Red on Red is a cop book, but not in the traditional police procedural vein. While there is a thread of related and unrelated crimes none of these take precedence in this novel. Instead, Mr. Conlon offers us a lyrical look at the city he loves and reveals what it's like on the job.

Throughout this book we get to ride along with two homicide detectives - Meehan and his new partner, Esposito (Espo). Theirs is an unlikely pairing - Meehan, Irish, withdrawn, dragging himself through the days; and Espo - Italian, family man with many women on the side, a taker of risks, filled with flash and charm. As we ride along with them, the true complexity of a police partnership is revealed.

Conlon has written believable and whole characters with real problems in a real city. Even his minor characters are unforgettable - Sister Agnes, the tough and scary Indian nun; Raul da Costa - potential murderer and rapist in red women's underpants; and Daysi - Meehan's impossible love.

Mr. Conlon moves through all the extraordinary parts of an ordinary day as a cop and takes us along for the ride. With beautiful prose and lyrical descriptions of New York (that often reminded me of Dylan Thomas' Under Milkwood) Red on Red doesn't sensationalize events, but lets them unfold of their own accord each moving to each as the days are melded together.

This is an extraordinary book and just what I expected from its writer, the author of Blue Blood, one of the best memoirs I've ever read.