Customer Reviews

Cold Hit: A Shane Scully Novel

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

Well developed characters, engaging dialog, a few surprises and a good story with an exciting ending make this a novel well worth reading. Stephen Cannell knows how to write and get the reader deeply involved with his story and its characters. He knows his police work, forensics and relationship psychology as well as any writer. His characters are believable and likeable complete with their flaws and foibles.

Mr. Cannell brings a lot to the table in this book for his central character, Shane Scully and as usal he doesn't dissapoint in how he spins the intrigue and the mystery. Good book for a long plane ride or a couple of nights by the fire. All of the usual characters for a Shane Scully novel are present along with some new ones that keep the story flowing.

Stephen J. Cannell, with a mantle full of Emmy awards in his possession, seems to be concentrating these days on his relatively new career as a novelist. After a number of increasingly successful stand-alone works, Cannell has found his niche with Shane Scully, a maverick LAPD detective with a penchant for getting into trouble but nonetheless solving cases. COLD HIT, the fifth and latest of the Scully novels, is arguably Cannell's best.

COLD HIT preserves the elements that have made Cannell's past Scully novels so enjoyable and injects new ones to keep things interesting and fresh. At the start of the book, Scully is beset simultaneously with a number of professional problems. His partner, Zack Farrell, is going off the boards as the result of domestic problems and alcohol abuse. To compound matters, Scully and Farrell are in the middle of a high-profile murder investigation involving a serial killer who is preying on the homeless of Los Angeles. The murderer follows the bizarre pattern of beating his victims, shooting them in the back of the head, and cutting off their fingertips before dumping them in the river. Under pressure from the public to solve the murders, the LAPD reluctantly forms a task force headed by an acerbic FBI agent who immediately is at loggerheads with Scully.

Adding to the difficulty is Scully's belief that one of the killings doesn't appear to fit the pattern of the others, which is confirmed when a shadowy Homeland Security team removes that murder from Scully's investigation. To make things even more interesting, ballistic results from the murder produce a match linking that case to the unsolved murder of a Los Angeles policeman a decade before. That match --- called a cold hit --- causes Scully to dig deeper into both murders, even as federal agents take drastic measures to warn him off, and even as the investigation seems to inexorably lead Scully to one of the last people he ever would suspect of murder.

Cannell seems to be reveling in the freedom that is provided with operating within the framework of an episodic novel, as opposed to a weekly television program. He is not afraid to rearrange the placement of pieces on the chessboard --- or, as you'll see, rearrange a piece itself. At the same time, Scully's family life, and the familiar passages therein, provide a nice counterpoint to the violence that is an unwelcome but necessary part of Scully's profession. Cannell also provides a fairly even-handed treatment of contemporary issues with respect to Homeland Security. While it's fairly clear where he stands on the issue --- with local law enforcement, the Feds are almost always the bad guys, as a matter of course --- he does, through at least one recurring character, give time for an opposing viewpoint.

COLD HIT makes it clear that Cannell continues to create new and original characters and stories, regardless of the medium in which he is working.

--- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub

If you're familiar with Cannell's work--especially his previous Shane Scully detective novels, you won't be disappointed with this one. It is classic Cannell: memorable characters, witty (and sometimes profane) banter, and a realistic story-line. The best fiction is based on real life. Given the liberties taken by the current government in the name of "security", it's not too difficult to envision someone rising to a position of power where real life could mirror this fiction! There were several items that weren't quite plausible, but overall, it's a fast-paced tale that is in-step with the best cop/detective stories you see on TV or the movies, and I found it very entertaining.

I'm going against the tide here to say I couldn't finish the book. It covered all-too-familiar territory. Jaded LA cop. Covering for his alcoholic partner. Uncovering government cover-ups. Balancing career and marriage. Fighting the system. Losing some battles. Winning the last one.

Cannell is better than this.

I think.

We have Shane Scully, Detective with the LAPD, former alcoholic, saved by his partner, Zack, a big over-weight Irishman who is depressed, suicidal, and, you guessed it, now himself alcoholic.

We have Alexa, the drop-dead beautiful wife of Detective Scully who just happens to be head of Detectives and his boss.

We have Rico from Pico, the drop-dead (did I just say that ?) good looking, intelligent up-from-the-slums chicano with a pencil mustache and slicked back, black hair.

We have Captain Calloway, 5 ft 8, 255 lb, all of it muscle, with a bald, torpedo shaped head and coal-black skin.

We have police chief Tony Filosiani, also know as Day-Glo Dago, a kinetic fire-plug from Brooklyn.

We have Scully's son Chooch, who is a 6 ft, 3 1/2 inch quarterback being heavily recruited by major colleges, including Pete Carroll at USC. We have Delfina, Chooch's girl friend who lives in Scully's 2 car garage converted to a bedroom after Delfina lost her family.

We have the humorless, moronic FBI agent (how original), Jud Underwood, who is pale, narrow-shouldered with a peculiar orangish shade of blonde-red hair; also know as Agent Orange.

And so it goes for the whole of the book.

The bad guys are really, really bad. The good guys are really, really good.

At the beginning of the book, the author quotes Ben Franklin - "They that give up essential safety to obtain a little temporary liberty deserve neither liberty and safety."

No, wait...well, it was something like that.

If, while you are reading this book you get the feeling that you've read it before, you are right. You have. Maybe many times.

I'm surprised that we haven't seen Shane Scully on the big screen yet. Stephen Cannell writes crime fiction that is action packed, filled with smart-alec humor, and enough twists and turns to keep the reader turning pages. As strange as it sounds, one of the things I like most about this novel is that Shane Scully, as likeable as he is, can be a real jerk sometimes. I know this sounds odd, but it is refreshingly real. So many fictional cops (I'm talking about you Alex Cross) are annoyingly perfect. Shane is a rough and tumble guy who doesn't pull any punches, always has a witty comeback, and is tenacious when it comes to finding the truth. But he's also a hot head who makes mistakes and who finds that his tolerance for pain isn't nearly as high as he would like it to be.

The plot: Shane and his partner are investigating a serial murder case when they discover that the gun that killed one of their victims was used to kill a cop a decade earlier. This cold hit leads Scully to a suspect with ties to the old KGB and the Russian mob and puts Shane in the crosshairs of the FBI and Homeland Security who seem intent on derailing his investigation in the interest of National Security.

While Cannell's novels fall short of Michael Connelly's Harry Bosch novels (Harry treads on the same LAPD ground), novels like Cold Hit and Vertical Coffin are entertaining to read. In Cold Hit, Cannell offers readers more than just another crime novel. He tackles some difficult issues as well. Shane must deal with his partner's downward spiral as he battles alcohol and suicide, the grinding bureaucracy of the LAPD (which his wife Alexa is a part of), and the frightening abuse of power that is the Patriot Act.

Cannell uses Cold Hit as a platform to rail against the Patriot Act. This may be valid enough (I'm Canadian - so of course I think so), but it results in some awkward unnatural sounding dialogue as the characters debate its pros and cons. While Scully is a well rounded character, much of the supporting cast is filled with stereo-types(like the arrogant FBI agent who assumes control of the investigation)

These are minor complaints though. Cold Hit is a solid thriller. Fans of Cannell and Shane Scully will not be disappointed.