This book revealed a fascinating history of sanitation and trash removal in NYC to which I was completely unaware. A truly gripping true story about an NYPD detective. I appreciated how the conversations were transcribed from the tape recordings in the case (unless otherwise noted). It made the story, for how unbelievable it is, feel unembellished. It didn't feel like a cash grab either. The author's voice felt authentic, focused on retelling the events and the mindset he fell into while undercover, rather than sensationalizing the story.

It was a quick read for me - a mad dash to finish the book before the end of summer. On numerous occasions, I found myself reaching for the book to knock out another chapter or two rather than mindlessly scrolling on my phone. How can I ask for much more than that?

I really liked this book by NYPD detective Rick Cowan, about Operation Wasteland, the undercover investigation that crippled the garbage hauling rackets in NYC. I don't tend to be partial to books by police officers, maybe having been burned by the stunning dullness of [b:Donnie Brasco|308251|Donnie Brasco|Joseph D. Pistone|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173606424s/308251.jpg|299208] early on in my true-crime-reading career. But I found this much more interesting, maybe because Cowan was younger and greener and, at least as he portrays it, had to do more improvising due to the lesser resources of the NYPD vs. the FBI. There's also some great stuff about inter-departmental politics and lower-grade corruption in NYC; for instance, a leak about Operation Wasteland led to the city government opening up the hauling contracts for the NYC Marathon to an out-of-state company for the first time. Lots of great political gems like that, viewed from street level. I enjoyed this more than I expected to.