- ASIN: B0BCKQ858X
- Language: English
- Print length: 342 pages
- Genre: The Latest Police Procedurals
The BookViral Review:
Happenstance, serendipity and luck dominate as the lives of characters crash against one another like pinballs in J P Flores’ Bad Cop. A novel that perfectly captures the unscripted events and coincidences of real life, where you can do your utmost best, and it’s never quite good enough.
An enthralling read we quickly come to grips with who the characters are and what their lives are like with Flores writing with such directness and a fine ear for dialogue that his characters seem real and plausible in just a few brief words.
Avoiding the pitfalls of cliché his seven ‘Brady Cops’ are uniformly strong with their identities pivoting on their successes and failures which in turn justifies an intriguing array of coincidences and surprises. And on this level, Flores has an uncanny ability to draw us in and to make us care about them. Keeping the action moving briskly and with little tonal confusion with each of his key characters given ample opportunity to shine.
Meticulously researched, and filled with striking moments, Flores’ plot thoughtfulness and ambition make it unusually suspenseful, gripping, and disturbing. Its narrative revealing itself to have much more depth than might initially be expected, to become a thoughtful meditation on the rigours of police work and the psychic toll that it takes on the soul.
Novels like Bad Cop that evolve through interlocking stories often lose their way or lead to saccharin endings, where the characters are better because of what has happened to them. But here Flores explores the accidental nature of life and the way in which our lives can be shaped by events outside our control. Not all of his characters are better off at the end but perhaps some are better people because of what has happened to them and this makes for a cracking denouement.
A powerful and evocative read, Bad Cop proves a superb release for Flores and a must-read for discerning readers of top-notch Police Procedurals. It is recommended without reservation.