There was plenty of tension to keep the reader on the edge of their seat and the book’s pacing was good. However, prosecutor Nora Carleton and her team proceed to investigate the former governor's homicide anyway, in an attempt to identify 'the real killer', presumably a mob hitter. After he was fired as FBI Director, Comey held the King Lecture Chair in Public Policy at Howard University for 2017-18 and served as a Distinguished Lecturer in Public Policy at William and Mary for 2018-2019. Despite these considerable problems, the result is still a tolerable legal procedural grounded by Comey’s undeniable expertise in federal investigations, which tend to be much more boring than the public thinks, even when the investigation is about murder. It’s very well executed: the characters are richly detailed, the dialogue is impressively realistic, and the plot is genuinely suspenseful….

The non-stop description of everything and anything hasn't helped, other than to fluff out the story. Comey injects the personal into his thriller and keeps us coming back for more – as much to follow what his characters are up to as to find the solution to the mystery. Some of the courtroom scenes are good, especially later on in the book and the ending is also a good one with well thought out twists and is what raises my rating to three stars.One reason is that I share the view held by many on the left about Comey’s bungling during the 2016 presidential campaign. Assistant US Attorney for the Southern District Nora Carleton is currently prosecuting a case against Dominic D’Amico of the Gambino Mafia Family. I do feel like, at times, it was an overload of information, but this was a page-turner and I can't wait to see what's next for James Comey's dive into writing.

At various points, he describes how some key prosecutorial tools work, like use-immunity (or “queen for a day”) agreements and cooperation deals, and he demonstrates how and why lawyers use evidentiary stipulations at trial for tactical reasons that go beyond mere time-saving. James Comey hit the headlines back in 2017 when he was fired from his position as Director of the FBI by then-President Donald Trump.

The story had lots of exposition of explaining, which I felt was unnecessary and weighed down the action. The big twist at the end is that the murder was likely orchestrated by Burke, who has since managed to take her dead ex-husband’s job as governor of New York and ends the book as a free woman. I admit to curiosity to see what the infamous James Comey, former director of the FBI, could come up with in this genre. I didn’t need to know the address of every courthouse in Manhattan, but that is an insignificant quibble.

His second book, Saving Justice: Truth, Transparency, and Trust, also a New York Times bestseller, was published in 2021. Comey knows exactly how things work at the FBI and DOJ, and Central Park West opens a door into a fascinating and complex world of tradecraft, criminal investigation, political corruption, legal wrangling, and murder. The governor’s ex-wife, Kyra Burke, is at first the main suspect thanks to the fact that she looks a lot like the killer, who was captured on video going up to her ex-husband’s apartment the night that he was killed by a fatal insulin injection. The headline on the review over at Bloomberg was similarly to the point: “Former FBI Director James Comey Has Written a Very Bad Crime Novel.I'll definitely be reading any future books he works on and I do recommend this one for fans of legal thrillers and the whole world of FBI agents, mob bosses, and federal prosecutors. First and foremost, his credentials and knowledge definitely add layers of authenticity to the storytelling.

Central Park West is a fine debut in the challenging arena of legal thrillers, and James Comey’s next venture in the genre will be most welcome. S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York from January 2002 to December 2003, and subsequently the United States Deputy Attorney General from December 2003 to August 2005 in the administration of President George W. So I think he knows what he's talking about and maybe has so many more stories up his sleeve he'll be rivaling Grisham someday.So it is not particularly surprising that the knives are out for Comey following the release last week of his debut novel, a crime thriller titled Central Park West. This venture into writing has shown that he is capable of spinning a story and keeping the reader enthralled. This is a psychological drama about whether the justice system will work properly (is there a “nexus” or we can’t prosecute even though we have a pile of evidence?