Of course, it IS all about being a cop, and how much of the system is rotten and unfair and almost unfixable. It's about race and poverty and how even a junkie can have a heart and have something to teach a king. Don Winslow’s The Force turned out to be the perfect choice for my inaugural Metro Link book-club-of-one. In fact, as soon as I finished, I began to miss it. Smart but taken by money and power, Denny Malone has become known as The king of Manhattan North, clearly good at the fundamentals of his job as part of a task force involved in controlling the drug problem. He is able to perform some good, but this is at a cost to everyone and everything he is involved in. In the lead-up to the oddly satisfying, cinematic denouement, Winslow ratchets up the racial tension as Malone faces a defining choice that could touch off "the fire this time": whether he is still a real cop who will act as protector of the residents of Manhattan North or a former cop who chooses to avoid penance for his crimes because he's made a deal with the powers-that-be to help hide a high crime. Di questo romanzo Stephen King ha twittato: È come “Il Padrino”, ma con i poliziotti al posto dei mafiosi.

All Da Force detectives are kings, but Malone—with no disrespect intended to our Lord and Savior—is the King of Kings. Manhattan North is the Kingdom of Malone. Like with any king, his subjects love him and fear him, revere him and loathe him, praise him and revile him. He has his loyalists and rivals, his sycophants and critics, his jesters and advisers, but he has no real friends. Except his partners."

This time he immerses us in a police force and takes us into its vagaries, into its humanity, into its imperfection. Non è la New York di Serpico, che viene citato più volte nel romanzo di Winslow: non lo è perché non esiste più un Serpico, adesso a New York ci sono 38 mila poliziotti in servizio e la stragrande maggioranza di loro prende la stecca “per la famiglia”, per mandare al college i figli, per garantirsi una pensione meno micragnosa di quella federale. È la “grande mela”, dolce e marcia. This is because Winslow continues to make excuses for Malone until the end by carrying on with the storylines regarding the outside corruption so it seems like he tried to split the difference and make Malone both the bad guy and the victim. Which I can see to a certain extent. It is ridiculous to nail a cop to the wall for taking a free cup of coffee while a politician can collect huge campaign donations from business people he can help, and that's all perfectly legal. However, what Malone did goes way beyond taking a cup of coffee, and he was happy to go along with the corruption while it helped make him one of the most connected cops in the city so him crying and beating his chest about it when he gets his hand caught in the cookie jar just came across as self-serving garbage to me after a while. Winslow takes the reader into a concrete world of gangs and guns, the darkness of NYPD culture, and a racially combustible city set to incinerate. Told to the rhythmic beat of the NYC cop vernacular, this epic boils with vicious battles, blood-soaked hands holding dying cops, and double-crosses by rat bastards to brew up an atmosphere in which, as in Macbeth's Scotland, "foul is fair and fair is foul."

Don Winslow has written many books. Some have been made into films. I have read none of them, so can offer no real insight into what carried forward from his prior work, or where new notions or techniques may have come into play. I read this totally as a stand-alone. The Force). Ο άρχων της ομάδος, Μαλόουν, είναι και ο Βασιλιάς του Μανχάταν. Έχει εκτιναχθεί σε δημοφιλία μέσα από τα κατορθώματά του. Ωστόσο πολύ γρήγορα θα έρθουμε αντιμέτωποι με τις πρακτικές της αστυνομίας από τα χαμηλότερα κλιμάκια μέχρι τα υψηλά αξιώματα. Δωροδοκίες, χρηματισμοί, κολλητηλίκια με μαφιόζους, ακριβή ζωή, ξενύχτια, μπουρδελότσαρκες - ό,τι κάνει δηλαδή ο κακοποιός με την μόνη διαφορά πως, όπως χαρακτηριστικά λέει κάποιος στο βιβλίο, αντίθετα με τον κακότυχο εγκληματία, κανείς αστυνομικός δεν πεινάει. Και φυσικά κάπου έρχεται η κάθαρση, το βιβλίο ανατρέπει την ρουτίνα και ξεκινάει η αντίστροφη μέτρηση. Elements of the plot are definitely familiar, but woven together with Winslow's amazing storytelling, it is completely riveting, and I read nearly the entire book on a cross-country flight. Perhaps because of all the references to Serpico I kept seeing a young Al Pacino as Malone, but the characters and the images are so vivid, I watched the book play out in my head as I was reading it. I cannot wait to see this adapted into a movie, because in addition to the violence and bravado and corruption there are moments of true tenderness and emotion and vulnerability. The Force (2017) is a crime thriller by Don Winslow. Nominated for the 2018 Barry Award and the 2018 Anthony Award, The Force explores police force corruption through the eyes of a crooked NYPD detective sergeant who fights gangs, drugs, and murderers. What most people don’t know is that although he’s good at his job, he steals money from each drug bust. It’s only a matter of time before he’s caught. Critics praise the book for its realism and a well-paced plot. Winslow is a bestselling American author. Before writing, he worked as a private investigator. Many of his novels are now major motion pictures. Il vero Frank Serpico, oggi 81enne. Il protagonista del romanzo di Winslow, Denny Malone è proprio uno di quei poliziotti che Serpico ha combattuto.No one is crystal clean, his bosses; it just seems to be the way of it there. He has left his family; his new partner is a woman trying to be clean. This book contains many references to drugs, and jonsing is all part of everyone’s life. Even Denny partakes in many substances. He loves his kids, he doesn’t dislike his estranged wife, but it all seems to be too late.

Winslow’s narrative style is a fast paced and frenetic stream of consciousness dialogue and internal monologue wherein we analyze the motivations behind Malone’s actions and he shares with the reader a character study of a tortured soul. Malone is drawn not so much as an anti-hero but rather as a tragic hero – we know where his path leads but we cannot look away as he confronts his demons and walks resolutely towards an absolution that may not be recognized by society but one that is ultimately even more personal and real. The final scene is as poignant and appallingly beautiful in its ironic tragedy as any I’ve read before. Overall, this novel is a very convincing crime drama, a story one can sink their teeth into, with a lot to chew on. Winslow offers a close up look at a dark element of police culture. How does being on the take work? Who gets what? How is money distributed? Who is it ok to accept bribes from? What is allowed that would otherwise be justiceable? And why do the cops here consider it ok? He offers as well a moving look at the human relationships that make up police life, the code of honor, the power of partnership, the requirement that all members of the team partake of the ill-gotten, if only as a means of self-protection, the wives who turn a blind eye to where that extra cash may have originated, and what their breadwinner may be up to when the crew parties hard, up to a point anyway. The interaction between the police and people in their area is rich with real affection, as well as the expected cynicism. Some of these scenes are stunningly moving, tissue worthy.This book has already been optioned as a film, and if done well it should prove to be an impactful one. Winslow also explores the ideas of corruption in the context of public service and of double standards that exist and what levels of corruption are tolerated and even accepted. Malone observes that what is OK for the rich and famous, the politically well-connected and mainstays of society is seen as abhorrent when committed by cops, the blue-collar workers of our criminal justice system, on the streets and in the trenches. Where is the line drawn? A free cup of coffee and a sandwich? A favor? When does this become a bribe or graft?

A questo bisogna aggiungere che Winslow ha cominciato facendo la sorveglianza sui borseggiatori nei cinema, poi è stato un investigatore privato per una ventina d’anni occupandosi di frodi, incendi dolosi, abusi sessuali sui bambini, tutte esperienze che lo portano a dire che l’uomo non è buono. La vita ti fa diventare più furbo, non migliore. According to Winslow, The Force is the product of years of intense research. Much of that comes through in obvious ways, such as dialogue that captures specific speech patterns, slang, and terms of art. It also comes through in Winslow’s evocation of New York City, often giving you a street-by-street tour. Through Malone he seems to channel a rough fondness for the place: Malone comes off the bridge near Fort Wadsworth, where the New York marathon starts, gets off on Hylan and drives down through Donegan Hills, past Last Chance Pond, and then takes a left onto Hamden Avenue. I read on the train, and that requires a certain kind of book. It can’t be a throwaway title, a so-called “beach read” or “guilty pleasure,” because that won’t hold my attention, and if it’s not holding my attention, then I’m intensely focused on the fact that I’m on a noisy, rattling train. On the other hand, it can’t be super-complicated or dense, since there are constant interruptions. In other words, I need a book that is both exceptionally captivating but also one that I can start and stop with ease. Es un libro que me hizo dudar sobre la corrupción en sí misma y en la propia injusticia de nuestro sistema capitalista dónde quién menos arriesga es el que más gana y el que más pone su propia vida en riesgo es quién se va a casa sin nada con que alimentar a sus hijos.After eighteen years on the force, Denny had seen it all. Most despicable though were all the politicians, lawyers, police brass and drug dealers getting rich from all the dirty money. Big-time corruption was everywhere. It seemed everybody had their hands in it. Everybody except Denny. Except his crew. They were the ones that took the risks. They were the ones that went through the doors. Down the stairwells. Why shouldn't they be sharing in the cream? They were the most deserving of getting their just slice of the pie. Real money. Not just complimentary coffee and a donut. Why bother calling 9-1-1 to report a crime when the cops are the biggest criminals on the streets and everyone knows it? His family suffers, he is on the take at every stage, as are his crew of detectives playing the game. I sensed his colleagues were worse.