COPS AND CRIMINALS review

• Published in: The New York times
• Main Authors: Burke, Jeffrey, Jeffrey Burke is a writer and editor living in New York City
• Format: Newspaper Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York, N.Y New York Times Company 29.11.1981
• Edition: Late Edition (East Coast)
• Subjects: BOOKS AND LITERATURE
• ISSN: 0362-4331

[Robert Daley] has already parlayed the year he worked as deputy commissioner for public relations with the New York Police Department into two nonfiction books and one novel. ''Target Blue'' (1973) was an insider's journal of New York crime and police work. ''To Kill a Cop'' (1976) told the fictional story of a tough, savvy chief of detectives struggling with police politics, black cop-killers and his own flawed character; the book led to the short-lived ''Eischeid'' series on television. ''Prince of the City'' (1979), currently a hit movie, was a true account of a guilt-tormented detective's undercover work for the Knapp Commission. To the extent that ''Year of the Dragon,'' like ''To Kill a Cop,'' offers further variations on themes and characters popularized by such nonfiction as ''Serpico,'' ''The French Connection'' and the author's own ''Prince of the City,'' it is interesting, entertaining fiction. The local color is quite vivid; a cop-out-of-his-element section puts [Arthur Powers] in Hong Kong and affords a glimpse of police procedure abroad. Mr. Daley derives some psychological byplay from the fact that Powers and [Jimmy Koy] are about the same age and share a cop mentality from opposite sides of the law. To enhance their duel, he cleverly entangles both with ''other women'' - Koy has two wives. Mr. Daley also makes good use of the concept of ''face'' in itself and as part of Powers's realization that he can win only if he plays by another culture's rules. Having two nuns monitor a wiretap is an amusing twist. Finally, the novel's bleakly realistic ending is appropriate and yet still a surprise.