I have been reading the most unpolicitally correct book ever! And loving it. Blue Eyes by Jerome Charyn is on tour with Tribute Books and stopped by to see me. Now I am a fan of Jerome's but it is because his writing is so varied. Every time I open a new book of his I see a new writing style and that intrigues me. Blue Eyes is the first book in a series that Jerome did some years ago. We are revisiting the series since it is working hard on becoming Hard Apple, an adult animated series. With the look of a gritty comic book, I am so excited to see it bring new life into these wild characters. Issac Sidel is the main character for the series. I did not realize it at first since there are so many characters making up the multilevel story line. This felt like I was looking into a brownstone apartment building. Seeing each apartment as it's own story line and seeing how they crossed each others paths and intertwined like residents meeting in the halls and stairwells. The characters are raw and unflinching on how they present themselves, like New Yorkers one and all. Reading Blue Eyes, book one, I know now it is going to be a struggle not to spend the 'egg money' on the rest of the series. Guess it is time for me to start socking it away so I can build up to each book.I do want to tell Jerome thank you. You see I do not re-read books. I have tried before. But by the first few pages the whole story is flooding all around me and it seems silly to read what I remember so vividly. With Blue Eyes I am already on my third re-read. Why? The depths of the interacting story lines has me mesmerized. I am still getting all the characters down, their histories and seeing where they are traveling. I know they will continue in the series and I want to know them well. Guess I am slinking along the city streets right along side them.
If you're a fan of classic noir pulp fiction, Jerome Charyn's Blue Eyes would be a great place to indulge your interest. The first book in a series of four, Blue Eyes has a lot in common with other great pulp fiction published in the early seventies, although the author reminds me most of Ross MacDonald (if MacDonald was writing about New York).The main character, Manfred Coen, is a detective caught up in a feud between his mentor Isaac Sidel and a group of pickpockets. The story takes us on a journey through New York in the seventies, a time when the city was literally falling to pieces and the NYPD was both influenced by its corruption and decay and trying to hold the place together. Coen, assigned as the lead officer in the kidnapping of a producer of pornographic films is our hero. You remember, right? Back in the days when porn was filmed on ... you know ... film. For a great read on the history of porn, I highly recommend The Other Hollywood: The Uncensored Oral History of the Porn Film Industry by Legs McNeil. The book includes a walk through New York's porn scene in the seventies and dovetails nicely with the background of Charyn's book. Coen meanders through Bronx on his way to Mexico where the ultimate showdown occurs over a game of Ping Pong. How delicious is that?Creative and well-conceived, this is hard-boiled detective fiction at its very best. With an eye for details of place and for untrammeled chaos, Charyn will keep you up all night. Highly recommended.
Extraordinary and strange tale of a blue-eyed Jewish New York detective, abandoned by his mentor, Isaac Sidel, tossed from department to department, loathed as a spy by his fellow cops, he is thrust into the dealings of the Guzmann family from his old Bronx neighbourhood to shut down the delivery of young girls to Mexico. Surrounded by enemies, Coen is tough but vulnerable, and only has time for ping-pong. Told in lovely, lyrical prose that packs more info and character and sights and sounds in a single paragraph than most writers can manage in a whole book, Blue Eyes is fast, furious, almost hallucinatory, a bit like Chester Himes or James Ellroy, but utterly unlike them at the same time.
—Nigel
Blue Eyes is part of a series of pulp mystery classics revolving around Detective Manfred Coen. This story takes place in NYC's seedy underbelly in the 1970's. I felt like the story was definitely dated and some of the jargon was none I'd ever heard of. On the one hand, I liked the vintage setting, on the other hand, due to the racial slurs, not so much. This almost reminded me of the film Pulp Fiction.The cast of characters was interesting and the suspense was good as well. There's a no good ping pong parlor, yep, and a human trafficking ring involved in the storyline as Blue Eyes Coen tries to find the missing daughter of a porn director. This is a quick read, and I'd recommend it to fans of pulp mysteries. See my full review herehttp://thebookworm07.blogspot.com/201...
—Bookworm
This book was written in 1977, while reading that much was evident in the story. We meet Manfred Coen who sets out to find out who kidnapped the daughter of a porn director. This book while very good, I found myself having to look up some things as I wasn’t around in the early 70′s and didn’t know certain things, like Orange O’s. This book would be great for mystery buffs who love reading about New York in the 70′s, and about the Police in that time frame. Full of adventure, and tons of mystery! Definitely worth the re-publishing for electronic format!
—Paula Ratcliffe
