Central Park West by James Comey
Almost everybody knows former FBI director James Comey, just not as an author aside from his memoir, A Higher Loyalty. That’s about to change, thanks to his sterling debut mystery Central Park West (Mysterious Press).
Comey is no stranger to the courtroom, particularly the prosecutor’s table, so it’s no surprise that the book’s hero is Assistant U.S. Attorney Nora Carleton, from the well-known Southern District of New York. She’s currently trying a case against Dominick D’Amico, a Teflon mob figure whose finish has finally worn off. With a cooperating witness in hand, everything seems cut-and-dried, until D’Amico plays one last bargaining chip.
He claims to have information about the recent murder of New York’s corrupt governor who never lacked for enemies. But it’s his wife who’s in jail for the crime in a case that seems equally cut-and-dried, until D’Amico suggests otherwise. Then, before Nora and company can glean more, he’s killed in the typical style of a mob execution.
Comey’s deft hands spin a surprisingly taut tale about the inner workings of justice and the justice system itself, told primarily through dialogue in the tradition of George Pelecanos and George Higgins.
“Don’t talk to me like I’m a child,” Nora’s boss snaps at her at one point. “The President of the United States appointed me to run this office and make decisions and I’ve made one. We are not getting in bed with a mafioso over a fairy tale.”
In that respect, “Central Park West” is a gritty crime thriller of the highest order, steeped in the greatest traditions of post-modern noir. Nora serves as a kind of beacon of light amid the darkness, rock solid in her principles at the start only to question whether that’s the proper approach in the moral quagmire in which she finds herself lodged. Hey, if you win the rat race, you’re still a rat, right?
In mysteries like this, we’ve learned never to trust the obvious, and Comey’s debut offers us ample misdirection along with the kind of twists and turns that keep us turning the pages, in this case furiously. I truly hope readers don’t view this book as a novelty by a celebrity author or let politics determine whether they should pick it up or not. Instead, Central Park West should be viewed as the terrific mystery that it is. Hopefully, this isn’t the last we’ve heard from Nora or Comey. Count me in for the sequel.
About James Comey:
Since graduating from the College of William and Mary in 1982 and the University of Chicago Law School in 1985, James Comey has been a prosecutor, defense lawyer, general counsel, teacher, writer, and leader. He most recently served in government as Director of the FBI. His best-selling book, A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies, and Leadership was published in 2018 and made into a 2020 television limited-series. His second book, Saving Justice: Truth, Transparency, and Trust, also a New York Times best-seller, was published in 2021.
Jim (as he is known to family and friends) and his wife, Patrice, live in Virginia and are the parents of five and grandparents (so far) of three.
