Legends of Winter Hill

At McCain Investigations, I'd be sent looking for people who didn't want to be found, following guys who didn't want to be followed, and entering neighborhoods where I was not at all welcome. There would be no commercials, no time-outs, no 'do-overs' if somebody got shot or stabbed or run over. These guys were playing for keeps. Seasoned journalist and adventurer Jay Atkinson spent a year working as a rookie private eye for the storied firm McCain Investigations, founded by the late Joe McCain, Sr., one of the most decorated police officers in Boston history. In his colorful narrative style, Atkinson describes some of the cases he worked as a detective, chasing down an assortment of felons, thieves, and con artists, as well as the ghost of a real-life American hero, legendary cop Joe McCain. Atkinson traces McCain's story from the day he put on his Boston Metropolitan Police uniform in the 1950s through the heyday of his run-ins with mafiosi, bad cops, and ruthless killers. Big Joe was the genuine article, a detective so committed to his work that a gunshot wound suffered in the line of duty took thirteen years to kill him. McCain pursued such infamous Winter Hill mobsters as Stephen the Rifleman Flemmi and the murderous James Whitey Bulger, who remains on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted list. Here Atkinson reveals new details--based on his exclusive interviews and an abundance of his own shoe leather--about how Bulger, one of America's most notorious fugitives, came within inches of being apprehended during Joe McCain's reign. Atkinson also tracks the career of Joe McCain's son, Joe Jr., a tattooed, hard-riding motorcycle fanatic who followed his old man onto the force. Since big Joe's death, young Joe has learned the hard way that a father's mythic persona can be both a blessing and a curse, as a fellow cop with a grudge against Joe Sr. may be out to ruin young Joe's career. Atkinson delves into this dark and dangerous aspect of the job, where it's uncertain which side some cops are on. Legends of Winter Hill takes you into an alluring and gritty world where heroes go unsung every day, and moral boundaries aren't always black and white. From the Hardcover edition.

Review :
"A lionized legend wrapped in truisms trumps crime in "Mystic River" country." --"Kirkus Reviews " "The characters leap off the page as if they're from a Robert Parker novel, and the city's grit is reminiscent of Dennis Lehane's "Mystic River," Yet it's all true--a lesson in human nature, a lesson in law enforcement history, and a lesson in life." --Brian McGrory, author of "Dead Line," "The Incumbent" and "The Nominee" "With" Legends of Winter Hill," Jay Atkinson proves himself a literary alchemist of the highest order. He reaches behind the cobalt stares and brass exteriors to the steel blue blood of a rough and ready family of cops. By listening to the souls of these men beneath their bravado, Atkinson has written his way into the company of Dennis Lehane and Mario Puzo. A stunning accomplishment." --Joe Kurmaskie, author of "Metal Cowboy" and "Riding Outside the Lines" "With its bigger-than-life hero and pistol-crack prose, "Legends of Winter Hill" reads like a George Higgins novel. The wonder is, it's a true story, and Jay Atkinson delivers the goods. Here is a complex, multicharacter tale, torn straight from today's headlines. Riding shotgun, Atkinson goes down the dark streets and casts an unflinching eye on all he surveys and yet manages to convey a compassion, and even an affection, for the players." --David Daniel, author of "Goofy Foot" and "The Marble Kite ""Peppered with an assortment of felons, thieves, con artists and dirty cops, this is an unflinching look at the gritty day-to-day life of one of our heroes in blue." --"Tucson Citizen" "A page turner. "Legends of Winter Hill," which had me cringing one minute and laughing the next, broadened mystreet education. Read it yourself. I guarantee it will do the same for you. --"Boston Sunday Globe" "Collaring the reader from the start," Legends of Winter Hill "pushes hard and fast, propelling larger-than-life characters across the page, never loosening its grip, never going soft." --"Boston Herald" "Atkinson tells the McCain's real-life story in the exciting style of a novel." --"The Improper Bostonian" "A great read." --"Providence Journal" "Spicy, streetwise and saturated with sordid stories and tales from the underworld. Told with a great eye for detail, and a deep appreciation of goodness." --Wayne Coffey, "New York Times" bestselling author of "The Boys of Winter" "From the Hardcover edition."