14 Peck Slip

Rating:
Summary: Color It Gritty
Review: Debut novel (1994) of Ed Dee does not read like a novice work. It is amazingly mature and a first rate police procedural. Narrator Anthony Ryan is a complex, broody man with a heartbreaking sense of loyalty to his family, his partner, and his job. When these loyalties are at odds, which they often are, Ryan's suffering is almost palpable. He drinks more than is good for him, spends too much of his off time with the boys in blue, and gives too much time to the job. His sensitivity to his patient wife's moods and anxieties is always with him like a rainy cloud hovering overhead. Exuberant partner, Joe Gregory, is an extroverted, imaginative total cop who has stripped his life of any encumbrance that could possibly stand in the way of his ambition, high good humor, and complete devotion to the job.

Though Anthony and Joe are born New Yorkers and the city itself is a major presence, the book has the flavor of the best British procedurals with its mean streets and melancholy detectives. Nothing is clear-cut and nothing is easy.

Anthony and Joe, while on surveillance at the Fulton Fish Market, witness a white barrel being dumped in the river by some very suspicious (read mobbed up) guys. Joe is convinced a body is in the barrel, and wants full action taken immediately. Anthony is not so sure, as the last time Joe got this excited, the body turned out to be a dog, and they are still living down the embarrassment. Joe prevails; divers arrive and locate---the wrong barrel. The rusty wrong barrel contains the body of detective Jinx Mulgrew, missing these last ten years. Mulgrew had disappeared under a cloud. Known as the King of the Bagmen, he had been about to give evidence to the Knapp Commission. Smart money had it that he had taken the cash and ran. Was it a mob hit or his fellow policemen? Neither side wanted Jinx to spill the beans. Joe sees the case as a shining opportunity to get his gold shield. Anthony thinks it will be a can of worms. As the case wears on, sometimes it seems they are getting more cooperation from the mob than the police department.

Every page of this finely constructed novel has the stamp of accuracy. Mr. Dee's expertise as a former NYC detective serves him well. "14 Peck Slip" is entertaining, puzzling, and an overall good read. Rating: B+

Rating:
Summary: Utterly authentic
Review: For a pleasant, rewarding change, 14 Peck Slip is a procedural, written by a former police officer, that doesn't romanticize the job or try for false sentiment. It has a weariness, a gritty truthful edge, and a depth of heart that are unparalleled in the books I've read by other former cops. Dee's feel for Manhattan and his evocation of the city, bring it fully to life--one can almost feel the rain dripping down the back of one's neck; the characters are entirely believable, particularly hero Anthony Ryan and partner Joe Gregory. Good hearted Ryan with his questioning intelligence and almost helpless love of wife and family; and bad-boy Gregory, hard-drinking, impulse-driven, with a fuctioning heart hidden beneath the self-protective layer of steel acquired after years of seeing the worst the mean streets have to offer.

Good plotting, fine writing and particularly well-wrought characters make this first-rate reading.
Highly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: pointless story
Review: How realistic this story of the search for a cop killer might be is impossible for me to judge. It certainly succeeds at giving you the feel of realism, skilfully using shades of grey to paint the characters right up until the end when you don't know who you're cheering for anymore.

Dee uses all the senses to invoke a feel for crime in the big city in one of the most successful of the gritty realism novels that I've read.

My only quarrel is with the plot; there are points where it relies too much on the stock in trade of detective novelists-- coincidental and hidden connections-- but given that this is a first novel, those are relatively minor points to care about.

I'm looking forward to reading the other books by this author.

Rating:
Summary: 14 Peck Slip
Review: I happened across this book on our office used book shelf. Started it that evening and couldn't put it down until I finished it the next day. The real main character in this book is The Job--and, through excellent choices, the author shows us how that main character affects all who come in contact with it. The Job influences the lives of not only the police officers, but also their families, friends and associates. The detectives, Ryan and Gregory, are nuanced and fully-dimensional. The realities of their profession are uncovered for examination, leaving the reader to make her own judgments. I'm looking forward to Mr. Dee's other books.

Rating:
Summary: J Briant
Review: I recently came into possession of this work by Author Ed Dee. The book has been around for a while, but I acquired it. DEE writes with impact. From the first page to the end it held my attention. It was intense and one could visualize being on Fulton Street as an observor while this tale unfolded. Through Detectives Ryan and Gregory I sensed the ever present suspense. The deceased DETECTIVE WITH HIS SHIELD BETWEEN HIS TEETH. The author knows in detail the concept of criminal investigation at it's best. The detail and descriptions all throughout the book grabbed my constant attention. He brings the enviornment of the Big City to your face. You sense the dangers around Ryan and Gregory and their associates. The relation of cop and informant unfold and the reader will sense that he or she is in the middle of a mystery full of violence and mixed with humanism at times and between the lines you can feel the pain of dedicated officers who in their heart miss their family, while combative with bums laced with evil and sin. One great read. Enjoyed this peek at the real world with and two of many great detectives in action.

Rating:
Summary: J Briant
Review: I recently came into possession of this work by Author Ed Dee. The book has been around for a while, but I acquired it. DEE writes with impact. From the first page to the end it held my attention. It was intense and one could visualize being on Fulton Street as an observor while this tale unfolded. Through Detectives Ryan and Gregory I sensed the ever present suspense. The deceased DETECTIVE WITH HIS SHIELD BETWEEN HIS TEETH. The author knows in detail the concept of criminal investigation at it's best. The detail and descriptions all throughout the book grabbed my constant attention. He brings the enviornment of the Big City to your face. You sense the dangers around Ryan and Gregory and their associates. The relation of cop and informant unfold and the reader will sense that he or she is in the middle of a mystery full of violence and mixed with humanism at times and between the lines you can feel the pain of dedicated officers who in their heart miss their family, while combative with bums laced with evil and sin. One great read. Enjoyed this peek at the real world with and two of many great detectives in action.

Rating:
Summary: authentic, fast-moving story about street cops
Review: Only a street-smart New York detective could write with such authenticity about the city and its denizens. Dee has deft touch with dialogue, a sharp eye for detail, an Irishman's gift of gab and a New Yorker's quick sense of humor.

"14 Peck Slip" may be a novel but it is clearly not fiction. The people, places and events are for real, obviously based on Dee's 20 year career as cop in New York.

Dee knows how to tell a story, how to keep your interest and how to spring a surprise. When you read "Peck Slip" you'll feel like you're sitting in a neighborhood bar listening to a friend tell stories about his time on the job.

Rating:
Summary: Atmosphere and characters, not much plot
Review: This is another one of those New York City Cop-turned novelist books that seems to emerge every year. The author apparently did 20 years in the NYPD, and then took a series of creative writing courses, and now has turned himself into a writer. This first book introduces a pair of detectives Joe "the Great" Gregory, and Anthony Ryan, the narrator. The two are Irish (though Ryan's half-Italian) and Gregory is famous for leaps of faith in his investigations.

In the opening scene the two detectives are watching the docks, and someone dumps a barrel into the river. The cops are suspicious that it might contain something other than trash, especially since the barrel was thrown into the water by a trio of characters who looks suspiciously like mobsters. When they have the divers explore the bottom of the river, another barrel is fished up, instead of the one they saw dumped, but this one contains the corpse of a NYPD detective who was supposedly corrupt, and dissappeared on the eve of his testimony on corruption, in which he was supposedly going to name names. Everyone always assumed he had run; now it appears he was killed instead. The plot proceeds from there, fairly regularly...

The novel has the feel of something that had been worked on for a long time. It was published in 1994, but is set in 1982, and since the victim was killed a decade before that, it almost has the feel of a nostalgia or even historical novel. There are no cell phones, no faxes, and the computer technology is primitive at best. The cops are tough-talking and not above planting a bit of evidence to convince a witness to talk. The women in the book are dealt with (by the cops, not the author) in a somewhat sexist fashion, and Gregory's attitude towards marriage is definitely of the Neanderthal variety.

I liked this book, and will recommend it. I will say that it's a bit predictable and has somewhat of a flat ending, but the plot in something like this is secondary to the characters and the atmosphere, and frankly both are very convincing and intriguing.

Rating:
Summary: Not your usual tough-guy cop story but a human one.
Review: This story, told in the first person, is an imaginative and interesting look at what a New York City detective really is...a human being with human frailties. It is also a really good mystery. I look forward to more from Mr. Dee.