Extraordinary and strange tale of a blue-eyed Jewish New York detective, abandoned by his mentor, Isaac Sidel, tossed from department to department, loathed as a spy by his fellow cops, he is thrust into the dealings of the Guzmann family from his old Bronx neighbourhood to shut down the delivery of young girls to Mexico. Surrounded by enemies, Coen is tough but vulnerable, and only has time for ping-pong. Told in lovely, lyrical prose that packs more info and character and sights and sounds in a single paragraph than most writers can manage in a whole book, Blue Eyes is fast, furious, almost hallucinatory, a bit like Chester Himes or James Ellroy, but utterly unlike them at the same time. ( )

Where would Manfred ‘Blue Eyes’ Coen have ended up as a young man if Coen’s mentor, then the NY City Police First Deputy, Isaac Sidel had not taken him under his wing? Singled out in the police academy to do an undercover assignment, he was soon on the fast track, moving up quickly in the department. But now Sidel has been forced to resign in a scandal and Coen is a cop without a home, being move from precinct to precinct, trusted by no one, resented by all.

But now there is a dirty, dangerous job that seems to have Coen's name all over it. It appears that someone may be kidnapping young girls and sending them into slavery in Mexico. And it appears that Coen's childhood friends, the Guzmann family from his old Bronx neighborhood, may be involved. Sidel is the one that first sniffed this out and if he can crack the ring open, Coen may have a chance to not only prove himself as a good cop but also to rehab the reputation of his mentor as well.
If he doesn't get killed first.

This book, written in 1973, was Charyn's first mystery and the first in what became know as the "Isaac Quartet", although the series finally ended up with 10 books. Charyn has gone on to write a great many other books, a wide variety of other books, including "The Secret Life of Emily Dickinson" in 2010. But now with the possibility that the Issac books will become the basis for Hard Apple, an adult animated series, Blue Eyes and the rest of the series, has been re-issues as e-books.

If you are a fan of gritty police procedurals, this is one you may want to pick up..or download as it were. This book is set in NY city of the 70's and it certainly has a very 70's feel. I will warn you, it is not the most PC of books but I think that rather than be offended by some of the language and characters, you consider the time and setting, an even more violent and dangerous city than it is today. I read that when writing this book, Charyn rode with his brother, who was a homicide detective in the Bronx, and the reality shines through the pages.

It is very well written, if in a style that took a little getting used to for this reader. And the intersecting storylines, along with a fascinating, sometimes bordering on the bizarre, often sleazy, cast of characters and a variety of setting, including a ping pong parlor, will keep you engaged.
And remember, if you love it, there are nine more e-books in the series, available to download. ( )

If you're a fan of classic noir pulp fiction, Jerome Charyn's Blue Eyes would be a great place to indulge your interest. The first book in a series of four, Blue Eyes has a lot in common with other great pulp fiction published in the early seventies, although the author reminds me most of Ross MacDonald (if MacDonald was writing about New York).

The main character, Manfred Coen, is a detective caught up in a feud between his mentor Isaac Sidel and a group of pickpockets. The story takes us on a journey through New York in the seventies, a time when the city was literally falling to pieces and the NYPD was both influenced by its corruption and decay and trying to hold the place together.

Coen, assigned as the lead officer in the kidnapping of a producer of pornographic films is our hero. You remember, right? Back in the days when porn was filmed on ... you know ... film. For a great read on the history of porn, I highly recommend The Other Hollywood: The Uncensored Oral History of the Porn Film Industry by Legs McNeil. The book includes a walk through New York's porn scene in the seventies and dovetails nicely with the background of Charyn's book. Coen meanders through Bronx on his way to Mexico where the ultimate showdown occurs over a game of Ping Pong. How delicious is that?

Creative and well-conceived, this is hard-boiled detective fiction at its very best. With an eye for details of place and for untrammeled chaos, Charyn will keep you up all night. Highly recommended. ( )

Rien n'est interdit à New York. Par exemple, on peut y cumuler les qualités de flic, Juif, rebelle aux yeux bleus et dingue de ping-pong. C'est le cas de Manfred Coen, engagé par le commissaire Isaac Sidel, puis parachuté sur une mission apparemment simple : retrouver une fille, Caroline Vander. L'enquête mène Zyeux-Bleus à l'incroyable famille Guzmann, une tribu d'affreux débiles du crime qui a pour couverture une confiserie du Bronx. Portrait hors normes d'une ville folle, ce grand roman noir du plus français des auteurs américains (Jerome Charyn vit à Paris) ouvre le cycle Isaac Sidel dans lequel on retrouvera plus tard Marilyn la Dingue et Kermesse à Manhattan, toujours avec la famille Guzmann. Écrit en quelques semaines à Barcelone, ce livre surréaliste, baroque, promène le lecteur dans la 'Grande Pomme' où l'on croise une foule de personnages plus délirants les uns que les autres. Charyn inaugure une musique toute particulière qui ne le quittera plus. Inclassable et brillant. --Bruno Ménard