Customer Reviews

Apparition Alley

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Of all the Delafield books, this was one of the weakest. Too many intersecting stories to really keep up. Had a hard time believing Aimee would be working so hard after the shooting. Worth reading for the sake of keeping up with the series.

This book was an OK book. Perhaps I was expecting more. One of the things that I did like about this book was Kates attitude and her love for being a member of the LAPD. I also the manner in which Ms. Forrest characterized Luke Taggert. I was disappointed by the lack of action in this book. Not being one who reads many mystery/dective novels I can't think of any other authors to compare this book with. Would I read another Katherine Forrest novel.? Yes. I never judge an author on just one book.

Kate Delafied is shot and wounded in a "routine" bust. What really blows her mind is when she finds out that the bullet came not from the criminal but from one of her fellow officers, all of whom are loathe to speak to Kate which makes her even more cranky. Then out of the blue comes a request from Luke Taggert, who is accused of having killed a drug dealer in cold blood and he wants Kate as his advocate. Kate is initially unwilling to take the case but boredom and the inconsistencies she finds when she starts investigating keep her going. She is astonished when Taggert is less worried about his own fate and more concerned about the murder of his closeted partner Tony Ferrera, who was more like a brother than a partner to Luke. As Kate works on Taggert's case, she finds herself also looking into Tony's death as well. She finds that Tony made a computer disk of closeted gays that he intended to publish. THis makes the LAPD the prime target. Did one of them kill Tony to keep him quiet? and what of Luke's story. Kate begins to find it has more holes than swiss cheese. As an aside, I found her sparring with psychologist Calla very interesting and Calla's warning to Kate before she releases her to return to "light" duty shakes Kate and we can only hope she will listen. A lot is going in in this book and it is very complex and exciting.

LAPD homicide detective Kate Delafield, a gay woman working on a homophobic police force, is shot when she serves a warrant on a teenage suspect with a history of violence. During the ensuing melee, not only is Kate hurt, but the suspect, who had a gun in his possession, is killed. The investigators, who look into any shooting, quickly realize that Kate was shot by friendly fire. They begin to wonder if this shooting might be the deliberate act of a gay basher.

Kate cannot even heal in peace. She receives an urgent call from fellow officer Luke Taggert, who is on suspension for killing an unarmed civilian. Luke insists that he is innocent and being set up because he exposed a corrupt cop years ago. Luke also tells Kate that his deceased partner, was not the victim of a robbery gone bad. He asks her to look into both cases, though he hides from her the fact that his partner was about to reveal the identify of many homosexual officers.

APPARITION ALLEY is a well written police procedural with a unique perspective: the alleged perpetrator is a police officer. This provides the audience to glimpse into the political maneuvering and social biases prevalent in the police force. The novel also indicts those individuals who pervert the "serve and protect" credo for their own end. This provoking novel is the one tree that stands out in the forest of recent police procedurals. It is a multi-layered novel, rich in characterizations and sub-plots that lead to a strong reader empathy. Katherine V. Forrest deserves to be recognized as an outstanding talent.

Harriet Klausner

This book is definetely "no frills". The writing is terse, tense, clipped and unembellished to the point of tedium. Never again!

This is a murder mystery about Kate Delafield, Los Angeles Police
Department homicide detective and former Marine. When Forrest began writing her mysteries, they were published by NAIAD, a small pioneering lesbian press. That Forrest now has a major publisher reflects both the quality of her work and the increased acceptance of diverse types of stories in the mystery field.

It is hard to imagine a more stressful job than the one that Forrest
creates for her character. An upstanding member of the L.A.P.D., her work
brings her into daily contact with death and corruption. Her whole department is under incredible public scrutiny, and at a low point in morale due to the O. J. Simpson trial. Delafield is a somewhat closeted lesbian in a profession where women, let alone lesbians, are not well tolerated.

As the novel starts, a routine arrest goes bad, and not only is a young
suspect killed, but Delafield is herself shot and wounded. The detective's focus should be relaxing and regaining her health, but instead she represents another officer who is accused of misconduct. Delafield's investigation leads her to a tangentially related killing of a gay cop. This in turn reveals a plan to out hundreds of gays and lesbians on the police force.

Kate Delafield solves the murders, but the important issues involve the
injustices suffered by lesbians and gays in the military-like, macho field of law enforcement, and also the moral and ethical issues created by closeted lifestyles. Forrest doesn't offer any easy solutions or pat answers, but does provide a vivid depiction of the stress and conflicts which shape the lives of police officers, what ever their gender or sexual orientation.

This author just turns out a better story each time on her wonderful character Kate Delafield. Again, Kate is faced with an extremely intrigueing case. Not only that, she has her own demons to confront in this story. How they all intertwine and make for a thought-provoking story and ending are done so well that you keep wishing for more.

As always from this wonderful author, this story makes you think and contemplate. The characters have depth and as in real life, they are full of complexites and depth. This story especially moved me as it explores the issues of trust and true friendship. It touches the depths of how far a friend will go to find justice. This is a story that gives deep thought to some issues in the gay and lesbian community about coming out and all of the ramifications of doing just that. I loved the whole story and the plot. When I finished it I was moved by the author's ability to see so many sides of the trust issues that all police officers go through.

When I finished it I was moved to tears by the love and devotion that it presented. As in real life, it showed that sometimes where and when we least expect it, we find someone we can really trust when our back is to the wall, to the end. How many times in life do we really have that? Bravo Ms. Forrester. I know your next book will be even better.

Katherine V. Forrest's messages in this book is that coming out is each individual's choice and no one has a right to force them to be visible. If you want to come out inch by inch or all at once, that is okay. But, unfortunately, she also tells us that the "system" is such that we have to accept substandard colleagues. She also plays with the "don't ask, don't tell" argument, which will always go around in circles without a conclusion. However, I am disappointed with the vehicles Forrest chose to approach these topics. I admire how she can craft scenes, bringing several very different characters into a room and a conversation that makes the reader laugh and cry. She failed to do that here. Secondly, I can not remember when Kate Delafield accepted less from a coworker. While recuperating from a gunshot wound caused accidently by a fellow officer, Delafield waited for a call from her team members that never came and then acquiesced to their weak excuses. Delafield has always confronted their weaknesses or sought their removal. Lastly, the scenes with the psychologist told me more about Delafield than I knew from previous books. But, the psychologist seemed to have given up on her when she could have pressed on for more.