First Avenue [Paperback]

Lowen Clausen (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 12, 2000

Written with compelling authenticity by a former Seattle police officer, this debut novel is the passionate and powerful story of a Seattle cop who can't shake the image of the abandoned, dead baby he finds in a seedy hotel-and who can't give up on finding the truth until those responsible are taken down...

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Seattle cop Sam Wright is a loner with a pretty predictable life. He usually starts his days with a vigorous kayaking jaunt, followed by shooting the breeze with the old proprietor of a small coffee shop, before getting down to police business. Sam's routine suddenly changes after he is called to an old hotel where the body of a baby has been found. What's particularly troublesome is that Sam knows he saw the baby and its young mother just a few weeks earlier. Sam chases down any lead that could provide clues to the baby's death and the mother's disappearance, leading to discovery of a sinister twist (that some cops may be involved) that makes him all the more determined to find out who's responsible. Clausen debuts with a strong effort: Sam is a well-developed, intriguing protagonist whom readers will root for, and the downtown Seattle ambiance, especially the references to teenage gangs, is vivid. The only weak component is Clausen's inclusion of a long-lost relative of Sam's, which seems forced and superfluous. (Dec.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"First Avenue is as moody as Seattle in the rain, and just as alluring. A skillful, memorable first novel." -- Stephen White, New York Times

"A solid debut." -- Seattle Times

"Strong narrative style... admirably real people." -- Seattle Weekly

I loved this book...[it] has an authenticity only a real cop could convey." -- Ann Rule, author of The Stranger Beside Me and And Never Let Her Go, and a former Seattle cop herself

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Onyx (December 12, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0451409485
• ISBN-13: 978-0451409485
• Product Dimensions: 6.5 x 4.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,003,228 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Great Debut & A Thinking Reader's Police Story!!!, March 21, 2001

By 

P. Connors "Colonialpara" (United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: First Avenue (Paperback)

This is as fine a debut novel as you will come across and is one of the better police novels I have read in many years! I say that without qualification and I have read many a mystery novel and police procedural. This one is excellent and what is so surprising is that this book is the author's first effort!

The author, Lowen Clausen, spent 13 years with the Seattle PD. Obviously, his main character, Sam, is his literary version of himself. The way Mr. Clausen develops this character, as well as the second figure, a young female officer who is new to the police department is what makes this novel a thinking reader's police story. To be sure, this is not your bang-bang, action-packed police procedural. There are no "unbelievable" scenes or conversations. Although pacing is not the quickest of what would be expected and found in this type of story, Mr. Clausen does a fine job moving this story forward in a way that will keep the reader involved and concerned.

The main character is a police officer who routinely patrols First Ave. in Seattle before it was gentrified. The average reader may not know enough about Seattle history to know when that happened and Clausen does not say, but that's okay. Sam is a policeman who almost seems to be a character out of place and out of his element. He is, somewhat incongruously, a poetry writing patrolman. That alone sets him apart from his fellow officers and unlike the other career members of the force, he has taken college courses at the University of Washington in of all things, literature.

The plot here revolves around the finding of a dead baby and the questions it raises about the location of the mother. Sam and a couple of other "concerned police officers" decide to pursue what few leads they have in an attempt to close the case. They want to close it not just to fill a square and because the rules say they must, but for the simple reason that Sam vaguely knew the mother and was also aware that she would never abandon her infant child.

Clausen very effectively uses scene and descriptions of the locale to create mood, tension, relief and and the very end, closure. Had I never been to Seattle, this book would have served as an excellent primer on what I might expect to find when I did get there.

In addition to the attempts to find the young mother of the dead baby, Clausen interjects the possibility of high level corruption, dissolute heirs to newspaper fortunes and drug smuggling. He does an exceptional job of blending all of the disparate plot elements together to create an outstanding story and one that leaves you feeling for the main characters when the book ends.

This is not your typical police novel. But then, it doesn't have to be. Mr. Clausen is a talented and accomplished writer who will probably defy typecasting. This book shows that he will be able to transcend genre labeling and I hope we see more of his work very soon.

Paul Connors

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I like this book., October 29, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: First Avenue (Hardcover)

I am Lowen's Little Brother in the Big Brothers Big Sisters program, and I want to tell you what I like about this story. I like First Avenue because of the way Lowen Clausen made the characters seem to tell everything that went on in their lives. Sam, one of the important characters, seems to live a life that has no problems. He is also a man who wants to avoid looking at his past or future. But that all changes when he finds a dead baby in a hotel room. The image of the baby won't leave his mind, and the only way for the image to leave is if he finds out what happened.

This story is more than a shoot-em-up cop story. This story is sure to give you a taste of life in Seattle and what it is like to be a cop for a major city. Lowen wanted to write, and that's what he will be doing.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Cop With A Soul, October 26, 2000

By 

Robert Carlberg (Seattle) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: First Avenue (Hardcover)

This is a well-crafted story of policework in Seattle, solving a mystery along the way and introducing a cast of likable characters based on real life.

Growing up in Seattle the locales are spot-on, and the times well-portrayed (the image of the cop as a student-by-day, policeman-by-night, and unable to tell either group of friends about the other, is a perfect metaphor).

The main character of Sam, the beat cop who writes poetry in his slack times, is a wonderful antidote to the hardboiled cop stereotype and, to some large degree, appears to be autobiographical. Lowen Clausen, from the reading I attended last week, appears to be that "cop with a soul."

Recommended without reservation.