The Making of a Detective by Harvey Rachlin

In 1991, Harvey Rachlin published The Making of a Cop, in which he followed four NYPD recruits through their academy training. In 1995 he published The Making of a Detective, following one police officer, David Carbone, from the street to the detective's division.

I haven't read the first book, but I just finished The Making of a Detective. Rachlin is a thoughtful author, explaining without talking down, and describing the settings and people in vivid detail. And he knows what the reader wants. He gives you the hero, David Carbone, who has his problems as well as his triumphs. He shows you the inside of a crime scene and walks with you as Carbone goes from a green detective with a white shield (badge) to a tough, well-respected homicide detective with a gold shield. You get to know his peers, how he makes contacts, how he solves a murder, how he relates to his family. Rachlin must have been Carbone's shadow when he was putting this book together, because the reader really feels the aches, the pleasures, and the doggedness of Carbone.

Though I'm not familiar with New York, Rachlin draws a clear picture of Brooklyn's East New York precinct - the 75th - and how the daily battle between the law and the lawless go tirelessly on. He describes the weather, the buildings, the character of the neighborhoods. He introduces you to Derrick Vaughn, who witlessly walks out of Sing Sing into Carbone's care, only to be delivered to Riker's Island for murder. You meet Dana Poole, the uncle-turned-adoptive mother of a toddler found dumped in a trash compactor by her husband. You get to know and almost like 30-year-old Russell "Champ" Youmans, who Carbone grooms carefully to be a CI - a confidential informant. These are the players in the 75th's violent, senseless world. Baby killers, drug dealers, thugs, and gangsters are on one side, New York's Finest are on the other.

But Rachlin does it without passing judgment. The reaction is felt through Carbone. His outrage, his frustration, his cool, calculating and meticulous planning are there for the reader to experience. And this is how you see what makes an exceptional detective. He is sometimes unlikeable, arrogant and crude, yet you can't help but respect him.

For a powerful look into what life is like for a big-city detective, this book beats any fictionalized account I've ever read. From what I could tell, the procedures are fairly accurate (though I was told that cops NEVER stick a pen into the barrel of a gun to pick it up because it destroys evidence) and the relationships complex. I'm curious to see what a policeman might think about this book.

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