Red on Red : A Novel

A gripping debut work of crime fiction, from the author of the bestselling memoir about life as a New York City cop, Blue Blood . (“May be the best account ever written of life behind the badge.” — Time ) In Red on Red, Edward Conlon tells the electrifying and suspenseful story of two NYPD detectives, Meehan and Esposito: one damaged and introspective, the other ambitious and unscrupulous. Meehan is compelled by haunting and elusive stories that defy easy resolution, while Esposito is drawn to cases of rough and ordinary combat. A fierce and unlikely friendship develops between them and plays out against a tangle of mysteries: a lonely immigrant who hangs herself in Inwood Hill Park, a serial rapist preying on upper Manhattan, a troubled Catholic schoolgirl who appears in the wrong place with uncanny regularity, and a savage gang war that erupts over a case of mistaken identity. A literary thriller about the twisted dynamic of a successful police partnership—the tests of loyalty, the necessary betrayals, the intersections of life and work— Red on Red tells an unrelenting and exciting story that captures the grittiness, complexity, ironies, and compromises of life on the job. From the Hardcover edition. The author of the celebrated memoir Blue Blood (“May be the best account ever written of life behind the badge.” — Time ) delivers a mesmerizing, relentless thriller that rings with the truth of what it takes to be an NYPD detective. Nick Meehan is introspective, haunted, and burned out on the Job. He is transferred to a squad in the upper reaches of Manhattan and paired with Esposito—a hungry, driven cop who has mostly good intentions but trouble following the rules. The two develop a fierce friendship that plays out against a tangle of mysteries: a hanging in a city park, a serial rapist at large, a wayward Catholic schoolgirl who may be a victim of abuse, and a savage gang war that erupts over a case of mistaken identity. Red on Red captures the vibrant dynamic of a successful police partnership—the tests of loyalty, the necessary betrayals, the wedding of life and work. Conlon is a natural and perceptive storyteller, awake to the ironies and compromises of life on the Job and the beauty and brutality of the city itself. NYPD detectives Meehan and Esposito have very different personalities, but their friendship develops as they investigate a variety of mysteries, including a lonely immigrant who hangs herself in Inwood Hill Park, a serial rapist in upper Manhattan, a troubled Catholic schoolgirl who constantly ends up in the wrong place, and a ruthless gang war