Amazon.com: The Good Policeman (9780892963607): Jerome Charyn: Books

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Charyn's ( Secret Isaac ) high-energy, idiosyncratic prose is a perfect match for his hero, New York police commissioner Isaac Sidel, and his ricochet course through Manhattan's nine circles in his latest, complex adventure. The Justice Department has sent Isaac on a lecture tour to police departments across the country. But Isaac, impatient with inaction, frustrated by society's indifference and plagued by the tapeworm in his stomach, skips out in midtour and returns to New York where, upon sighting the woman who had been his first love when they were teenagers, he faints. Tracking "Anastasia," Isaac upsets all sorts of powerful forces, from rival mob families to Mayor Becky Karp and the FBI, and, in a combination of midlife crisis, burn-out and pure romanticism, treads on enough toes to land in Riker's Island prison on trumped-up charges. His courtroom triumph is accomplished by sleight of plot all the more convincing for its off-handedness. While Isaac's circle--his daughter Marilyn the Wild, Cardinal Jim and the members of the Christy Mathewson Club, a cadre of baseball fans critical to the movable allegiances and betrayals of the plot--give color and life to this antic tale, it's the Commish himself, bewildered and believable, who keeps us turning those pages and, by following his heart, wins ours.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

With practiced aplomb, Charyn puts New York City police commissioner Isaac Sidel, a tough, milk-swigging Jewish baseball nut, through his independent, if somewhat cliched paces. Cutting short a lecture tour, Sidel returns to New York, where he hopes to uncover the whereabouts of a missing gay lawyer for the mob, a mob accountant-in-hiding, and a former Romanian "princess" (and ex-lover of her Nazi uncle) now linked with the same mob. Isaac employs unorthodox procedures, disregards the directives of his powerful Justice Department boss, and ends up in jail himself as a mob connection. Rapid action, quickly defined minor characters, and the World War II association should attract a wide audience.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

More About the Author

› Visit Amazon's Jerome Charyn Page

I was born in the mean streets of the Bronx and have remained a city wolf, dividing my time between New York City and Paris.

I grew up reading comic books and watching movies; you can see their influences in my books. I started writing novels at the age of eleven; Amazon carries 40+ titles, fiction and non-fiction.

For the past fourteen years I taught film at the American University of Paris.

I love Emily Dickinson's poems and William Faulkner's novels. I also love Quentin Tarantino's "Pulp Fiction," which has the feel of a novel. (I wrote a book about Tarantino, "Raised by Wolves," after the film's release.)

My novel "The Secret Life of Emily Dickinson," published in 2010, inspired a community of more than 3500 Emily Dickinson Facebook fans dedicated to the poet's place in the 21st century.

"The Secret Life of Emily Dickinson" is now available in paperback in a reading group edition with online reading guide.

My most recent book, "Joe DiMaggio: The Long Vigil," was released on March 8, 2011, part of the Yale University Press series on American Icons. More than 1000 fans are already registered on its Facebook page.

I invite you to join me on Facebook for "The Secret Life of Emily Dickinson" or "Joe DiMaggio: The Long Vigil." Or visit my website: www.jeromecharyn.com