Product Description

Ex-cop turned #1 New York Times bestselling writer Joseph Wambaugh forged a new kind of literature with his great early police procedurals. Here in his classic debut novel, Wambaugh presents a stunning, raw, and unforgettable depiction of life behind the thin blue line.





In a class of new police recruits, Augustus Plebesly is fast and scared. Roy Fehler is full of ideals. And Serge Duran is an ex-marine running away from his Chicano childhood. In a few weeks they'll put on the blue uniform of the LAPD. In months they'll know how to interpret the mad babble of the car radio, smell danger, trap a drug dealer, hide a secret, and-most of all-live with the understanding that cops are different from everyone else. But for these men, these new centurions, time is an enemy. The year is 1960. The streets are burning with rage. And before they can grow old on this job, they'll have to fight for their lives...

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #216068 in Books
• Published on: 2008-04-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 528 pages

About the Author
Joseph Wambaugh is the New York Times bestselling author of works such as The Blooding, The Blue Knight, and The Choirboys. Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to a police officer, Wambaugh graduated with a Master's in English from California State College and served in the LAPD for 15 years. He is the recipient of the Edgar Allan Poe award, the Rodolfo Walsh Prize for investigative journalism, and the Grand Master award from the Mystery Writers of America. He lives with his wife in California.

Customer Reviews

a rough and surprisingly beautiful novel
I have to admit that Wambaugh's subsequent books (with the exception of The Onion Field) have been major disappointments. Perhaps that is because this, his first novel, is such a wonderful and complete book. Everything else seems to be a valient yet failed effort to recapture to wonder and confusion of this bristling masterwork. It deals with the trials, triupmhs and personal failures of three young cops, the now stock characters of the confused kid, the inept failure trying to make something out of himself and the brainy, yet physically weak intellectual who tries to out smart every situation. It takes them from academy training up through the Watts riots of 1965. The characters are real, innately believable and sympathetic and abhorrent and cruel. I loved this book. With the exception of the brutal novels of James Ellroy, there is no better "cop" fiction available, and it is infinately more realistic than Ellroy's work because we get the sense that Wambaugh truly was there at these events, that he honestly understand s what it is like to be young and scared with a gun and a badge when the whole world is falling apart. It took about four or five books before Wambaugh became just another second rate crime novelist. This is the finest of his almost true-crime fiction. Likely you will burn through this absorbing novel in the shortest time possible. Compelling, funny, action-packed and sad, this is a wonderful book that, within its ever growing sub-genre, will likely never be equaled.

excellent examination of what makes cops tick
"The New Centurions" came as a bit of a surprise to me. I read other Wambaugh works, but they were written more recently. This book was written back in the early part fo Wambaugh's career, and I feel under the false assumption that it was going to be inferior.
Boy, was I wrong. This is the most honest and perfect police novel I have ever read, and I liked it more than the author's later work (which I love).
"The New Centurions" focuses on the lives of three Los Angeles cops from bot camp to their 5 year anniversary on the force. Not a police procedural, the emphasis is rather on the lives of the characters and the various experiences they go through as police officers. Alternately brutal, funny, smart, sad, warm, philosophical, and ugly, "The New Centurions" is an extremely well-done piece of realistic fiction. These characters could be real.
I won't spoil anything here, but I have to recommend this book to anyone interested in the cop lifestyle. I'm going to give this book to my brother who has contemplated becoming a police officer, since I think the realism here can be an eye-opener.

Realistic Cop Indoctrination.
A centurion was literally a Roman officer in charge of a hundred-man contingent of soldiers in a legion of three to six thousand men. They were the front-line leaders who issued forth from Rome for five hundred years, beating barbarians into submission and maintaining law and order throughout the empire. Wambaugh applies this moniker to his unique tale of three rookies issuing forth from the police academy, fresh and idealistic as they set about to clean up Los Angeles.

They have a lot to learn. As it turns out, right and wrong aren't always clearly black and white. Bad guys populate both sides of the law. Rules are subject to interpretation. Justice is slow and convoluted. And life is not fair.

Wambaugh brings his unique real-life experience in LAPD to bear on this story, showing the maturation of cops in believable fashion. The book is a little dated in terms of police procedure, but the underlying story and message are same-day fresh. This is a cut above the typical cop's tale. --Christopher Bonn Jonnes, author of Wake Up Dead.