Beginning with the 1992 Los Angeles Riots and ending with the tumultuous police controversies swirling around both Ferguson, Missouri, and New York City in 2014, Domanick's fast-paced book is filled with political intrigue, cultural and racial conflict, hard-boiled characters like intransient, warrior minded cops like LAPD chief Daryl Gates and America's most famous police reformer, William J. Bratton. As the Los Angeles Times put it, Blue "weaves a compelling, fact-filled tale of a turbulent city in transition and a police department that often seems impervious to civilian control."

As the story unfolds, Domanick seamlessly injects and analyzes police policies and actions, while discussing police accountability and legitimacy, effective crime-reduction based on real, long-term community policing, and what is necessary for a new stage of progressive police reform to take place. As Kirkus Reviews summed up in a starred review: "This is a well-executed, large-scale urban narrative, sprawling, engrossing, and highly relevant to the ongoing controversies about policing post-Ferguson."