Alice Cary

Years ago, as a small-town newspaper editor, I spent a night riding along with an officer on patrol. The shift began with a potential car dealership break-in and ended with an encounter with a drunk stumbling along the side of a lonely road. That night―as memorable as it was―pales in comparison to the drama that Steve Osborne shares with readers in The Job: True Tales from the Life of a New York City Cop.

Now retired, Osborne spent 20 years as a NYPD street cop, and afterward began recounting his experiences on “The Moth” radio show to much acclaim. This collection of 14 essays is a nonstop ride-along with a guy who always wanted to be a police officer, and who was told upon entering the police academy, "Kid, you just bought yourself a front row seat to the greatest show on earth."

Indeed, that seems to be the case. Not only was Osborne an excellent policeman (he retired as a lieutenant and the commanding officer of the Manhattan Gang Squad), he's a fabulous storyteller, crafting his memories into well-honed tales filled with drama, humor and heart.

In “Think Fast,” he remembers being a rookie in his squad car in Washington Square Park and witnessing a man whip out a knife, ready to stab another man. With no time to shout a warning or fire a shot, in a split-second reaction, Osborne "hit on the gas pedal and nailed him with the car." With this seemingly bizarre act, not only did he save the victim's life, he prevented a crime that would have sent the aggressor to prison.

Bystanders, however, having no idea what had transpired, suddenly turned into an angry mob and began throwing bottles at Osborne's brand new squad car. In these days of widespread public scrutiny of police actions making regular headlines, it's useful to hear from an officer like Osborne, who reminds us that things aren't always what they first appear to be.

Osborne shares a variety of compelling tales of fumbles, fun, triumphs and tragedies. “Big Day” recalls the excitement he felt as he was about to close a major narcotics investigation, and the incredulity he felt as everyone's priorities abruptly changed that horrible day of September 11, 2001.

“End of Tour” describes Osborne's last night on the streets before retirement, which he hoped would be peaceful. Instead, two brothers refused to stop fighting and one punched him, sending him to the ER. "God never wanted me to be an astronaut, or a doctor, or a lawyer," Osborne writes. "He put me on this earth to be a cop. And from the first day to the last, I did my job."

Luckily for his readers, Osborne survived to tell his many wonderful tales.

Stephen King called Abigail Thomas’ memoir A Three Dog Life “the best memoir I have ever read,” and Thomas has another winner with her latest, What Comes Next and How to Like It.

The previous book focused on life after a tragic accident left Thomas’ husband brain damaged and, seven years later, dead. What Comes Next shares the aftermath as she contemplates life in her 70s.

Thomas bares her soul in a series of short chapters, some only a paragraph long. The result, while a breeze to read, paints a rich, multifaceted portrait of the author’s daily life in Woodstock, New York, with her beloved dogs. She is both forthright (“I am who I am and it has taken me a long time to get here.”) and self-deprecatingly funny (“Who sits in a dark room watching Burn Notice on a beautiful day?”).

Thomas frames her narrative with the story of how, years ago, her daughter Catherine had an affair with her best friend, literary agent Chuck Verrill, and how the repercussions affected her relationships with the pair for years afterward.

Catherine and Chuck continue to be mainstays in Thomas’ life, but also a source of continuing worry. Catherine, now happily married, undergoes treatment for breast cancer, while Chuck, divorced, suffers from serious liver disease.

When a student describes her as a “nice old lady with a tattoo,” Thomas reports that she is startled “because I think of myself as not nice, not old, not a lady.” That’s all the more reason, of course, that readers will treasure this journey with a writer who comes across as a compelling, lively friend.

This article was originally published in the April 2015 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

In 1971, 10-year-old Allen Kurzweil arrived at a Swiss boarding school called Aiglon. He was a Jewish boy from New York; his father had died, and his mother was “test-driving her third husband.” Kurzweil was happy to be back in the Alps—his Viennese father had brought him there for winter holidays and imbued him with a love of alpine hiking and skiing.

Soon, however, Kurzweil (the youngest student at Aiglon) was being tormented by one of his roommates, 12-year-old Cesar Augustus, a native of Manila. Cesar’s abuse came in many forms, both physical and psychological, and Kurzweil begins Whipping Boy by taking readers back to that monumental time in his life.

Kurzweil leaves the school after a year, but the memories of being bullied continue to haunt him, even as an adult. As a novelist, he writes a children’s book featuring a bully modeled after his nemesis. When Kurzweil decides to look into what became of the real Cesar, he discovers that he’s in federal prison for his part in a bizarre international swindling scheme.

Kurzweil’s long-term pursuit of this strange story and his eventual confrontation of Cesar reads like a thriller, full of intrigue as well as humor and self-reflection. “Why am I still pursuing Cesar?” the author asks himself. “Is it to uncover his story? To avoid my own? The bottom line is this: I’m not sure what I’m after. Nor can I explain what compels me to travel cross-country to spy on the actions of a convicted felon I have promised my wife I will not confront.”

Kurzweil puts both his journalistic and literary skills to wonderful use in his “investigative memoir,” making numerous trips to revisit his school and to interview old classmates, staff, swindling victims, prosecutors and federal agents.

Kurzweil’s final meeting with Cesar is a worthy finale, bound to prompt plenty of meaningful discussions among readers about the nature of childhood, bullying and memories.

This article was originally published in the February 2015 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.