Love or Honor

Book excerpt: This “expertly written” true story of an honest New York cop who loses his head and his heart while undercover reads like “a high-caliber TV miniseries” (Publishers Weekly). On the eve of his second wedding anniversary, Chris Anastos feels secure in his marriage and in his work with the NYPD’s anticrime unit in the South Bronx. A summons to the downtown headquarters of the Intelligence Division spells trouble, however. Links between the Italian mob and a Greek criminal network in Queens have been discovered, and investigators want the Greek-American cop to go undercover. Reluctantly, Anastos agrees. For five years he plays his role to perfection, moving back and forth between his comfortable home life and a murky, underground world of wiseguys, pimps, bookies, racketeers, thieves, and heroin dealers. But when the happily married cop falls in love with the beautiful, raven-haired daughter of a Long Island capo, he faces his gravest threat yet. From the acclaimed author of A Death in Canaan and A Death in California, this is the unforgettable true story of a good man torn between passion and principle.