Customer Reviews

Blue Justice

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4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
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1 star:		(1)

 

 

It does not take a Ph.D. in quantum physics to understand the incredible level of stress confronting a New York City police officer. However, the city is stunned by the recent suicides of sixteen of The Big Apple's finest. One of the recent men who died is Dan, whose partner for almost three decades never saw it coming. Ed Gavin still cannot believe that Dan killed himself. Ed's new partner is rookie Jon Strega, whose father was a police officer who died in the line of duty. The Commissioner's daughter Maria Alvarez is a fellow officer out of the same precinct as Jon and Ed. She tries to hit on Jon, who rejects her advances. In retaliation, Maria begins to harass Jon.

Ed's boss plants a seed of doubt in his mind that not all of the deaths were suicide. Ed intends to look into the possibility that someone is murdering police officers. Maria, Jon, and Ed soon find themselves on a collision course with the fact that it appears that one of their own has turned.

The police procedural sub-genre is so loaded with talented writers it is difficult for a newcomer to make a mark. However, once in a while a debut is so clever and well done that the author stands out in the crowd. This is the case with Jeanine Kadow and her first time novel, BLUE JUSTICE, which is on a par with the top works of Cornwell, Rosenberg, and Palmer. The action-packed story line asks the question of who will police the police when they need to punish one of their own? If this mesmerizing tale is any example, Ms. Kadow will climb to the top faster than a speeding bullet.

Harriet Klausner

I picked up Blue Justice on a whim--it was on the shelf below an Evan Hunter title I was seeking. I had been reading the usual best-selling techno-thriller writers lately, but had been dissatisfied with most of their recent efforts. I was pleasantly surprised by this book. There was no single place where I felt let down by the writer or the story. Although it was abundantly clear "whodunnit" early on (as I'm sure the author intended), and although I started to have my suspicions why towards the end of the book, this was a good enough read that I enjoyed reading it all the way to the end. I look forward to Ms. Kadow's next book, "Burnout" which Amazon's site says should appear next year.

Jeannine Kadow's Blue Justice, is described as a novel of suspense. That it most certainly is, and the plotting, the characters, the background knowledge of the New York Police Department, and dialogue make one question whether this is in fact a first effort. The writing is tightly controlled, the action moves apace and builds up apparently effortlessly to a surprising climax. No 'first novel' stumbling, no distracting intrusion by the author, but a straightforward powerful narrative from a diligent reporter and written with verve. It has all the ingredients of a good read. I thought the conversion from mutual resentment between the two principal protagonists, the cops, Strega with his university background and Gavin with his hard-nosed up-from-the-streets attitude, to a mutual-admiration partnership was particularly well drawn. It is all believable and the reader is involved in their actions and personalities from the beginning. The psychology behind Maria and the subsidiary characters might have been written by a psychiatrist. I am a reluctant admirer of the genre but Blue Justice kept me awake most of the night until I finished it in the wee small hours. 'Unputdownable' says the publisher's blurb and this time, despite the awful word, the claim is not excessive. If a novel is supposed to entertain and if a suspense novel is supposed to fascinate and frighten the reader, this one succeeds, admirably. RORY O'KEEF

"Don't be fooled ... this novel takes place in the NYPDand is peopled with cops, but it's far from a genre police novel;Kadow has reinvented police fiction by using the NYPD setting as a gritty urban stage for her story of tortured souls, rage, grief, fright, and revenge. Gavin as the 30-year veteran isn't the same old grizzled guy in uniform you've read about in the past. He's a father haunted by the inexplicable disappearance of his daughter, a righteous married man who watches helplessly as his marriage crumbles; he's a hollowed out robot gutted and empty with grief over the suicide of his lifelong partner and friend - that is, until he wakes up convinced his partner was murdered. Then, rage carries Gavin back from the living dead and killer beware: Gavin will stop at nothing to find the truth. The question is, will he find it in time? His new young partner Jon Strega has been tagged as the next victim in a cop-killer's deadly game. The ivy-league educated Strega's a young, smart, eloquent, artistic, pasta-cooking, gorgeous guy, but he's got unresolved issues of his own - he's wearing a badge out of a deep-rooted loyalty and love for his father who died in the line of duty. Strega's intricate character grows even more fascinating when the killer lures him into a wild game where Strega's forced to explore his own past, sift through lies upon lies to find the truth about who he really is. And then there's Maria Alvarez, the bombshell cop, the Police Commissioner's daughter. She's fearless. She's smart. She's got a voracious appetite for good-looking male cops like Strega. But is her come-on to Strega a sex thing or cop killer? I won't give the story away, but I'll tell you this: She's one of the most original, most frightening characters I've ever read and it will be a long time before she fades from my mind."

I was not a big reader I read one Jr. high level book some college text and I was trying to muster the bible when for christmas as a result of a gift pool I got this book. I couldn;t put it down every time I had a chance to do anything I was reading this book. unfortunatly I am not a poet and other then to say this was a great book and any one with an intrest in police, action, mystery, or suspence should read this book. I would love feed back from the author.

I was extremely disappointed with the debut novel by Jeannine Kadow, "Blue Justice". It was a difficult one to hold my attention as it wasn't smooth enough to follow. I couldn't wait to finish it so I could start another book. In fact, I had to order this used book through another source from Amazon.com since my four used bookstores didn't even carry it.
I had read her next two books prior to this and found them to be exciting and when I finished them I was so hoping for them to go on a bit longer.
Hopefully the author will be publishing another book soon and I would hope it would be as thrilling as the "Burnout" (read this one first as it tells the beginning of it's main character) and "Deadtide".

I just finished this book, and while overall it was a good read (if nothing I'll want to pick up for a second reading), there were a few problems with this book that made me start to lose interest after about halfway through. First of all, this book has chapters and chapters where things will be meticulously explained and events will happen in lavish detail, then the next section will just pick up after some other events have happened - that we never know about! It's as though someone just cut away pieces of chapters that the reader needs in order to properly follow what's going on. Very, very confusing. I also didn't like the older cop, Gavin - very formulaic. In fact, the plot was pretty formula - nothing really sticks out to seperate this book from dozens of other serial killer novels I've read that are exactly like this. But Strega and Alvarez are good characters overall, and some of the supporting characters are fresh and interesting.

My recommendation - pick it up at a library or used book shop and waste a day or two reading it. It's the kind of book you'll read and forget about five minutes later. Mildly recommended