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French Connection: A True Account Of Cops, Narcotics, And International Conspiracy
With a new introduction by the author.
The true, absorbing and sometimes frightening documentary of the world's most successful narcotics investigation, The French Connection is one of the most fascinating crime accounts of our time. When New York City detectives Eddie "Popeye" Egan and his partner Sonny Grosso routinely tail Pasquale "Patsy" Fuca, after observing some wild spending at the Copacabana, they quickly realize that they are onto something really big. Patsy is not only the nephew of a mob boss on the lam but also a key negotiator in an impending delivery of narcotics from abroad. His incongruous connections are with several distinguished Frenchmen, including Jean Jehan, the director of the world's largest heroin network, and Jacques Angelvin, a star of French television.
For many suspense-filled months, through opulent Manhattan nightclubs, dark tenements in Brooklyn and the Bronx, tree-lined streets of the genteel Upper East Side, and in Paris, Marseilles, and Palermo, the duel is on -- the prize 112 pounds of pure heroin, worth ninety million on the streets. Over three hundred investigators from local, state, federal, and international agencies are ultimately involved in the hours of weary surveillance, the skilled intuition, the luck -- both good and bad -- and the danger.
The true, absorbing and sometimes frightening documentary of the world's most successful narcotics investigation, The French Connection is one of the most fascinating crime accounts of our time. When New York City detectives Eddie "Popeye" Egan and his partner Sonny Grosso routinely tail Pasquale "Patsy" Fuca, after observing some wild spending at the Copacabana, they quickly realize that they are onto something really big. Patsy is not only the nephew of a mob boss on the lam but also a key negotiator in an impending delivery of narcotics from abroad. His incongruous connections are with several distinguished Frenchmen, including Jean Jehan, the director of the world's largest heroin network, and Jacques Angelvin, a star of French television.
For many suspense-filled months, through opulent Manhattan nightclubs, dark tenements in Brooklyn and the Bronx, tree-lined streets of the genteel Upper East Side, and in Paris, Marseilles, and Palermo, the duel is on -- the prize 112 pounds of pure heroin, worth ninety million on the streets. Over three hundred investigators from local, state, federal, and international agencies are ultimately involved in the hours of weary surveillance, the skilled intuition, the luck -- both good and bad -- and the danger.
336 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1969
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 84 reviews
July 24, 2016
I fell victim to the success of the thrilling and tense Oscar winning movie thinking this would be every bit as gripping but on a deeper level that the film could not produce...it wasn't. As I have always been fascinated by this true-crime story and could simply not grasp just the size, time span and man power used that went into this operation, it was f***ing HUGE!, but this book just falls flat on it's face as it felt more like reading a police report that was dull with only flashes of anything worthy of my precious time. For any budding Popeye Doyle's out there you might be in dreamland with this, for anyone else don't bother as this belongs under lock and key in a downtown precinct storeroom.
August 12, 2015
If anything, this book proves how tedious most police work is. There is more action in the last ten pages than in the preceding two hundred. Nearly the entire book is a long series of stakeouts at various locations as the police and FBI tail a series of suspects in a heroin smuggling ring. They drove down this street, they drove down that street, they stayed at this hotel, they ate this for dinner. It's as boring as watching paint dry. It would have been better summarized in a long magazine article. All of the action from the movie was fabricated. The car chase, the assassination attempt, the pursuit through the warehouse at the end. Watch the movie instead, unless you need a cure for insomnia.
September 29, 2018
I don't really do true crime books but occasionally I break this rule. This is the book that triggered the film and what a book and what a film. Obviously the book is different from the film, it is a fascinating insight into the lives of narcotic detectives in the 60's, it shows the hard labourious work that goes into an investigation and the risks the detectives will make to convict felons. Great read.
June 23, 2009
first of all, let me say that i really enjoy crime dramas, in general. so here's my review.
ok. technically, i didn't actually "read" this whole book. i had to quit when i got to page 108, dead-center in the middle of the chapter. i had to stop because i'd rather poke my eyeballs out with a rusty coathanger than finish this book.
i don't think i've ever been so bored by a book in my life. i'd rather read war and peace from back to front, standing on my head in a pool of vomit. i'd rather...oh, i could go on, but you get the idea.
now don't think i'm a quitter. i can stick it out with boring, tedious, annoying books along with the best of em.
i've just decided im not gunna do it with this particular book. why continue to torture myself?
"the french connection" is basicly a blow-by-blow description of a police investigation of the heroin trade that took place in the early 70's. it reads like a police report. books aren't supposed to be written like a police report, they're supposed to be INTERESTING, not TEDIOUS.
i think i'll netflix the MOVIE instead...
ok. technically, i didn't actually "read" this whole book. i had to quit when i got to page 108, dead-center in the middle of the chapter. i had to stop because i'd rather poke my eyeballs out with a rusty coathanger than finish this book.
i don't think i've ever been so bored by a book in my life. i'd rather read war and peace from back to front, standing on my head in a pool of vomit. i'd rather...oh, i could go on, but you get the idea.
now don't think i'm a quitter. i can stick it out with boring, tedious, annoying books along with the best of em.
i've just decided im not gunna do it with this particular book. why continue to torture myself?
"the french connection" is basicly a blow-by-blow description of a police investigation of the heroin trade that took place in the early 70's. it reads like a police report. books aren't supposed to be written like a police report, they're supposed to be INTERESTING, not TEDIOUS.
i think i'll netflix the MOVIE instead...
April 21, 2019
I knew the book was going to be different from the famous movie, but wow, I didn't expect they'd be that different. Popeye and Sonny are in the book, along with a heroin bust and a French connection, but that's where the similarities end. The book is a non-fiction account of the real-life case, and I'll tell ya, it's pretty much a litany of stakeouts, car tailings, and waiting in hotel lobbies with all the tedium they involve. You could plot your own map of where they drove tailing the criminals, it's set down with such real-time GPS precision:
'...Patsy was now veering off the Drive at the 73rd St. exit. He drove the block west to York Avenue, then went right, uptown again. At 87th St., Patsy made another right, and midway between York and East End Avenue...squeezed the big Caddy into a space by the curb. "He's parking on Eighty-second, "Gonzalez reported.'
Pages and pages of that. I hung in there to find out how they finally caught the crooks--at least that was gratifying.
'...Patsy was now veering off the Drive at the 73rd St. exit. He drove the block west to York Avenue, then went right, uptown again. At 87th St., Patsy made another right, and midway between York and East End Avenue...squeezed the big Caddy into a space by the curb. "He's parking on Eighty-second, "Gonzalez reported.'
Pages and pages of that. I hung in there to find out how they finally caught the crooks--at least that was gratifying.
March 7, 2025
Highly fictionalized story of an early 1962 drug bust, later made into a famous movie starring the late Gene Hackman. A lot of the book is stakeout and waiting; most of the action is in the last 10 pages.
The author did a good job of describing the situation, and sometimes cuts away from the stakeout to describe what the drug traffickers are actually doing. This worked well. I said highly fictionalized above, but the actual spoken words weren't strictly necessary to convey the events. Tellingly, the Dewey decimal classification is for "literature" not "history".
The pursuit which became a famous chase scene in the film was very dull and hard to follow for this non New Yorker. A map might have helped, but it still stretches over 20+ pages of street names, losing then regaining the cars, etc. I assume much of this was drawn from the actual police report.
The author did a good job of describing the situation, and sometimes cuts away from the stakeout to describe what the drug traffickers are actually doing. This worked well. I said highly fictionalized above, but the actual spoken words weren't strictly necessary to convey the events. Tellingly, the Dewey decimal classification is for "literature" not "history".
The pursuit which became a famous chase scene in the film was very dull and hard to follow for this non New Yorker. A map might have helped, but it still stretches over 20+ pages of street names, losing then regaining the cars, etc. I assume much of this was drawn from the actual police report.
July 6, 2025
Closer to a 2.5. It is competently written, but it is a dull read. It's literally following people around for 200 plus pages while mainly playing keystone cops. They end up getting lucky, but it's still just so boring. Two narcotic detectives stumble on to a big lead, and they work it to try and upset the entire mob family that is bringing heroin into the country.
Can't recommend, this is definitely one book where the film is better. I'm sure it's fairly accurate, but it's so dull. Nothing actually happens. Then, when it ends, there are another 30 pages still going through routine info.
Can't recommend, this is definitely one book where the film is better. I'm sure it's fairly accurate, but it's so dull. Nothing actually happens. Then, when it ends, there are another 30 pages still going through routine info.
November 12, 2007
This was another one I decided to not finish and just watch the movie instead. I had a hard time following the story because I didn't know my way around New York and didn't bother to study the map that was included. The movie won best picture in the 70's and it was okay for us. After watching the movie, I didn't feel the need to finish the book.
March 5, 2008
I read this when I was in junior high and was absolutely riveted by the whole story. I don't remember most books I read that long ago, but this title has stayed in my mind all these years. What's really funny is that when I read it, I thought it was a novel!
September 16, 2014
When I found this at a yard sale I was so pleased because I love the movie of this true tale. I skimmed over the book and enjoyed looking at the photographs, but to be honest "The World's Most Crucial Narcotics Investigation" is so dry that it's almost boring. I would rather watch the movie.
September 4, 2025
This book is dated and it showed. Some of the conspiracy is compelling but huge chunks of the book are really turn by turn accounts of cops following suspects, it felt like Moore was padding his page count by the third chapter of this nonsense. In a post-Goodfellas/Sopranos world I found myself rooting for the Mafia guys half the time and half the time they got away. It's kind of a miracle that the case got solved with so much bumbling going on. There are parts of the investigation that don't pass the smell test either. Like I suspect the cops were crooked or making some stuff up at times. Lastly Robin Moore, the author, later supported Rhodesia, screw this racist clown too. In this book the only time dialect is used is when Italians-Americans are quoted. Moore is douche. This edition came to me free so I picked it up and like I always say, Always Carry A Book.
May 3, 2020
https://nwhyte.livejournal.com/3381681.html
The book purports to be a journalistic account of the original heroin bust of 1962, but is clearly very fictionalised - verbatim dialogue and other incidental details inserted wholesale into the text, plus (perhaps more important) the third of the three detectives who actually solved the case is written out of history. It is very good on the detail of the heroin trade (largely absent from the film). It's also racist, sexist and homophobic.
The book purports to be a journalistic account of the original heroin bust of 1962, but is clearly very fictionalised - verbatim dialogue and other incidental details inserted wholesale into the text, plus (perhaps more important) the third of the three detectives who actually solved the case is written out of history. It is very good on the detail of the heroin trade (largely absent from the film). It's also racist, sexist and homophobic.
July 6, 2025
The French Connection based on the book by Robin Moore, with Gene Hackman in the leading role http://realini.blogspot.com/2017/06/n...
10 out of 10
This is an iconic motion picture, one of the Best 100 of All Time, with a stupendous Gene Hackman dominating the big or small screen, in the leading role of Jimmy Doyle aka Popeye, for which he has won one of his two Oscars…the other was for the astonishing Unforgiven http://realini.blogspot.com/2020/07/o... Gene Hackman was nec plus ultra
However, it is interesting to see how things have changed, and some of them have not, in that they could not make a French Connection by saying that the aggressive Doyle is a positive character, he would be the villain, in a movie made now, given that from the start, he kicks and hits a suspect, granted, the latter had just used a knife against his partner, Buddy Russo aka Roy Scheider- this is another glorious artist, the star of All That Jazz http://realini.blogspot.com/2017/08/n...
Our hero – maybe the anti-hero – had to extract important information from the underworld, but this is what they all say, and they justify violence using the philosophy of Bentham, do something to benefit the most people, and if that affects one individual, then you have to go ahead…there is this example they have in lectures available online, from Yale I think they are, in which they ask students to consider a test
You have a railway line and a train is coming, if it takes one track, it will kill one person, on another, there are more, I forgot the details, but it is in the power of the individual to change the course, so what would you do…things can be more complicated, and this is not as obvious a choice as it sounds, in circumstances where, fro instance you have a group of thugs who pressure, torment or worse a single man, who has the keys or access to the vault of the bank, from which they want some millions of dollars.
In theory, it is a few, maybe as many as fifty five ghouls that would rejoice with stolen money… we can even multiply this and I am thinking of Trump and his cult members, their happiness would be to steal elections (they have tried it, and their spiritual guru is facing indictments now, but the fools do not care, they want to dismantle the FBI, DOJ anything that stands between the White House and their dinosaur)
What do we do then, let the world explode, because an idiot and a sick fool with Narcissistic Personality Disorder has to play with the red buttons, pretend he is an adult and the ‘very stable genius’ he claims to be?
Let us come back to the French Connection, where they are using a technique from Influence http://realini.blogspot.com/2016/05/i... a classic of psychology by Robert Cialdini, exposing the six principles, social acceptance, reciprocity, respect for authority, the one that applies in this instance appears to be reciprocity, though it could well be a combination of factors
Doyle seems to be frantic, always tense, ready to fight, you would say definitely a neurotic character – this reminds me of Scoop http://realini.blogspot.com/2018/07/s... by Evelyn Waugh, one of the greatest writers, with a series of extraordinary books listed among the masterpieces of history, Brideshead Revisited, Decline and Fall, The Loved One, vile Bodies, Black Mischief
The list longer, but nevertheless, in Scoop, we have a journalist that travels to Africa, to cover events there, and he works for Lord Copper, some of the dialogue has made history and I have read about it in The King’s English http://realini.blogspot.com/2023/07/t... by His Majesty Kingsley Amis – when telling the employer something authentic, an assistant he has says ‘definitely Lord Copper’, but when it is not true, the same man only dares ‘up to a point, Lord Copper’, which is both excruciatingly funny, and so deep, truthful, for this is what happens
We can see it with this tragicomic spectacle in America, with Trump -such a leit motif here, some criticize this ‘obsession’, but I retort that this is arguably the most important show that we can watch, for once the gorilla (and they are such nice animals) is back in the White House, then all hell will break loose, and we will all be affected, unless you live on the space station, and even then you are not safe, the creature will sell this part of the world to Putin, for peanuts and some compliments from the czar, and then he will avenge what he sees as ‘witch hunt’, but it only an effort to make the criminal pay…
The most tempting thing is to say I cannot believe it still, after all these years of a permanent circus, this degradation of America – let me put here the red states, but they are many, then they could well be enough, again, in 2024, even when the ‘popular vote’ is lost by millions, to get the pterodactyl anointed ‘king of the free world’- which has this basic flaw, that they have an electoral system that allows for the minority to rule, in that Hilary Clinton would have been president in 2016, in another democracy, where they count all the votes, and the one who has more wins, well, not so fast in the USA…
This was supposed to be about The French Connection, but then it was about the US, which even now has a major drug problem, but as I insist ad nauseam here, there is another one, a potential calamity that awaits us all…
Now for a question, and invitation – maybe you have a good idea on how we could make more than a million dollars with this http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/02/u... – as it is, this is a unique technique, which we could promote, sell, open the Oscars show with or something and then make lots of money together, if you have the how, I have the product, I just do not know how to get the befits from it, other than the exercise per se
As for my role in the Revolution that killed Ceausescu, a smaller Mao, there it is http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/r...
10 out of 10
This is an iconic motion picture, one of the Best 100 of All Time, with a stupendous Gene Hackman dominating the big or small screen, in the leading role of Jimmy Doyle aka Popeye, for which he has won one of his two Oscars…the other was for the astonishing Unforgiven http://realini.blogspot.com/2020/07/o... Gene Hackman was nec plus ultra
However, it is interesting to see how things have changed, and some of them have not, in that they could not make a French Connection by saying that the aggressive Doyle is a positive character, he would be the villain, in a movie made now, given that from the start, he kicks and hits a suspect, granted, the latter had just used a knife against his partner, Buddy Russo aka Roy Scheider- this is another glorious artist, the star of All That Jazz http://realini.blogspot.com/2017/08/n...
Our hero – maybe the anti-hero – had to extract important information from the underworld, but this is what they all say, and they justify violence using the philosophy of Bentham, do something to benefit the most people, and if that affects one individual, then you have to go ahead…there is this example they have in lectures available online, from Yale I think they are, in which they ask students to consider a test
You have a railway line and a train is coming, if it takes one track, it will kill one person, on another, there are more, I forgot the details, but it is in the power of the individual to change the course, so what would you do…things can be more complicated, and this is not as obvious a choice as it sounds, in circumstances where, fro instance you have a group of thugs who pressure, torment or worse a single man, who has the keys or access to the vault of the bank, from which they want some millions of dollars.
In theory, it is a few, maybe as many as fifty five ghouls that would rejoice with stolen money… we can even multiply this and I am thinking of Trump and his cult members, their happiness would be to steal elections (they have tried it, and their spiritual guru is facing indictments now, but the fools do not care, they want to dismantle the FBI, DOJ anything that stands between the White House and their dinosaur)
What do we do then, let the world explode, because an idiot and a sick fool with Narcissistic Personality Disorder has to play with the red buttons, pretend he is an adult and the ‘very stable genius’ he claims to be?
Let us come back to the French Connection, where they are using a technique from Influence http://realini.blogspot.com/2016/05/i... a classic of psychology by Robert Cialdini, exposing the six principles, social acceptance, reciprocity, respect for authority, the one that applies in this instance appears to be reciprocity, though it could well be a combination of factors
Doyle seems to be frantic, always tense, ready to fight, you would say definitely a neurotic character – this reminds me of Scoop http://realini.blogspot.com/2018/07/s... by Evelyn Waugh, one of the greatest writers, with a series of extraordinary books listed among the masterpieces of history, Brideshead Revisited, Decline and Fall, The Loved One, vile Bodies, Black Mischief
The list longer, but nevertheless, in Scoop, we have a journalist that travels to Africa, to cover events there, and he works for Lord Copper, some of the dialogue has made history and I have read about it in The King’s English http://realini.blogspot.com/2023/07/t... by His Majesty Kingsley Amis – when telling the employer something authentic, an assistant he has says ‘definitely Lord Copper’, but when it is not true, the same man only dares ‘up to a point, Lord Copper’, which is both excruciatingly funny, and so deep, truthful, for this is what happens
We can see it with this tragicomic spectacle in America, with Trump -such a leit motif here, some criticize this ‘obsession’, but I retort that this is arguably the most important show that we can watch, for once the gorilla (and they are such nice animals) is back in the White House, then all hell will break loose, and we will all be affected, unless you live on the space station, and even then you are not safe, the creature will sell this part of the world to Putin, for peanuts and some compliments from the czar, and then he will avenge what he sees as ‘witch hunt’, but it only an effort to make the criminal pay…
The most tempting thing is to say I cannot believe it still, after all these years of a permanent circus, this degradation of America – let me put here the red states, but they are many, then they could well be enough, again, in 2024, even when the ‘popular vote’ is lost by millions, to get the pterodactyl anointed ‘king of the free world’- which has this basic flaw, that they have an electoral system that allows for the minority to rule, in that Hilary Clinton would have been president in 2016, in another democracy, where they count all the votes, and the one who has more wins, well, not so fast in the USA…
This was supposed to be about The French Connection, but then it was about the US, which even now has a major drug problem, but as I insist ad nauseam here, there is another one, a potential calamity that awaits us all…
Now for a question, and invitation – maybe you have a good idea on how we could make more than a million dollars with this http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/02/u... – as it is, this is a unique technique, which we could promote, sell, open the Oscars show with or something and then make lots of money together, if you have the how, I have the product, I just do not know how to get the befits from it, other than the exercise per se
As for my role in the Revolution that killed Ceausescu, a smaller Mao, there it is http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/r...
October 28, 2025
3.5/5
I found this book at a Greyhound station in Colorado. It wasn't the original printing, but it was from 1973, which is still pretty cool. It's survived a while! The movie adaptation of this was a snoozefest for me, but the book was a success. I think the main character development was on point. There were a ton of characters in this book, and they all had similar 1970s white guy names. But I kept up pretty easily because they were all painstakingly described. The writing was really descriptive and just plain good. That is a blessing because otherwise it would have been a slog. At least 100+ pages were "and then we followed him here, but now he's going there, oh wait, he's over here now." Somehow, Moore still managed to build suspense through these scenes.
The plot was super complex because of all the characters, locations, cars, and general convolution of the drug smuggling scheme. It get's 3.5 stars because so much of the plot was hurry up and wait, and there could have been more propulsive action.
I found this book at a Greyhound station in Colorado. It wasn't the original printing, but it was from 1973, which is still pretty cool. It's survived a while! The movie adaptation of this was a snoozefest for me, but the book was a success. I think the main character development was on point. There were a ton of characters in this book, and they all had similar 1970s white guy names. But I kept up pretty easily because they were all painstakingly described. The writing was really descriptive and just plain good. That is a blessing because otherwise it would have been a slog. At least 100+ pages were "and then we followed him here, but now he's going there, oh wait, he's over here now." Somehow, Moore still managed to build suspense through these scenes.
The plot was super complex because of all the characters, locations, cars, and general convolution of the drug smuggling scheme. It get's 3.5 stars because so much of the plot was hurry up and wait, and there could have been more propulsive action.
February 19, 2014
Even though you know ahead of time that the cops will bust the heroin distributors, it doesn't take away from the interest & pull of the book. I totally enjoyed reading all the details... the painstaking stake-outs, following suspects only to lose them time & again, the reminder that police work in the 1960s didn't have the conveniences of cellphones & GPS tracking, the fact that many of these detectives worked around the clock with rare breaks when tracking a big bust like this, the importance of the Grand Jury, ....
If you enjoy non-fiction & true crime sagas (esp. w/out gory details since this was a drug distribution case), I highly recommend it. Now I'd definitely love to see the Oscar-winning movie which the book spawned.
Thumbs-up. Serendipity served me well in finding this novel. (I found it on a book swap shelf when I was traveling.) Great read.
If you enjoy non-fiction & true crime sagas (esp. w/out gory details since this was a drug distribution case), I highly recommend it. Now I'd definitely love to see the Oscar-winning movie which the book spawned.
Thumbs-up. Serendipity served me well in finding this novel. (I found it on a book swap shelf when I was traveling.) Great read.
February 20, 2013
The surveillance is exhaustively detailed, but I did find it interesting. I give it four stars. If you can find a hardcover, or pre-movie paperback, some American editions include a photo section with cool photos of the participants...and the car. Iconic cover art.
February 19, 2017
Really different from the movie. Loved this book.
Read
February 11, 2022How different crime investigations were. There's no high speed chase.
October 14, 2023
Good plot, pacing, and character development….it is totally believable that a local NYC cop would get into a fistfight with a Federal agent because they’re both frustrated at mishaps. There’s realistic description of the level of deep tiredness from hours of frustrating and fruitless observation. It’s maddening that the Frogs got away with an entire bag of cash, and bags of heroin were successfully moved out of Joe Fuca’s trashed house, all because officers got excited at the action of the moment and forgot to post guards. It’s satisfying that at pivotal points, the Mafia either lost or executed their own members for incompetence.
I might feel more satisfaction in the end result if the general trend of the War on Drugs could show more successes. As it is, despite the strong sentencing of the ‘Hanging Judge’/reformed criminal law attorney, I can’t help but feel like I got an interesting glance into the law enforcement version of the merry-go-round.
It’s also not encouraging that a French television star could say that American prisons were more comfortable than French hotels. That old degenerate should have been a lot more miserable.
In short, I’m glad I read it (truth is stranger than fiction!) and I’m certainly glad that police officers get ideas about investigating diner owners who get more respect than they should. But I don’t think it’s a re-read.
I might feel more satisfaction in the end result if the general trend of the War on Drugs could show more successes. As it is, despite the strong sentencing of the ‘Hanging Judge’/reformed criminal law attorney, I can’t help but feel like I got an interesting glance into the law enforcement version of the merry-go-round.
It’s also not encouraging that a French television star could say that American prisons were more comfortable than French hotels. That old degenerate should have been a lot more miserable.
In short, I’m glad I read it (truth is stranger than fiction!) and I’m certainly glad that police officers get ideas about investigating diner owners who get more respect than they should. But I don’t think it’s a re-read.
May 2, 2020
The movie was basically a standard 1970's cookie-cutter police-based action flick. The book showed the 1962 case as it actually was. No car chase, no shootouts, just plain vanilla police work and how it was done.
The actual story had two police partners on their day off at the Copacabana club in New York City, and they happen to notice a customer there getting paid large sums by known local gangsters. They follow the man to learn he runs a small eating establishment. Also, they learn of a "heroin panic" in the city where supplies are drying up. They put two and two together and investigate this man further, and learn of a possible shipment of heroin coming to the city.
It is a standard police procedural, where luck is a factor but most of it is basic hard work. Elements from this book do find their way into the movie-the umbrella handle used to trick a policeman into leaving a subway car, several people from France being involved-including a French television star, and an automobile making its way from outside the USA being accidentally found by the police.
This is no actioner, but very interesting history.
The actual story had two police partners on their day off at the Copacabana club in New York City, and they happen to notice a customer there getting paid large sums by known local gangsters. They follow the man to learn he runs a small eating establishment. Also, they learn of a "heroin panic" in the city where supplies are drying up. They put two and two together and investigate this man further, and learn of a possible shipment of heroin coming to the city.
It is a standard police procedural, where luck is a factor but most of it is basic hard work. Elements from this book do find their way into the movie-the umbrella handle used to trick a policeman into leaving a subway car, several people from France being involved-including a French television star, and an automobile making its way from outside the USA being accidentally found by the police.
This is no actioner, but very interesting history.
February 10, 2024
Premise: 4
Plot: 5
Style: 3
The premise of "The French Connection" is not new to us, but it might've been considered fresh in its time. Still it had me interested with its gritty portrayal of crime and narcotics. It's a solid foundation for a thrilling story. The relentless pursuit of traffickers by the detectives is classic cat-and-mouse and the twists and turns added a layer of excitement that I always look for in action fiction.
The narration is straightforward. Not bad, though, and it seemed fitting. Its intense scenes made it an engaging read. However, a bit more depth in character development could have enhanced it overall.
To put it shortly, if you're into action-packed tales with a gripping storyline, "The French Connection" won't disappoint. The relentless chase and quick turns make it a standout choice for those who crave suspense and intrigue.
Plot: 5
Style: 3
The premise of "The French Connection" is not new to us, but it might've been considered fresh in its time. Still it had me interested with its gritty portrayal of crime and narcotics. It's a solid foundation for a thrilling story. The relentless pursuit of traffickers by the detectives is classic cat-and-mouse and the twists and turns added a layer of excitement that I always look for in action fiction.
The narration is straightforward. Not bad, though, and it seemed fitting. Its intense scenes made it an engaging read. However, a bit more depth in character development could have enhanced it overall.
To put it shortly, if you're into action-packed tales with a gripping storyline, "The French Connection" won't disappoint. The relentless chase and quick turns make it a standout choice for those who crave suspense and intrigue.
April 14, 2018
In 1960’s NYC two off-duty narcotics officers notice a previously unknown mobster type consorting with known criminals at the Copacabana. This kicks off a months long investigation involving the mob, French heroin traffickers, and soooo much surveillance.
I’d say that at least 70-80% of the book describes surveillance, including interminable scenes in which we get blow by blow descriptions of the exact routes taken in shadowing the suspects as they performed evasive maneuvers. I think that these scenes would be interesting for a New Yorker, but for a non-local they can get a bit tedious and confusing.
Overall, it’s interesting to see an old-school investigation where (for the most part) the good guys win, but this is not an action-oriented book. I’ve never seen the movie based on this book so I can’t compare them, but my guess is that there’s some serious embellishment to make it acceptable movie fare.
I’d say that at least 70-80% of the book describes surveillance, including interminable scenes in which we get blow by blow descriptions of the exact routes taken in shadowing the suspects as they performed evasive maneuvers. I think that these scenes would be interesting for a New Yorker, but for a non-local they can get a bit tedious and confusing.
Overall, it’s interesting to see an old-school investigation where (for the most part) the good guys win, but this is not an action-oriented book. I’ve never seen the movie based on this book so I can’t compare them, but my guess is that there’s some serious embellishment to make it acceptable movie fare.
February 7, 2023
I didn't finish this! Too much yet so little happened. Robin would go on for pages about tailing someone and little action would ever occur. The book cover had me excited, so did the blurb, but it just failed to keep my attention. I was about 3/4 through and I felt like so little had actually happened, I had to stop reading. Also the way they have to define everything "drugs means junk", "this means that", "this is that nickname we never attribute to this cop" like ok? What do I do with all this? The information isn't hard to gather. The part that really had me was when they're tailing a car through Brooklyn under the bridge and through different streets, it's mazelike in both imagery and words, I got lost. I wouldn't recommend this, to be honest.
April 29, 2020
The REAL (not reel) story behind the drug bust, one of the largest ever. The book reveals the dogged determination of the detectives and agents who, because of the era (1961-62) had to rely on personal observation (tailing) of the suspects, public phones, shabby police radios, etc., rather than all the electronic marvels used by law enforcement today. The detectives and agents were true heroes, tough guys for a tough job. They sat in cars or dank basements for hours - no sexy car chases - in their efforts to "follow the money" (or drugs).
February 22, 2024
Everyone has heard of it.
No one has read it.
There's a reason for that.
It's not a very good book.
The good story gets buried under an avalanche of true but utterly unnecessary details -i.e. multiple turn by turn descriptions of car tailings that can go on for twenty pages at a pop and are utterly meaningless to any but a lifelong New Yorker. Each one grinds the story to a numbing halt, and while the amounts involved at the time -'112 pounds of heroin' 'a quarter million dollars' - must have been large, inflation and escalation have made them pedestrian.
No one has read it.
There's a reason for that.
It's not a very good book.
The good story gets buried under an avalanche of true but utterly unnecessary details -i.e. multiple turn by turn descriptions of car tailings that can go on for twenty pages at a pop and are utterly meaningless to any but a lifelong New Yorker. Each one grinds the story to a numbing halt, and while the amounts involved at the time -'112 pounds of heroin' 'a quarter million dollars' - must have been large, inflation and escalation have made them pedestrian.
August 24, 2024
I think the 1971 movie made the book famous. Three fourths of the book is mostly about two NYC detectives Eddie Egan (Irish descent) and Sonny Grosso (Italian descent) who, in 1961, stumbled on a drug trafficking (heroin) ring. They followed the drug dealers around Brooklyn, the Bronx, Queens, and Manhattan. There's lots and lots of detail about the surveillance, such as the streets and places the police monitored. However, little happens until near the end. People who do surveillance might relate to the book.
December 14, 2018
Follow the many tense months of investigation and stakeouts as the Narcotics Bureau desperately tries to pin down one of the biggest heroin meetups on a group of slippery traffickers that are drawing close and closer to the biggest payoff of their lives. Moore delivers a short but slow-paced journey that will entertain suspense fans with its many turns and focus on details. One wrong move could mean a city overrun with an unstoppable barrage of drugs...
January 13, 2019
Con esta obra se demuestra que ser periodista y tener una buena historia no es suficiente para escribir una buena novela. Porque más importante que disponer de un gran material, y lo que es más, real, es saber cómo contarlo en forma de novela. Y en estos lances, Robin Moore naufraga, tanto como acertó William Friedkin llevando la misma historia a la gran pantalla.
July 24, 2020
Reading this in 2020 is a step back in history. The planning and coordinating efforts of the various agencies were impressive considering this was before the digital age. It was a good read, just a bit tedious getting through the details of all the many turns onto the various streets as they trailed the suspects involved in the french connection.
May 2, 2023
I bought this book because I wanted to understand the movie better. The novel is different than the movie, which took great liberties to add more action.
I saw some of the other reviews here, with people complaining about how dull the novel is. It's true. Most of the book involves the cops watching, following, losing, and finding the suspects -- again and again and again. What they were doing sounds boring, so a lot of the reading is boring.
Nonetheless, I don't think this book was a waste of time. Just don't expect anything like the attempted assassination of Popeye and subsequent car chasing the assassin who was on the subway -- it didn't happen in real life.
I saw some of the other reviews here, with people complaining about how dull the novel is. It's true. Most of the book involves the cops watching, following, losing, and finding the suspects -- again and again and again. What they were doing sounds boring, so a lot of the reading is boring.
Nonetheless, I don't think this book was a waste of time. Just don't expect anything like the attempted assassination of Popeye and subsequent car chasing the assassin who was on the subway -- it didn't happen in real life.
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