Finished Mo 1/28/19
This was one of my ancient paperbacks that I bought in late summer of 1992 and read the first time and finished on Sa 8/31/96 which was the first day of my Labor Day Weekend.
The author is a retired policeman who writes about police business in Long Island.
The novel is set in the fictional town of Belmont which might reference Belmont Park which is actually slightly east of Queens NY.
Orin Boyd is the lead character and he is an alcoholic, bent cop who is forced into treatment and given the chance to clear his name by cleaning out the corruption in the 13 Precinct.
George Clarke is his new partner and he is even more alcoholic and bent. Kenny, a police officer who died of cancer is Orin's old partner. This guy was corrupt.
All the top officers of the precinct are on the take and they are under the thrall of a black crime operation that runs a numbers operation under the cover of a black religious leader who is also a ghetto drug kingpin.
The police force is portrayed in almost a comical manner; "They're busy getting rich, getting wrecked, chasing women, and they want Boyd to get on their gravy train- or get lost".
I had a little trouble keeping track of the action, but basically Orin and George organize a gigantic caper that brings all the bad guys down. Orin steals a huge quantity of money, enough to head south of the border, but he can't leave his wife (they are in the process of divorcing) and young daughter, Dawn.
For some reason (I really didn't follow this), the high ranking 'good' cops excuse Orin's excesses (he has murdered several policeman) and let him reunite with his family and maybe even continue in law enforcement.
The style is comedic and Orin is a sympathetic character, but maybe Westerman goes a bit too far in that it's not very believable. He's far too hapless.
In 2000 this was made into a movie starring Steven Seagal, although not available on Netflix. 'A dunce playing a dunce'....this might have worked.
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