Captain Richard Leland is a rising star in the NYPD. Young, bright, and super ambitious, his goal is to be the police commissioner by the time he’s forty. He’s right on track, but then department politics rears its ugly head. All his carefully laid plans are suddenly thrown into jeopardy when his boss, Chief of Department Charles Drum, decides his young protégé needs more patrol experience—something that Leland has been avoiding at all costs because he knows that almost anything that goes wrong in a precinct could derail his promising career. To his horror, Leland is transferred to the notorious Bronx precinct that cops call “Fort Frenzy.”
With good reason, a wary Leland views his precinct assignment as a career minefield that at any moment could blow his hopes and expectations all to hell. His new boss, Assistant Chief Lucian Hightower, is an archenemy of Chief Drum and he’s not at all happy to see this “headquarters groupie” in his borough. Another major flashpoint for Leland is Kawasi Munyika, a loudmouthed political activist who is waiting for that one “cause” that will propel him into national prominence. Then, there’s the “Poet Bandit,” a psycho whose robbery notes contain poems, and the “Midnight Mangias,” a couple who break into restaurants and cook their own meals.
If that isn’t enough, Leland is forced to contend with angry cops, whacko cops, a radio car romance, a “cop fighter” bar that needs to be closed, and a beautiful, if contentious, community organizer who is a thorn in his side. Or is she?
Finally, it all comes to a head. Kawasi Munyika finds his “cause”—the boycott of a Korean grocery store. And Richard Leland is faced with his own personal Armageddon: Will he protect his career or will he do the right thing?
This book, sometimes humorous, sometimes tragic, offers the reader an insider’s unique view of the life of a precinct commanding officer and what goes on behind the walls of a NYPD precinct.
