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Content snapshot
Flag an inaccuracy →What's in this book, at a glance — five things readers want to know before they start.
Violence
Very heavy
Graphic violence throughout — executions, police brutality, assault; Winslow writes violence with unflinching specificity
Language
Very heavy
Extremely strong language throughout — one of the most profane crime novels of its era
Sexual Content
Some
Some adult sexual content; not the focus but present
Substance Use
A lot
Heavy drug use depicted by the drug trade characters; heavy drinking by the cops
Emotional Intensity
A lot
The psychology of institutional corruption — how a person justifies each small step until they are no longer the person they thought they were
What this book is about
Denny Malone runs the Manhattan North Special Task Force — an elite NYPD unit. He is genuinely brave, genuinely good at the job, and has also been skimming drug money for years. When the FBI turns a member of his unit, the question becomes not whether Malone will be caught but what he'll do when he is. Don Winslow's standalone novel is his closest thing to a moral tragedy — a portrait of how good people inside corrupt institutions slowly become the institution. Brutal in its violence and its honesty, it covers the same terrain as The Wire but from the cop's perspective, and with Winslow's characteristic refusal to look away.
Notes for sensitive readers
Reader-flagged moments and themes that may affect your experience.
extremely graphic violence
very strong language throughout
mature themes of police corruption and moral compromise
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