15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Phoenix -- from Cow Town to Crime Town, January 9, 2003
This review is from: Camelback Falls: A David Mapstone Mystery (Hardcover)
This is a good book.
Before going further, it is worth noting that Phoenix and Arizona have some of the highest crime rates in the nation. That's not what the Chamber of Commerce, tourism bureau and local newspaper will admit, but it's true. Do as I did, look at the FBI Uniform Crime Reports. I did after moving here in 1972, and often since then; the figures are consistent, this is one of the most crime plagued areas in the nation.
Talton writes a compelling story about crime in the Phoenix area, with a fictional sheriff as his hero. The real sheriff is a clown, courting constant publicity by forming chain gangs for prisoners, serving rotten food (he's proud of his green bologna), dressing inmates in pink underwear, narrowly evading imaginary plots on his life, housing inmates in tents in 120-degree weather, and costing the county millions of dollars in lawsuits filed in response to brutality by his deputies.
The sheriff's predecessors include a man who'd been married 10 or so times, and another who was formerly a lawnmower repairman. They weren't as "tough" as the current sheriff.
Although his central plot is fictional, Talton larded it with real incidents in the Phoenix area. When he cites to Mesa officers using their shift breaks to have sex with each other, such sex games really happened. When he writes about the local newspaper by saying one of it's stories "got things about half right" - - - it flatters his current bosses, since he can't afford to lose his day job yet.
Yet, based on my personal experience as a reporter covering trials and in the governor's office, Talton paints a devastatingly accurate picture of police corruption, indifference, arrogance and bullying. Time and again, his examples are based on actual events. For example, in my neighborhood police teamed up with local gang members who are willing to fight the Los Angeles-based Crips and Bloods.
Earlier, I mentioned high crime rates. It would probably be the highest rate in the nation except for one factor - - - the police refuse to take reports on crimes such as burglary and attempted auto theft. I've been burglarized half-a-dozen times, the recent police response is always, "Don't call us, your insurance company handles those complaints."
How bad is crime? Well, in the early 1980s, Sen. Barry Goldwater moved his office out of downtown Phoenix because the high crime rate made many people too afraid to visit it. Today, neither of Arizona's Senators, John McCain and Jon Kyl, have downtown Phoenix offices.
In police terms, and I learned this from the police many years ago, many local cops are "cash registers." It means an emphasis on writing tickets to produce revenue, not on preventing or solving crimes. It's why almost every new subdivision in Arizona is surrounded by walls, a desperate attempt by residents to protect themselves. In response, city officials want to impose new ordinances to limit the size of walls that people may build to protect their homes and families.
Talton portrays this ambiance of Phoenix with rare skill and cheeky verve. Such candor is never reflected in the local papers, which believe in "press release" journalism rather than showing initiative. I know the neighborhoods he writes about, and his book offers a chillingly authentic view of the wide open nature of Phoenix.
Camelback Falls underlines the reason why three out of five people who move to the Phoenix area leave within a year; the combination of high crime, police indifference and corruption, plus 100 days when the daily temperature is more than 100 degrees is enough to drive any rational person away.
Keep in mind, Talton writes about middle class neighborhoods. In the barrios, whole families - - father, mother, three killed - - have been killed execution style, but the police never make an arrest. Why? Few people, if any, trust the police. As for the police, they don't care; promotions are made on the basis of revenue-producing tickets.
Talton writes about the real Phoenix, not the tourist version. It's an easy four-hour read, well worth your time before visiting or moving to Phoenix. Read it, Talton paints a chilling picture of how local officials are letting a once beautiful city become a Third World ghetto.
Read it. If enough people read it and respond, perhaps something will be done. We'd appreciate any help outraged readers may offer. Thanks.
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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
An enjoyable read., May 14, 2003
This review is from: Camelback Falls: A David Mapstone Mystery (Hardcover)
I was disappointed by Talton's first novel, _Concrete Desert_, but I am pleased to see that this one is a big improvement. Somewhat implausibly, the narrator goes overnight from being the universally ridiculed historian of the Maricopa County Sheriff's Department to its acting head. He quickly finds himself in the middle of a case of corruption, porn and murder, and doesn't know who he can trust. The action moves along briskly and the sense of paranoia increases as more and more attempts are made on the narrator's life. The descriptions of Phoenix, especially the contrast between the Chamber-of-commerce image and the sleazy underbelly, are spot on.
Talton still has trouble creating believable characters. Lindsey in particular seems more like a pin-up poster on some teenage boy's bedroom wall than a real human being. Also the ending was annoyingly formulaic, reminiscent of those James Bond movies where the bad guy has to explain everything before killing Bond.
On the whole however, this is an entertaining read if you have to spend a few hours sitting on a plane. Phoenix provides so much material for detective thrillers - greedy land speculators, hypocritical politicians, ultra-extremist gun nuts and survivalists, you name it - I hope Talton will continue to mine this vein.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
interesting police procedural, January 18, 2003
This review is from: Camelback Falls: A David Mapstone Mystery (Hardcover)
When he was twenty-three, David Mapstone was a rookie working in the Maricopa County Sheriff's office while attending college at night. After four years on the force, he accepts a position of assistant professor at a midwestern college but when he fails to attain tenure he returns to Arizona. He accepts a job with the sheriff's office as a Historian, receiving a set fee for each cold case he solved.
Nobody could be happier than David is when his old partner Mike Peralta is elected sheriff of Maricopa County. However, minutes after Peralta is sworn in, someone shoots the new sheriff who is rushed to the hospital where he lays in a coma. David is selected as acting sheriff because he has no interest in the position permanently. His immediate concern is the murder of former sheriff Dick Nixon who many claim was dirty, and an escaped con probably gunning for David and Peralta. When evidence surfaces that officers, including Peralta, were on the take in the 1970's, David, trusting in the honesty of his friend, concludes that somebody is manipulating events. David investigates the situation, trying to flush the killer out but almost winds up another victim.
Jon Talton is a superb storyteller who is a fresh new voice in police procedurals. His hero is likable and realistic, a person not interested in petty politics or getting ahead professionally. He's more involved in the past than the present but in CAMELBACK FALLS he is forced to work on a current crime because of his friendship. Mr. Talton writes with a discerning eye and a subtle sense of irony that readers will appreciate.
Harriet Klausner
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