The Hero of New York - Softcover

New York City police detective Bill Patterson is a 21-year veteran of the force (and a one-time recipient of a Hero of the Year award) when he is suspended from his job pending an investigation into charges that he assaulted a Jewish assemblyman during a Hasidic protest outside his precinct office. The assemblyman himself is also charged with assault, and while Patterson awaits the outcome of his purgatorial plight, he drinks himself into a heart attack. Patterson's 19-year-old son Charlie narrates the story as he tries to come to terms with the violent nature of his father's joband with his father. At the same time, he must decide whether to drop out of school, what to do with his life, and how to win back his girlfriend. Coughlin's first novel is an affable, affecting portrait of a policeman's family under pressure. The family steals the novel from the policeman, however, rendering somewhat ineffective Coughlin's initial focus on the doughty cop. Foreign rights: Sanford Greenburger. February 24
Copyright 1985 Reed Business Information, Inc.

The Patterson family is in crisis. Bill Patterson, a cynical, gruff, and violent 21-year veteran of the New York City police force, is accused of brutality in a political demonstration and stands to lose everything. He can do nothing but drink while awaiting the outcome of a hearing. His 19-year-old son, Charlie, the bewildered narrator, is beginning to follow in the loser footsteps of the self-centered father he idolizes. Bill's desperation has also forced his wife and brilliant 13-year-old daughter to seek solace outside the family. Coughlin has brilliantly captured the turmoil in the feelings, emotions, and actions of a family headed for disaster. His description of a failing cop and father whose achievements are rapidly drifting away in a haze of alcohol, alienation, and bitterness is realistic and poignant. A beautiful first novel. Jean B. Palmer, Phillips Acad. Lib., Andover, Mass.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.