by Don Winslow
Winslow tries to hit the issue of race head on as best he can. People often disingenuously defend themselves from charges of bigotry by claiming that they can't possibly be racist because they have had sex with someone of a different race, have friends of different races, work with people of different races or like music by people of a different race or so on. That's all malarkey. People have different facets. We are all mixes of good and evil. It is possible to have a cordial work relationship with people of different races while telling nasty racially hostile jokes to people within your own race. You can mentor someone of a different race while simultaneously passing along Obama monkey jokes. For obvious reasons people may like the attractive opposite gender members of a race that they otherwise truly despise. You can love your mixed race nieces, nephews or grandchildren and still wish your sibling or child had married within their own race.
Racist people can love and respect and even be willing to die for a member of a race they hate because that individual has proven themselves to them in some way. The Force's primary protagonist is a walking example of how humans contain all these contradictions.
Racist or not, Malone would kill and die for his black fellow Detective Montague, who Denny recognizes as being much smarter than himself. Along with Monty, Denny's closest friend is Detective Russo, with whom he grew up. These three men, along with a few other detectives, see themselves and are seen by others as the kings of the streets. They make solid cases, right wrongs, protect children and women from abusive men, and occasionally can be honestly heroic. Even their supervisors don't mess with them much. They are also deeply corrupt. Malone is a bagman and liaison between the Mafia and the NYPD. He and his friends routinely rob drug dealers and other hoodlums. Malone arranges deals between judges, prosecutors and defense attorneys to fix or drop cases. Malone gets money from many different deals. Malone rarely pays when he eats at a five star restaurant or has sex with $1000/hr call girls. Malone does special jobs for brash billionaire real estate tycoons. Plenty of people owe Malone and his team favors or money. Life is good.
Winslow deftly explains how corruption starts, from the uniformed cop who gets free coffee from the diner on his beat all the way up to the plainclothes superintendent who sells information from Internal Affairs to mob bosses. There's of course the run of the mill "testilying" in court.
But even a Prince of the City like Malone can make some mistakes. From greed, Malone and his team cross a previously set moral line. Before long Malone faces some difficult decisions with no good options. As with his previous work The Cartel, Winslow brings the reader into a world where loyalty is the chief virtue, even though few people show it. But the world is changing. Loyalty and order aren't what they used to be. Winslow makes it clear that the police or "The Force" aren't the only offenders or even the worst ones. Whether it's prosecutors suborning perjury and ignoring judicial wrongdoing, EMS workers accepting that a suspect beaten by the police "fell down the stairs", city officials using police as graft bagmen, or civil rights preachers taking money from mob associates, there's plenty of corrupt players. Often the cops are just the fall guys for higher placed and more powerful venal people. The problem is systemic. This was a well written exciting thriller. I wouldn't call Malone sympathetic. But he is human. His desperation, bent morality, and conflicted loyalties draw in the reader. Malone is going to Hell. But each step he took made sense at the time. This book is just under 500 pages.
