Blue Blood

Blue Blood
by Edward Conlon
Riverside, 2004. 562 pgs. Biography.

Edward Conlon is a Harvard-educated policeman who likes being a cop, rather than a policeman who signed up so he could write about his experiences. Intermingled with his stories of narcotics busts, rooftop surveillance, good partners, and bad bosses, are narratives of his own history. His father was an FBI agent, his grandfather a crooked cop who "carried the bag" between the mob and the precinct. His uncle policed the waterfront, and all were NYPD through and through. Much of Conlon's book describes the daily life of a policeman, in his case, the life of a policeman who always likes his job but wants to try something harder. From a beat policeman in the Projects to a gold-shield detective, Conlon tells his story with vigor, good humor, apt analogies, and a prose style that draws the reader effortlessly through a long book.

LW