Ain’t Got No Rhythm
Review by Kim Cantrell
In the military, the phrase “red on red” translates to “enemy turning on the enemy.” In a cops world, bad guys turning on bad guys.
New York City Police Detective Edward Conlon turns author using this scenario is his newest book appropriately titled Red On Red.
It is a story of two detectives, Nick Meehan and his partner known as “Espo,” short for Esposito. Two individuals who couldn’t be more mix-matched as partners. While Meehan is a stickler for the rules, Espo is more prone to swing by the seat of his pants and bend a few rules to get the job done.
But there is indeed a reason for this odd couple; Nick is working covertly to get the dirt on Espo for Internal Affairs.
And there is your first Red on Red – or would that be more like Blue on Blue?
Red On Red has some interesting scenarios and while it started off with a bang, it seemed to just fizzle then confuse. With multiple story lines that criss-cross back and forth in this book, I could never get a good rhythm going. I don’t know about you, but the books I enjoy most are the ones with a smooth, easy flowing narrative. And I just didn’t find that here. It took me about a week to read this 400+ page book, where it would typically only take me an average of 3 or 4 days.
Yet, in all honesty, I suspect it be a writing style that bumfuzzles only me considering that Conlon was nominated for numerous awards with his previous book Blue Blood. If so, it doesn’t make Conlon a bad writer, just not one for me.
So, that being said, in all fairness, I’m not going to make a recommendation one way or the other. Instead, I recommend basing the your decision on others who didn’t seem to experience the same problems I did, like these Amazon reviewers.
Want to read Red On Redby Edward Conlon? Here’s where to find it:
