Michael Tabman

A very interesting police procedural with some minor flaws that, for me, did not detract from my enjoyment of the book. It follows the experiences of Hollins, a rookie cop, in a mythical suburb of Kansas City. Hollings' first test involves a gas station holdup where Burkitt, a rather self-absorbed cop who wants nothing more than to be a detective, arrives first on the scene, followed by Hollings and Thompson, his training officer. What happens next is the subject of an IAD investigation but Hollins and Thompson are shot, not badly wounded, Thompson shoots the perp in the ass, Burkitt shoots out an exit sign, but all exit seemingly unscathed. Then a series of rapes occur, Hollings gets suckered into doing some things he shouldn't, and IA starts to look into several things. And watch out for the three Bees. "Yeah, that happens. But a young, smart kid like you won't be on patrol very long. Keep out of trouble and you'll move up the ranks real fast. Just watch out for those three B’s." "Three bees?” "Yeah, booze, broads and bucks. If you get into a bind in any one of those, you get all fucked up. Almost any time a cop's career got ruined, it was over one of those things." And especially Bullet Brenda.

Reminiscent of early Wambaugh, although I found the POV shifts from third to first person jarring. That and occasional missteps like the following: "face of innocence just wreaked [sic] of being a cop. " I also found the ending quite unsatisfactory, but if it's the first book in a possible series, excusable, I suppose.

Nevertheless, if you like gritty, authentic cop stories, this is a good one.… (altro)

Tabman, who has a background in law enforcement, both police and FBI, has written an authentic series of very short stories under the title Bad Intent. Each could be a stand-alone, but hang together as a series. I refer you to an excellent review and summary of the series by Fran at http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/337518858. I wold have preferred them altogether in one volume, but certainly enjoyed the first which brought out the tricky relationships that exist between the FBI and NYPD. During a stakeout and bust, one of the FBI agents tussles with one of the bad guys and in the process accidentally shoots a cop. THE NYPD and FBI immediately close ranks around each other's respective units.

“I’m Agent Douglas, officer, what’s the problem here?” “That’s sergeant. Sergeant Collins. The problem is that we need your agent to hand his weapon over to us right now. It is evidence in a police shooting and we will take custody of it.” “I don’t think so, Sergeant. This is an FBI case, and the FBI does not relinquish their weapons to local cops. Now, I just swallowed as much as shit as I going to from you guys; don’t push it. This is an FBI case.” “So what are you saying? Do we have a stand-off here, Agent Douglas?”… (altro)

First off....I have to say - I have started this but am not going to finish it.

I LOVE the premise of this book and that Michael Tabman is a former FBI agent. I have several friends who are former and current FBI agents and their stories can be truly amazing.

BUT - I do not enjoy all the bad language. Even the first two sentences made me cringe. There are several swear words on each page and then the F word came. I really don't enjoy reading things like that.

If this was cleaned up I would LOVE to finish it and read more of Micheal's books. The story opened right in the middle of a drug bust and quickly drew the reader in. Great story and concept - but not appreciate of the language.… (altro)