Tangled Web UK Review March 2007
Officer Down by
Theresa Schwegel
pbk out February 07
(Quercus)
at £6.99
Well-crafted debut novel from Schwegel which will keep you reading long past
the midnight hour. Samantha Mack (Smack for short) is a tough 32 year-old
Chicago cop with a smart mouth and a strong sense of loyalty. So she asks
no questions when paired with an ex-lover on an emergency call and finds
herself in a shoot-out with a Serbian paedophile – a shootout that ends with
her unconscious, no evidence that the paedophile had ever been present, and
her partner killed by a shot from her own gun. The authorities want to call it an
accident and move on, but Sam can't rest until she knows the truth. With
Mason, her current (but married) lover, she starts to turn up a fact or two that
suggest that all is not as it seems.
It's a well-worn premise (and procedural aspects of the police reaction to the
shooting incident have been criticised, by an ex-Chicago cop, no less) but the
book stands or falls on two things.
First up is the uncommonly well-worked out plot, steadily revealed as Sam
works her way, not always deftly, from lead to lead. Plot complications include
a bevy of suspicious wives and an Internal Affairs investigation that
considerably muddies the waters.
Second is the revelatory first-person narrative from Sam as she negotiates a
complex web of male attitudes ranging from chivalry to chauvinism and
beyond: cool sharp observation on the surface, usually troubled, often
uncertain within, sometimes contradictory, always credible. Schwegel has a
nice line in taut dialogue too, as you might expect from someone trained in
screen-writing. The moving climax, albeit with a touch of the Tarantinos, is
one to remember (and it takes you back to the opening chapter, the one you
didn't think was particularly relevant at the time).
A name to watch out for – and a worthwhile read.
(
Bob Cornwell
)
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