Red Hook

Rating:
Summary: A terrific mystery, and, more imporantly, a great book
Review: For NYPD Detective Jack Leightner, the murder of a young, Dominican immigrant should have been just another case. But the execution-style killing evokes strong, unwelcome feelings and sad memories for the seasoned detective, a member of the elite Brooklyn South Homicide Task Force. And when the only possible witness is also brutally murdered, Jack starts to have serious doubts about his career, his past, his family, and sometimes his sanity. In the midst of the investigation, Jack is struggling to find common ground with his son, an aspiring documentary filmmaker.

Just as the case heats up, Jack is warned away by his superior. Has he become obsessed? Or is he just a thorough investigator?

I love picking up a first novel, with the (usually futile) hope that I'll get in on the ground floor, be one of the clever readers "in the know" who discovers a rare genius. Usually, of course, I'm disappointed. This time, however, I was delightfully surprised. Gabriel Cohen tells an absorbing tale fraught with emotion and realism. The characters are so genuine I half-expected to find their numbers in my Rolodex. The plot is fresh, yet not so outlandish as to stretch credibility. But the real shining star of his book is Cohen's sense of place. I'd never even heard of the neighborhood of Red Hook, until Cohen brought it to life for me. Now I feel like I've actually walked the cracked sidewalks. If he has more books like this in him, Cohen has a long, successful career in his future.

Rating:
Summary: Ode to a Neighborhood
Review: Having attended high school with Mr. Cohen, I was not surprised to find that his first book was well-crafted, engaging and intelligent. I was a little surprised that he didn't make his name in the field of music or academia first. (I do note that he lists playing guitar as a hobby in his bio.) He chose the detective novel as his genre, but it reads as much as a love song to the Red Hook neighborhood as anything. It is a scholarly book, and an emotional one. It manages to approach two common themes and freshly synthesize them into the detective genre: suppression of childhood trauma (as in Hitchcock's Marnie) and poor father-son communications/relationship. The police work seems authentic, but it is only part of the story. I am a fan of James Lee Burke, Earl Emerson, Robert B. Parker, and Dashiell Hammett. The book holds up in this company. Whether you are a detective fan or not, you will enjoy this book.

Rating:
Summary: real people, real places
Review: I didn't know that Red Hook is a district in New York City until I read this book which I liked. I say that because I do not read much fiction and am not a good judge. I read this all the way through which is good for me and denotes an interesting story. The flavor of a distressed neighborhood and the makeup of its citizens and geographical setting is really well done by the author. The story will hold your interest

Rating:
Summary: Great First Book
Review: I think this is the best book about a homicide detective that I have read in a long time. This book reminds me of the way that J A Jance writes about J P Beaumont. Jack seems to be a homicide detective with problems like the rest of the world. He is divorced and has a son he doesn't know. This is a story about Jack trying to solve a double homicide and also his relationship with his son that is 23 years old. For a first book, I thought it was exceptional and I can only guess that the next one will be as good or better.

Rating:
Summary: A taste of real life and the smell of the Gowanas canal
Review: I was born and grew up in Red Hook. When I was 9 years old, my life's ambition was to live to the ripe old age of 21, leave, and forget. After 50 years I almost succeeded in making a clean getaway to the far corners of the world until Gabriel Cohen's remarkable book yanked me back to the Brooklyn of my childhood - agonizing memories and more.

This book brought back the men of the 76 Precenct's P.A.L. where guys like Detective Jack Leightner donated their time to teach kids like me how to make a shoeshine box, play chess, take a picture with a Kodak and develop it ourselves.

Cohen creates a Jack Leightner's Brooklyn that rings true, transcends and transports like Hammett's Sam Spade, and Colin Dexter's Morse.

Those of us who need another Dashell and Dexter say Bravo Gabriel - I look forward to your next outstanding work.

Rating:
Summary: The mystery joins the ranks of fine literature!
Review: If you look for "Red Hook," you will find it listed as a "mystery." Hah! Don't believe that for one minute. Sure, there are a couple of murders and some good police investigation. However, the heart and soul of this book is about a man's search for himself...for acceptance of things past and the capacity to open his heart to the future.

Jack Leightner, a 50-year old divorced man, is a detective in a special homicide squad in Brooklyn. Jack is Brooklyn born and bred and has never had the desire to leave. I have often heard people say they like the sense of place they get from a book. If you want to spend some time in the real Brooklyn, this is your book. Mr. Cohen has captured the cultural differences of each neighborhood in that borough of New York.

When a man is found dead in the Red Hook section of Brooklyn, Jack and his special homicide unit are assigned the case. The circumstances surrounding this murder are a true to mystery to him and his partner. Why would anyone want to kill a Dominican janitor in such a brutal manner? In his tireless search for the answer, Jack not only confronts his childhood which was spent in Red Hook, but the future of this area of Brooklyn whose golden days seem long past.

Jack's exploration into his darkest and deepest hidden fears bring him face to face with his relationships with both the dead and the living. He tries to come to terms with a strained relationship with his dead father and his feelings about his younger brother who died at thirteen. While doing this, he is trying to reconnect with his 20-something son and enter into his first meaningful relationship with a woman in almost 20 years.

The ending of this book is second only to that of "The 25th Hour." I couldn't turn the last 20 pages fast enough. Like the famous roller coaster ride in Coney Island, Mr. Cohen takes you on a heart-thumping ride that sends you soaring and plummeting time and again. This does not end until the very last page when you can catch your breath and get off the ride.

With the publication of, among others, "The Bottoms," The 25th Hour" and "Mystic River, the mystery novel has joined the ranks of fine literature. Add "Red Hook" to this impressive list.

Five stars does not do this book justice. Pick up a copy and see if you're not rooting for Jack.

Rating:
Summary: Give Me Your Tired, Your Poor
Review: It is ironic that the broken, dispirited, rusted out district of Brooklyn called Red Hook has a magnificent view of the Statue of Liberty and one of the most beautiful bridges in the world, Verrazano-Narrows.

Detective Jack Leightner isn't just from Red Hook; he is Red Hook. He can no more remove himself than the spindly trees that grow, if not thrive, in the neighborhood. A Dominican man is found stabbed ... half in and half out of the putrid, polluted Gowanus canal. Hardened Detective Leightner almost faints at the sight of the cruel stab wounds. He is unbearably affected by this crime and pursues it long after his superiors want to put it in the unsolved file. As much as a mystery, "Red Hook" is the story of Jack's searching for redemption or at least self-acceptance. He has become a total outsider, but obviously a likeable man as many people reach out to him. Why do the stab wounds so profoundly affect Jack? What makes him totally reject his formative years in Red Hook? Why cannot he connect with his grown son? What happened to his younger brother who died at age thirteen? As another reviewer commented, all great books are mysteries, and "Red Hook" fills the bill.

In spite of the books introspection, it has a quick pace and a thunderous climax that literally left me limp. "Red Hook" works on many levels; the exquisite descriptions of light upon leaves and rusted out rubble, Jack as an existential man, and a thumping good police procedural. I hope to see more from this talented author.