Born-Again New Yorker

If you are a voracious reader like I am (that wasn’t the case as a youngster attending Holy Name) you have your favorite authors.Whether it’s King, Grisham, Feinstein, Rowling, Albom, or even Mike Lupica.

I have come to realize that one of my favorite author’s is someone who lived right in my backyard (not really but a few blocks away). He grew up on 12th street in Windsor Terrace and today has a column in the New York Daily News. I try and get his material on-line at the News’ website as often as possible.

I’m talking about Windsor Terrace’s own Denis Hamill.

Finishing books isn’t very difficult for me these days; I can get through a novel or a biography in about a week to ten days.

Saturday night I came across Hamill’s novel 3 Quarters and was able to finish it in four days; a personal record for me!

Miss Monzillo would be proud of her former 7th grade student who didn’t like to read; make that REFUSED TO READ!

3 Quarters is a suspense/mystery/romance and at times, a few hints of humor that anyone who has grown up in New York City would love.

The characters are all very interesting and from Hamill’s writing style, he makes you feel like you were actually side-by-side with Bobby Emmitt throughout. You are taken through the streets of New York from Avenue U in Brooklyn to the Upper West Side of Manhattan.Hamill writes about corrupt cops in New York City and how they try and strong-arm others into a life of false financial security and for some, misery.

I loved the part about the Lincoln high school basketball player.

Oh yeah, I also love Izzy Gleason and Herbie!Here’s a great preview from Jill Clardy, taken from the Amazon.com website.

There are so many bad cops in this novel that you begin to wonder if the entire NYPD is corrupt. The book opens with a grizzly scene when Dr. Hector Perez awakens to find himself next to a dead prostitute clutching three 1991 quarters. He quickly eradicates any evidence of his presence and goes back home to his pregnant wife. Next, we visit Bobby Emmett in the Wallkill State Correction Facility. Bobby is an ex-cop who was imprisoned for the murder of his girl friend, Dorothea; however a body was never found, and Bobby was obviously framed. Prison is not a good place for an ex-cop, and he is taunted, threatened and assaulted with constant banging on the steel bars. Bobby is visited by a sleazy lawyer, Izzy Gleason, who is just getting off a one-year bar association ethics committee suspension, and wants to restore his reputation by re-trying Bobby’s case.When Bobby starts to investigate his case, he finds that evidence was suppressed and there was a conspiracy among police and lawyers who are involved in a big-time scam to approve three-quarter pensions for corrupt cops. He is convinced that Dorothea is still alive, and his efforts to locate her and uncover the scam place him in constant peril.The dialogue is gritty and vulgar, and the level of violence and corruption is frightening. The line between the good guys and the bad guys is blurred, and lives are cheap and quickly extinguished if they interfere with the ambitions of the corrupt cops. The plot is riveting, and the tension of not knowing who Bobby’s real allies are keeps you turning pages rapidly.

And boy was I turning pages late into the night.Hamill has authored other books, I plan on getting them and reading them all in the near future.

Chalk up another huge success for someone from Windsor Terrace!