The Job: True Tales from the Life of a New York City Cop

In this engaging memoir, Osborne, a former NYPD lieutenant, shares the highs and lows of the two decades he spent tussling with the worst that the Big Apple had to offer. Raised in blue-collar Jersey City with a cop father, Osborne knew early on that he wanted to take down the bad guys some day. He chose to work graveyard shifts in bad neighborhoods, which provided him with thrills, good arrest stats, and stories worth telling, including an account of a run-in with a Wall Street rapist and a close encounter with a subway train. Osborne first presented much of this material via the Moth, a storytelling series, and because each Moth story is treated as a standalone, some jokes and phrases are repeated in the book. Yet the public origin of the stories surely helped Osborne develop the frank and intimate voice that suffuses his prose. At times, he comes across as a crusty cop with heart of gold, but his humor, sensitivity, and attention to detail transcend that stereotype. Osborne’s personal life is described only obliquely in the book, including his reasons for leaving the NYPD (although the chapter on 9/11 provides clues), but this is a solid insider’s account of what life is like on the force.[em] (Apr.) [/em]