This book deals with "the big picture". I got a sense of viewing customs through time. The many cultures shown are contrasted in an exciting way. Stunning photographs showing rituals surrounding birth, death, marriage, etc. are accompanied by intelligent, inspiring copy. A beautiful and thought provoking book.

I was born and grew up in Red Hook. When I was 9 years old, my life's ambition was to live to the ripe old age of 21, leave, and forget. After 50 years I almost succeeded in making a clean getaway to the far corners of the world until Gabriel Cohen's remarkable book yanked me back to the Brooklyn of my childhood - agonizing memories and more.

This book brought back the men of the 76 Precenct's P.A.L. where guys like Detective Jack Leightner donated their time to teach kids like me how to make a shoeshine box, play chess, take a picture with a Kodak and develop it ourselves.

Cohen creates a Jack Leightner's Brooklyn that rings true, transcends and transports like Hammett's Sam Spade, and Colin Dexter's Morse.

Those of us who need another Dashell and Dexter say Bravo Gabriel - I look forward to your next outstanding work.

If you look for "Red Hook," you will find it listed as a "mystery." Hah! Don't believe that for one minute. Sure, there are a couple of murders and some good police investigation. However, the heart and soul of this book is about a man's search for himself...for acceptance of things past and the capacity to open his heart to the future.

Jack Leightner, a 50-year old divorced man, is a detective in a special homicide squad in Brooklyn. Jack is Brooklyn born and bred and has never had the desire to leave. I have often heard people say they like the sense of place they get from a book. If you want to spend some time in the real Brooklyn, this is your book. Mr. Cohen has captured the cultural differences of each neighborhood in that borough of New York.

When a man is found dead in the Red Hook section of Brooklyn, Jack and his special homicide unit are assigned the case. The circumstances surrounding this murder are a true to mystery to him and his partner. Why would anyone want to kill a Dominican janitor in such a brutal manner? In his tireless search for the answer, Jack not only confronts his childhood which was spent in Red Hook, but the future of this area of Brooklyn whose golden days seem long past.

Jack's exploration into his darkest and deepest hidden fears bring him face to face with his relationships with both the dead and the living. He tries to come to terms with a strained relationship with his dead father and his feelings about his younger brother who died at thirteen. While doing this, he is trying to reconnect with his 20-something son and enter into his first meaningful relationship with a woman in almost 20 years.

The ending of this book is second only to that of "The 25th Hour." I couldn't turn the last 20 pages fast enough. Like the famous roller coaster ride in Coney Island, Mr. Cohen takes you on a heart-thumping ride that sends you soaring and plummeting time and again. This does not end until the very last page when you can catch your breath and get off the ride.

With the publication of, among others, "The Bottoms," The 25th Hour" and "Mystic River, the mystery novel has joined the ranks of fine literature. Add "Red Hook" to this impressive list.

Five stars does not do this book justice. Pick up a copy and see if you're not rooting for Jack.

It is ironic that the broken, dispirited, rusted out district of Brooklyn called Red Hook has a magnificent view of the Statue of Liberty and one of the most beautiful bridges in the world, Verrazano-Narrows.

Detective Jack Leightner isn't just from Red Hook; he is Red Hook. He can no more remove himself than the spindly trees that grow, if not thrive, in the neighborhood. A Dominican man is found stabbed ... half in and half out of the putrid, polluted Gowanus canal. Hardened Detective Leightner almost faints at the sight of the cruel stab wounds. He is unbearably affected by this crime and pursues it long after his superiors want to put it in the unsolved file. As much as a mystery, "Red Hook" is the story of Jack's searching for redemption or at least self-acceptance. He has become a total outsider, but obviously a likeable man as many people reach out to him. Why do the stab wounds so profoundly affect Jack? What makes him totally reject his formative years in Red Hook? Why cannot he connect with his grown son? What happened to his younger brother who died at age thirteen? As another reviewer commented, all great books are mysteries, and "Red Hook" fills the bill.

In spite of the books introspection, it has a quick pace and a thunderous climax that literally left me limp. "Red Hook" works on many levels; the exquisite descriptions of light upon leaves and rusted out rubble, Jack as an existential man, and a thumping good police procedural. I hope to see more from this talented author.

This book is a good one for a girl, like me, who wants to be a paleontologist. The illustrations are very colorful and it has some pretty good information in it. At the end of the book the author gives some kind of "lesson plans". The author tells you about her own experience as a paleontologist and gives you some ideas on how to decide if this is the right career for you. All in all this is a pretty good book. I think I would recommend it.