Rating: 
Summary: Overall winner, maybe a bit far out.....
Review: I must say that overall the book was very good. I found that I could not put the book down for the first half of the story. I have been involved in EMS for many years and can identify with some of the feelings of the main character. I was somewhat disappointed with the last half of the book though. I felt that the story began to stagnate and seemed too surreal at the end. There was not much resolution for the character. Perhaps this was to afford a venue for a second book. Certainly, he has done what most of us in EMS only talk about. He has written a book that has become a movie. My congratulations!
Rating: 
Summary: Beautiful, vivid writing, but weak story.
Review: The writing is wonderful, but the character is hard to admire and the story line is weak. Frank Pierce, burned out NYC paramedic, tries to save lives and live out his childhood superhero fantasies. But Frank is such a loser, and there's no through-line to pull you along, no overall plot. The energy in the writing is like early Henry Miller, and the dark comedy is like early Joseph Wambaugh. If you want to see what it's like to be a big-city paramedic, read this book. The story elements could've been developed more. Trying to save Mary Burke or get back with his wife could've added more story-pull. But it's hard to criticize, the writing is so good.
Rating:
Summary: Who hasn't felt it?
Review: Cliche, I know, but I felt like I was watching a car wreck in reading this novel. It was a completely fascinating depiction of a man who's lost his way in the search for the answer, or, any answer. While many have tried to give voice to the feeling of utter despondency that accompanies the realization that, maybe, you aren't making much of an impact in the world, but Connelly has struck with a bit of a battered brush dripping with a sickly gray-ish pigment, daring us to continue watching as he comes to terms with his despair.
Rating: 
Summary: A cross between "ER" and "TAXI DRIVER"...
Review: Author Joe Connelly does a wonderful job at placing the reader indide the body and mind of the main character. One cannot help but feel the emotions of this character as we deep further into his personality. One thing I really enjoyed about this book was that I was able to understand it, not alot of medical "slang". Another great addition to the story are the lively characters that Frank encounters throught the pages of the book. I will admit, I am excited to see how Scorcesse will pull this one off.
Rating:
Summary: REAL!!
Review: I AM A NYC EMS PARAMEDIC AND I HAVE TO SAY THIS IS THE SINGLE MOST HONEST AND REALISTIC ACCOUNT OF MY PROFESSION THAT I HAVE EVER READ. I CAN'T RECOMEND IT HIGHLY ENOUGH. IF YOU WANT AN IDEA OF WHAT IT CAN BE LIKE TO LIVE THE LIFE OF A GHETTO MEDIC, READ THIS BOOK.
Rating:
Summary: Paramedic's dilema
Review: I have not read this book yet, but it comes to me very highly recommended by several other Paramedics. I am a Paramedic in upstate New York trying to balance the very delicate problems that the character in the book deals with. I am undecided about whether I will help myself to settle down my professional life by reading this book or bury myself deeper into questions of the actual usefulness my trade. Unfortuantely there is no way to unread it afterwards. Please feel free to email me with comments.
Rating:
Summary: Real life drama
Review: As a medic, I found many things in this novel that moved me. This is the most "real" book that I have ever read, especially the burn-out that one faces during the long hours on the job, uselessly saving people who will eventually die anyway. This was dark, realistic, and I could not put it down until it was finished (the first time that I have ever done that) and I would recommend it to anyone, even anyone who could not appreciate the realism first-hand.
Rating: 
Summary: Very average, and not quite dark enough.
Review: I don't get what folks are raving about here on the Amazon reviews. I picked up this book hoping for a realistic, grim and gritty glimpse of life on Manhattan's mean streets. What a let down.This book has three phases: the promising opening, the Hollywood-tailored middle, and the muddled, redundant ending. Connelly hooks you in with a rapid-fire look at the life of an ambulance driver, and then his cliched characterizations screw things up. The scenes of tragedy and violence that the hero encounters are less poignant, more cartoony. In the middle, we're barraged by a mess of sitcomesque ambulance drivers. The main character's view on life shifts drastically from one page to the next. Then, in the last 100 pages, we're mired in a mishmosh of half characters and redundant scenes, few of which go any place or advance whatever is left of the "story." This is probably the only book in history that will be better as a movie. Maybe the talents of Martin Scorsese can impose the needed order tell that dark tale that Connolley promises but never delivers. Guess we'll find out when the movie is released this fall.
Rating:
Summary: The Book that got me back into reading.
Review: After beginning college, I mainly read books because I HAD to. When I picked this book up, it was solely because Martin Scorsese was making a film out of it. I was, however, suprised that I nosedived right into the book and was unable to STOP reading. It is a brilliant character study of a troubled man. It fails a little bit on an ending, but was a great read.
Rating:
Summary: I LOVED this book!
Review: I read this book in one day and have been haunted for weeks. In a time when the worst-written novels receive the most overblown praise, I was so happy to finally read a book that truly deserves every rave. I wish (how I wish) I wrote prose like Joe Connelly's! He's my hero.
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