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City Cop
A policeman tells of his first years on the beat in New York City.
- GenresMemoir
105 pages, Paperback
First published March 1, 1979
2 people want to read
About the author
Fred J. Cook
48 books5 followersThe author of 45 books, Fred James Cook was an American investigative journalist, author and historian who has been published extensively in The Nation, the Asbury Park Press and The New York Times.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
February 17, 2020
3.2/5
Fred Cook's City Cop is a very barebones account of life as a New York City police officer in the 70's provided by veteran Carlos Acha. Most of what Acha and Cook write about in this is interesting, giving some insight into what police life was like back then. But it has no structure. There's nothing personal about it. This reads less like a biography and more like an extended article you'd find in a magazine or something. Which is kind of a shame, because despite the lack of 'big cases' or huge things happening in Acha's life, you could tell there's a lot of intriguing details left out of every situation he talks about in passing. It's just Acha talking about a bunch of random things that happened to him and Cook writing it down, and if this account took more than hour to read I wouldn't be able to hold my interest for long. If this had a bit more of a narrative structure and less of a rant-y feel to it, I think I would've enjoyed it a lot more. Ah well.
Fred Cook's City Cop is a very barebones account of life as a New York City police officer in the 70's provided by veteran Carlos Acha. Most of what Acha and Cook write about in this is interesting, giving some insight into what police life was like back then. But it has no structure. There's nothing personal about it. This reads less like a biography and more like an extended article you'd find in a magazine or something. Which is kind of a shame, because despite the lack of 'big cases' or huge things happening in Acha's life, you could tell there's a lot of intriguing details left out of every situation he talks about in passing. It's just Acha talking about a bunch of random things that happened to him and Cook writing it down, and if this account took more than hour to read I wouldn't be able to hold my interest for long. If this had a bit more of a narrative structure and less of a rant-y feel to it, I think I would've enjoyed it a lot more. Ah well.
Displaying 1 of 1 review