In "Close Pursuit," Carsten Stroud describes a week with alcoholic homicide cops who talk about niggers, spics, fag brass and liberals while they slap around suspects and kick in doors. Stroud views them as heroes in America's war on crime and writes romantically about them with more sympathy than they deserve.

Yet "Close Pursuit" moves with a pace that will satisfy readers hungry for the gore and sad stories of New York's dark side. Homicide Detective Edward Xavier Kennedy is followed as he investigates a rape homicide, the stabbing of an out-of-town John and a murder in which the victim is pushed in front of a subway train. Along the way, he attends an autopsy in which Stroud gives us a slice-by-slice description. LA TIMES REVIEW