The Edge of the City

This second of Dan Mahoney's series is as compellingly readable as the first, continuing former cop Brian McKenna's battle against the Peruvian terrorist group Sendero. All McKenna's Manhattan cop buddies are back in play. And this time, the reader gets to "watch" as the city is held hostage to the terrorists, with bridges blown up, Staten Island ferries commandeered by the bad guys, and general havoc wreaked on the city. McKenna's wife, Angelita, is a complete pain in the butt and I'm anxious to see if the marriage lasts in the subsequent books. (I hope not; she's beyond unlovable--while McKenna is a great hero figure.) Happily, there are several more in the series waiting for me to read. Highly recommended.

Former detective Dan Mahoney did what few can do, he became a writer and a good one too. He developes likabel characters and weaves them into a procedural drama that really flies. Plot twists keep thsi action packed book moving right along. Mahoneys tale of cop life was very authantic and true to life. I myself am a former FBI agent and found the procedural drama to be very intense as well as authantic due to the politics of the police department.

With each of Mahoney's books, I've found him to be the master of today's modern police stories,filled with international intrigue and complex characters who keep you engrossed with each turn of the page.Edge of the City is a winner that grips your interest from start to the amazing finish. Brian McKenna is now one of my favorite continuing detective heroes!

Egde of the City is an amazing book. It makes all the character's come to life and it was something I easily related to. Since I live on Staten Island, and take the ferry very often I got a really vivid picture of the dilemma. Even the characters seem real. The mayor in the book is a lot like Mayor Guliani and the police commisioner is very much like former Commisioner Bratton. Overall the book is a must to any mystery/action lover and hopefully Mr. Mahoney will continue to write for many more years. To be honest I bought the book because Mr. Mahoney was a graduate of John Jay, which is the school I am attending now,but now I am hooked!

In 1996's Edge of the City, Dan Mahoney writes of a lengthy Peruvian terrorist drama involving hundreds of hostages, daily demands and a country held under siege. Sound familiar? In the book, the terrorist group is Peru's largest and most deadly, the Maoist Sendero Luminoso, or Shining Path. In current real life, the terrorist group is Peru's second largest, the Tupac Amaru. Strangely enough, events and characteristics of the real life hostage siege have closely followed the patterns in the book. Significant planning was involved; hostages are exchanged frequently for items of need; a propaganda tape was released to the world press; the terrorists are reported by freed hostages "not to be such bad guys." In addition to reading like a terrorist's handbook, Edge of the City is a taught, suspenseful terrorist thriller that bristles with the gritty integrity of New York's finest detectives