Unlike The Choirboys, The New Centurions tells a story that is more interested in the glory of being a cop instead of its troubles. We are continuing our Joseph Wambaugh books ranked article with The New Centurions, another fictional piece by the author. Without that major flaw, I think The Choirboys could have been Joseph Wambaugh’s best book by an enormous margin. I’d say it keeps the book interesting all the way through the end but I can’t go without mentioning that the humorous side is keen to slip into satire and this takes away from the story’s seriousness as a whole. The Choirboys is a piece periodically switching between a dark and a humorous one. The book goes through each of the officer’s reasons for needing an activity like this and brings it all together towards the end. The ‘70s policemen mentioned in the story prescribe themselves one of these nights every time they are overwhelmed by the heaviness of their jobs as well as their own problems. The name of the book refers to an activity the characters name “Choir Practice”, an off-duty night at a public park that consists of a lot of beer and an orgy. This book stands out in this list by being the first example of one of the author’s characteristics: even though Wambaugh lived in a period where cops are portrayed solely as strong and pretty superheroes, he would dare to portray policemen as real people with all their flaws and weaknesses.
Second in the order of best selling Joseph Wambaugh books, The Choirboys tells a fictional and haunting story. I mean, it is hard to ruin an interesting real-life story anyways but the author not only manages to retain the story’s intrigue but he also adds on to it with his writing expertise and experience in the field.
His questioning of the justice system that I mentioned is backed by logical, convincing arguments and feels really thought out as well. In the first among his best rated books, Joseph Wambaugh manages to draw one of the best descriptions of PTSD I’ve ever read. After that, he focuses on the event’s effects on the characters. He draws a clear image in your mind for them so you can understand the event better. The author first takes into his hand the lives of the four characters. I will not share the main event of the story with you as I think it would completely ruin the book for you, but I can say it’s a disturbing and heartbreaking one.
The author raises critical questions on the effectiveness and purpose of the judicial system by using these four men’s stories and he also takes a dive into their lives and personalities. It is the true crime story of two policemen who were on a routine traffic stop in 1963 and the two robbers who ran into them. I have decided to start off this article with the first in the list of the most popular Joseph Wambaugh books.
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