This is the account of the efforts of New York Patrolman Frank Serpico to reveal the corruption that was undermining the morale of the NYPD back in the late Sixties. Ostracised by his colleagues, he trod a lonely path, and eventually was shot in the head and nearly died. His courageous stand seemed, at the time, to bear little fruit, but author Maas believes that subsequent clean-ups in the department were due to his subject's obstinacy. The book reads like a novel, but we are assured that the main threads of the story are true. An inspiring account of one man who dared to stand up and be counted.