Wall of Brass by Robert Daley
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

"'The body is that of an adult, well-developed, well-nourished white male,' he intoned, 'scale weight 172 pounds, measured height five feet ten inches.'"

Robert Daley, the author of Wall of Brass (1994) served as the Deputy Commissioner for the New York Police Department in 1971-1972. He supervised several difficult investigations in tumultuous times for the department, which included the war against Mafia as well as assassinations of police officers by Black Liberation Army. Mr. Daley certainly knows the workings of NYPD and the city politics inside out, which clearly shows in the novel.

Briefly about the setup: when the First Deputy Commissioner of NYPD calls the NYPD Chief of Detectives at 6:30 a.m. and orders him to report immediately it is clear that something really serious must have happened. Indeed, the New York Police Commissioner's body has been found. Harry Chapman has been shot, apparently while jogging, and Bert Farber, the Chief of Detectives is heading the investigation.

While the progress of the investigation is shown in detail - this thread is on the level of the best police procedurals I have ever read - what I find the best in the novel is the well written, realistic and completely plausible account of the departmental and city politics. A new Commissioner will have to be chosen and several candidates, including the Deputy Commissioner, the Chief of Detectives, and several other members of NYPD brass compete for the job. They jockey, manipulate, and try to discredit every other candidate in more or less subtle ways. The ambition of these people and their almost insane drive to get promoted is truly palpable in the account.

The novel contains yet another layer, a backstory. Several chapters are set in the past, about a quarter of the century ago. We learn that patrolman Farber and probationary patrolman Chapman were partners and rode the same patrol car. It was Farber who taught Chapman the basics of police job while Chapman was interested only in plotting his future career: fast promotion to Commissioner, then mayor, finally the President of the U.S.

We also learn that they competed for the same woman. This is where I have reservations about the novel. While the beginning fragments of the thread are captivating and offer an illuminating perspective on the "current" events, the story is overlong in its role as background. The whole thing reads as if Mr. Daley wanted to write a psychological study on the games, rituals, and vagaries of attraction and relationship dynamics. Too much to serve as the background for the main story, yet not enough to become the main story.

I like the ambiguity of the title. It may refer to Biblical term for "strong defense" (Jeremiah 1:18, or Horace's Epistles 1.i.60, which the author quotes in his epigraph) or to the collective leadership of a police department. Despite my reservations Wall of Brass is a very good novel and I will certainly look for more of Mr. Daley's work.

Three-and-a-half stars.

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