Blue Eyes by Jerome Charyn - Book Tour

Before Isaac Sidel adopts him, Manfred Coen is a mutt. A kid from the Bronx, he joins the police academy after his father’s suicide leaves him directionless, and is trudging along like any other cadet when first deputy Sidel, the commissioner’s right hand man, comes looking for a young cop with blue eyes to infiltrate a ring of Polish smugglers. He chooses Coen, and asks the cadet to join his department after he finishes the academy. Working under Sidel means fast promotions, plush assignments, and, when a corruption scandal topples his mentor, the resentment of every rank-and-file detective on the force.

Now just an ordinary cop, Coen hears word that his old mentor has a line on a human trafficking operation. When Sidel’s attempt at infiltration fails, he sends in Coen. For Coen, it’s a shot to prove himself and redeem his mentor, but it could cost the blue-eyed cop his life.

This is the first Jerome Charyn novel I have had the pleasure to read.  I don't know why I've never heard of him before - his writing is phenomenal.  From page one, I was pulled into his world of crime and multi-faceted characters.  Sidel and Coen aren't your average detectives and it is that uniqueness that makes them shine.  From the shady corners of the  seventies in New York comes a pulp fiction sort of novel that will leave you waiting for the next installment.  Blue Eyes was originally published years ago but is being re-released as it is being made into an adult animated series.  If you enjoy reading hard-boiled detective novels with exceptional characters and writing that will keep you riveted, pick up Blue Eyes!

Jerome Charyn (born May 13, 1937) is an award-winning American author. With nearly 50 published works, Charyn has earned a long-standing reputation as an inventive and prolific chronicler of real and imagined American life. Michael Chabon calls him “one of the most important writers in American literature.”

New York Newsday hailed Charyn as “a contemporary American Balzac,” and the Los Angeles Times described him as “absolutely unique among American writers.”

Since the 1964 release of Charyn’s first novel, Once Upon a Droshky, he has published 30 novels, three memoirs, eight graphic novels, two books about film, short stories, plays and works of non-fiction. Two of his memoirs were named New York Times Book of the Year. Charyn has been a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction. He received the Rosenthal Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters and has been named Commander of Arts and Letters by the French Minister of Culture.

Charyn was Distinguished Professor of Film Studies at the American University of Paris until he left teaching in 2009.

In addition to his writing and teaching, Charyn is a tournament table tennis player, once ranked in the top 10 percent of players in France. Noted novelist Don DeLillo called Charyn’s book on table tennis, Sizzling Chops & Devilish Spins, "The Sun Also Rises of ping-pong."

Charyn lives in Paris and New York City.

eBook Price: $9.99
Release: April 10, 2012

Kindle buy link
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007MFAUAG?tag=tributebooks-20

*Disclosure: I received a copy of this book from Tribute Book Tours in exchange for an honest review.