Cold Hit: A Shane Scully Novel [Audio Cassette]

Stephen J. Cannell (Author), Scott Sowers (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 2005

What if, under the PATRIOT Act, federal bureaucrats could take murder cases away from local cops—then bury those cases so they’re never investigated again?
What if government agents could bug your home, your car, your place of business—your entire life—with nothing more than spoken permission from a secret panel of judges?

What if the Department of Homeland Security could pull police officers off the street and hold them in cells indefinitely as material witnesses—because they’re working on “sensitive” investigations?

They can . . .

The PATRIOT Act and the Homeland Security Act give enormous power to our nation’s top federal law enforcement officials. They operate under the presumption that these officials are honest, diligent, and fair.

But what if they’re not?

In THE COLD HIT, Detective Shane Scully suspects that the regional boss of the Department of Homeland Security is thwarting a major murder investigation. But why?

Robert Allen Virtue can act without oversight or accountability. There’s no way to question him; there’s no way to way to check up on him; there’s no way to find out if he’s exceeding his authority. Virtually at will, he can bug anyone he considers a threat to national security, take over criminal investigations, and jail cops. Even if he is breaking the law, there’s no way to know it. There’s nothing to rely on but his integrity. His professional commitment. His good name. Virtue.

That may be a very big mistake.

Shane and his partner are investigating "the Fingertip Killer,” a serial murderer preying on homeless Vietnam vets in Los Angeles. A bullet taken from one victim's skull matches the bullet that killed another man ten years earlier—an unexpected ballistics match linking one unsolved case to another that police call a “cold hit.” When the earlier victim turns out to have been an LAPD cop, the investigation becomes very personal for Shane. But there’s a problem: Robert Allen Virtue wants him taken off it.

To solve the cop’s murder, and possibly the Fingertip case, Scully must go behind the powerful bureaucrat’s back and deep undercover—where he will begin unraveling a deadly far-reaching conspiracy that threatens to destroy everything he loves: his career, his freedom, and his family.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

After a successful career as a television writer-producer (The Rockford Files; Wiseguy), Cannell is carving a strong second, thanks mainly to the series featuring LAPD homicide sleuth Shane Scully. In this outing, Scully's partner has slipped into an angry, alcoholic funk and their high-priority case—the search for a serial slayer who snips the digits of his homeless victims—is usurped by a task force headed by an arrogant FBI profiler. Cannell's strong suit has always been unique characters, and Scully's world-weary cop and family man is no exception. Add to that an intriguing mystery, authentic cop jargon (smoothly translated), snapshot descriptions of Southern California locales and a couple of tense and amusing LAPD–Homeland Security face-offs. Brick's rendition is clear, precise and effective in adding accent touches. While he knows how to build tension when a buzz saw is pressed to Scully's hand, his voice is too youthful and newsreader perfect to stand in for a disillusioned veteran cop. Scully narrates the novel, and a deeper, darker timbre would have turned this entertaining audio into an exceptional one.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

In his new outing, L.A. homicide detective Shane Scully has too many things to deal with. There's the latest in a string of serial murders, although Shane has serious doubts that this victim fits the pattern. There's his captain, who keeps pressing him to get the murder solved before the chief of detectives forms a task force. There's his wife, the aforementioned chief of detectives. There's his partner, an old friend who is in serious danger of letting booze take away his badge. And there's the surprising link between Shane's current murder victim and a decade-old unsolved murder of an L.A. cop. Despite having several novels under his belt, Cannell may still be better known as a television producer (The A-Team, The Commish, The Rockford Files), but that will soon change. In Scully, he has created one of the genre's most interestingly conflicted characters, a veteran cop who's seen it all and who (like Michael Connelly's Harry Bosch) is getting just a little tired of all the crap. Cannell's writing keeps improving, too; fans of the Scully series will note both an added depth and a new stylistic panache in this installment. With every book, Cannell moves closer to joining crime fiction's A-Team. David Pitt
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Audio Cassette
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1593977980
• ISBN-13: 978-1593977986
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another gripping Shane Scully adventure, July 31, 2005

By 

Colin P. Lindsey (Manchester, NH) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Cold Hit: A Shane Scully Novel (Shane Scully Novels) (Hardcover)

I really, really like this book! Moreover there's a LOT to like about this new Shane Scully outing from Mr. Cannell, and at the top of the list is that these novels keep getting better both in art, depth, complexity, and subject matter. It is worth noting that Mr. Cannell is continually improving his already noteworthy writing abilities, particularly when it seems that, sadly, many writers seem content to let past successes prop up less than worthy current releases. Mr. Cannell rises above formulaic repetition and simple rehashing of his past novels by writing with an intelligence and fierce electricity that is refreshing, but also by working in new and relevant ideas and then following these ideas to their natural conclusions. No easy task, but Cannell transcends past efforts with an easy panache and grace.

Scully, a LAPD detective, is maturing into a very interesting and realistic character doing his best in a constantly evolving world of red tape, personal conflicts, bureacratic indifference and short-sightedness, and now, really scary federal powers of investigation that can neutralize local law enforcement and even persecute such local representation. This novel works on all levels; it is gritty and tough, with writing that paints setting and ambiance using words just as a master artist would lovingly brush details on canvas in oil, adds in a big dash of action, moral and ethical dilemmas, plenty of dead bodies, and helps us realize, map, and confront the dark side of the sweeping new federal powers enacted after 9/11. The misuse of these powers can be truly frightening as illustrated in this book, calling to mind harrowing recollections of the Gestapo or Orwell's 1984. This book, far more than most of the genre, will make you sit back and think, then pause, then think even harder. Go grab this one as soon as you can; this novel deserves some buzz, both own it's own merits and for the scary and thought-provoking abuse of power that it details. Then (sigh) we'll all just have to sit around and wait for the next installment in the Scully series.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Strictly routine, August 25, 2006

By 

mrliteral - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Cold Hit (A Shane Scully Novel) (Mass Market Paperback)

I consider the Rockford Files one of the best TV shows ever. A lot of that is due to its star, James Garner, but credit also needs to go to Stephen J. Cannell, who created and helped write the series. Cannell is responsible for a lot of other TV shows (including Hunter, Wiseguy and the A-Team), but of late he has been more focused on mystery writing. Based on my fondness for his TV work, I should be inclined to enjoy his books, but they actually rate from just above average to barely adequate; if these were graded in school, the best would be a B. Cold Hit gets a C-minus, or put in Amazon terms, barely three stars.

Cold Hit is around the sixth book in the Shane Scully series (admittedly, I have only read three or four of them). In this volume, Scully is lead investigator in the hunt for a serial killer known for cutting off the fingers of his victims (hence hindering investigation). As the story opens, a new body has been found, but Scully suspects a copycat due to certain distinctions from previous crimes. Unfortunately, he is getting nowhere and the FBI is being called in to take over. In addition to this, Scully's partner is going off the deep end with increasingly risky (and drunken) behavior.

Although Scully is cast into a subordinate position, he still comes up with some important clues that indicate the involvement of some Russians. This stirs up a whole nest of problems, with the result that Scully winds up locking horns with Homeland Security people; in such a battle, the odds are really against Scully, since the Feds are willing to use all sorts of secretive, Patriot Act allowed acts to enforce their will.

Ominously, the gravest perils that Scully faces are not from the killer but rather from the government figures. The serial killer (and the supposed copycat) are rather remote figures (until the end of the book), but the danger that looms over Scully is the possibility that he is constantly being monitored and may suddenly be arrested and held without charges or representation, and it may all be legal.

Cannell's rather effective indictment of the Patriot Act (and related laws) and the extremes it can allow in the name of national security is watered down by the fact that the story itself is not all that well written. While some of the cliched and rather shallow characters (for example, the arrogant FBI agent who takes over and dismisses the input of the local cops) may fit well in a standard TV crime drama, they are lacking in a novel. The plot itself is rather standard, although there is one decently clever twist towards the end. What I kept thinking of is Michael Connelly's far superior Harry Bosch stories that are also police procedurals involving an L.A. homicide detective: this book falls far short of that standard. Cannell's competent enough to keep this from being a truly bad book, but he can't make it good either. This book should only be read if you're a Cannell fan; otherwise, you're better off with some other author such as Connelly.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Interesting Plot, Interesting Characters, December 5, 2005

By 

John Matlock "Gunny" (Winnemucca, NV) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Cold Hit: A Shane Scully Novel (Shane Scully Novels) (Hardcover)

In spy story novels the James Bond or other good guy character often goes through the story leaving dead bodies all over the place. Then the spies move on with never a thought for what's left behind.

In murder mysteries you have a detective who applies all kinds of deduction, logic, forensics and so on to catching a killer. And if you have a lot of bodies then you have a serial killer and you put a whole task force together to go find the guy.

In this case Shane Scully with the LAPD is the detective, working on a serial killer case. There are all the usual kind of problems with the press, the chief of police, partner. But then the FBI, and the CIA, and the KGB (there's no KGB any more, the Colonel works to get ballets and other cultural activities from Russia to the US) start showing up.

This book is a fun read. Interesting characters working on an interesting plot. Great literature, of course not. An nice little twist on the standard murder mystery, absolutely.