Central Park West: the unmissable debut legal thriller of the year

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We are not responsible for the republishing of the content found on this blog on other Web sites or media without our permission. So far as I can tell, it is supposed to convey just how busy everyone is and how quickly the investigation is moving, but the device is stretched well beyond its breaking point. When I opened this book on my Kindle, my first thought was this: Please, Lord, let this be good; I really, really don't want to be the one to tell the former director of the FBI - especially one who's at least a foot and a half taller than I am - that his first-ever fiction book stinks.

Comey does a great job, illustrating the investigative and judicial side of a case throughout, keeping the best for last in this stunning debut thriller. Desperate to stop the mobster walking free, Nora investigates the darker side of the city to find out how everything connects.The story had lots of exposition of explaining, which I felt was unnecessary and weighed down the action. I’d be interested to know how much os this book was plotted and written by Mr Comey himself and how much help he had but overall I enjoyed it.

Carleton eventually convicts the hitwoman in court, and in the process Burke appears to have been exonerated. A doorman who has known the Burkes for years has identified her as being there at his penthouse apartment (along with some damning CCTV footage of a woman who looks identical to her, wearing exact items of clothing she owns) during the exact time the murder would have taken place, and departing shortly before the body was found. James Comey’s intimate knowledge of law enforcement makes Central Park West a winning legal thriller, but the book is so much more than an insider’s account. Federal prosecutor Nora Carleton is leading the high-profile mafia affiliated case against Dominic “The Nose” D’Amico.The big twist at the end is that the murder was likely orchestrated by Burke, who has since managed to take her dead ex-husband’s job as governor of New York and ends the book as a free woman. We have seen how that can play out in this country recently and things are no different across the pond. Early on, a former state governor - one who keeps his lips zipped but articles of his clothing not so much - is found dead of a suicide that turns out to be murder. In an interview with NPR, Comey puts it as follows, "I used to describe it to people as blood sworn enemies, except when they're living together and having a baby. It also, it seems to me, makes great starting fodder for a next book - to which I'm definitely looking forward.

Nora also has a 5-year-old daughter named Sophie, and amicably shares custody with Sophie's dad Nick.

I also liked that he used female main characters and while they were pretty badass, it also didn't feel too forced. The narrative structure of the book relies crucially on the relationship—often awkward and competitive—between state prosecutors in the Manhattan DA’s office and federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York.