The Making of a Detective

by Harvey Rachlin

Traces the passage of New York Police Detective Dave Carbone from a rookie in Brooklyn's 75th precinct--one of the nation's toughest neighborhoods--to an expert crime fighter respected by the local gangs. Reprint.

Genres: Crime

416 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published September 1, 1995

Reviews

[Mongo103 · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely loved this book. An awesome read.

[Catten · Rating 4 out of 5]

In 1991, Harvey Rachlin published The Making of a Cop, in which he followed four NYPD recruits through their academy training. In 1995 he published The Making of a Detective, following one police officer, David Carbone, from the street to the detective's division.

I haven't read the first book, but I just finished The Making of a Detective. Rachlin is a thoughtful author, explaining without talking down, and describing the settings and people in vivid detail. And he knows what the reader wants. He gives you the hero, David Carbone, who has his problems as well as his triumphs. He shows you the inside of a crime scene and walks with you as Carbone goes from a green detective with a white shield (badge) to a tough, well-respected homicide detective with a gold shield. You get to know his peers, how he makes contacts, how he solves a murder, how he relates to his family. Rachlin must have been Carbone's shadow when he was putting this book together, because the reader really feels the aches, the pleasures, and the doggedness of Carbone.

Though I'm not familiar with New York, Rachlin draws a clear picture of Brooklyn's East New York precinct - the 75th - and how the daily battle between the law and the lawless go tirelessly on. He describes the weather, the buildings, the character of the neighborhoods. He introduces you to Derrick Vaughn, who witlessly walks out of Sing Sing into Carbone's care, only to be delivered to Riker's Island for murder. You meet Dana Poole, the uncle-turned-adoptive mother of a toddler found dumped in a trash compactor by her husband. You get to know and almost like 30-year-old Russell "Champ" Youmans, who Carbone grooms carefully to be a CI - a confidential informant. These are the players in the 75th's violent, senseless world. Baby killers, drug dealers, thugs, and gangsters are on one side, New York's Finest are on the other.

But Rachlin does it without passing judgment. The reaction is felt through Carbone. His outrage, his frustration, his cool, calculating and meticulous planning are there for the reader to experience. And this is how you see what makes an exceptional detective. He is sometimes unlikeable, arrogant and crude, yet you can't help but respect him.

For a powerful look into what life is like for a big-city detective, this book beats any fictionalized account I've ever read. From what I could tell, the procedures are fairly accurate (though I was told that today's cops NEVER stick a pen into the barrel of a gun to pick it up because it destroys evidence) and the relationships complex. I'm curious to see what a police officer might think about this book.

[Joe White · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a well written biographical feature story with a specific view of NY police detectives, focusing on one of the most successful in the early 90's. It is easy to see that this work may have heavily influenced several contemporary television series.

The story line did not get bogged down in details, and interwoven case links were interjected at various points while maintaining clarity to various cases. For me the greatest impact was the focus on how cases are actually worked, and the revelation that a detective does not work a case in a singular item tracing fashion as Sherlock Holmes may have. Here, many different parties at different times are involved in the actual fact and suspect tracing, with the individual leading detective playing a part as a coordinator-project manager who also has the responsibility for police case summation and perpetrator interrogation. The CSI unit, the patrol officers, other detective groups, other outside agencies, and the DA's office are all remote elements that mix in the interaction but at different and distinct times separate from the police detective. The actual tracking of the suspects is also more of a loosely coordinated event than a solo detective acting as a hound dog sniffer hot on a suspect's trail.

[Cws]

363.2

[Douglas Wickard · Rating 3 out of 5]

Digging around for research, this satisfied the itch! Good information.

[Joyce · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the non-fiction account of a young Detective's initiation as such in the NYPD. It is factual. The vignettes given with each chapter scream of reality. A well written biography.