people who don't know how to behave in society.

There are some truly hilarious moments in the book. There are also some where you wonder how people can be so cruel to each other. Conlon does a good job of explaining the "Job" as it is. This is not a book in which the police can do no wrong and every bad guy is caught. It is also not a book in which all cops are on the take or crooked. The picture he paints is of a department in which the overwhelming majority of cops want to do the right thing. They want the drugs and guns off the street, but their arms are tied by an ever growing beauracracy. The roadblocks that come up time and time show more again are no different than those experienced in the corporate world, which is to say that "management" is often times more interested in looking good than doing what is right. The sad part is, for the police department, those selfish decisions have grave consequences.

I've read a few of these police memoirs. Several of them were high speed, white knuckle, shootout type books. Kind of like Rambo in print. This book, while including many scenes in which the adrenaline was no doubt pumping, takes a softer approach. The "action" sequences are told with a kind of laid back demeanor. Here's what happened. Here's the players involved. Here's how it went down. etc...... In short, the stories were very New York-esque. If you look on the back cover and see Edward Conlon's picture, you'll understand where I am coming from. He has that big city look about him. The kind of look where you are not going to impress him. He's seen it all in his years on the "job". Yet, there are plenty of instances in the book in which his softer side is shown. He makes it a point to let you know that cops are no different than everyone else out there. In fact, they probably care more about people than most of us. After all, why would you want to spend all night chasing down crack dealers and junkies for what some consider a meager wage risking all kinds of injury and possible discipline in the event that you violate some criminal's rights if you didn't care?

Overall, this was the BEST cop memoir I have ever read! Good luck trying to put this one down. show less

An exceptional book about a "man in blue" in the Bronx. This book was written and published before "Blue Bloods" appeared on television. And although there are some similarities, the book and the tv show are two separate entities. Most of the book was an enlightening and good read. I say "most" because the author didn't spare the pen in complaining about a certain unnamed few of his superiors. But then again, the book is fact and not fiction.

A gripping memoir of the beginnings of a policeman's career in New York city. The story begins with the authors enlistment in the New York City Police Department as a patrolman. He moves into working drugs with a street crime unit and then concludes with his appointment as a detective working robberies and other serious crime in the Bronx. Punctuated by wry anecdote and historical asides, this is a well written and well observed memoir of a career at its mid point. The account of searching the debris field after the September 11th attacks is haunting.

The best thing I can say about this book is that there is more to come.

Conlon's writing was very good, and the subject matter was mostly interesting, but this book really could have used an editor. A book of anecdotes about life as a New York City police officer did not have to be 550 pages.