Customer Reviews

The KILLING SEASON

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Where David Simon's HOMICIDE succeeds in sounding in prose, THE KILLING SEASON succeeds in speaking the truth. I have read most of the "True Cop" genre, which is mired in cops with axes to grind, journalists with careers to further, and others constrained by their lack of literary talent. As a cop, I was so relieved to see that at least one journalist could shed his skepticism of police officers' motivations and just sit, watch, listen, and reflect.

The shock, sadness, and resignation Corwin expresses so eloquently and easily are the constant companions of even the most idealistic cop. Most, however, can't master the vocabulary to express their motivations to the general public, who seem to think we are all power-hungry, single-minded, and without empathy. We think the same of journalists, and Miles Corwin goes a long way to bridging this gap of mutual understanding. If you want to know what cops are like, read this book.

I won't try to repeat the details from the other reviews, but here's my take:

1. I read this in one night -- could not put it down. I'd read Homicide Special before this and enjoyed it. This is perhaps not as engrossing as his later book, which interweaved several detective teams through six investigations -- The Killing Season concentrates on one pair, which gives the opportunity for more detail.

2. I can imagine meeting Rakanzas, the senior detective - Corwin's portrait of a tobacco-chewing, wise-cracking veteran is spread throughout the book, building his character slowly but in depth.

3. I didn't see the same characterization of his partner, but certainly no worse than par for the course in true crime books.

4. The detective team eventually splits. This part of the book seems to gloss over the details, and I think more time could have been spent here.

5. Corwin gives a fair amount of coverage to the victim's relatives, and the aftermaths of the murders. He points out the disparity between the news coverage and police effort given to a couple of contemporary murders on L.A.'s prosperous Westside and San Pedro areas, versus the shoestring response to the comparative slaughter in South Central. This could have been followed up a bit more in the book IMHO. (In fact, the LA Times did a front-page Column One series on homicides in South Central earlier this year (2006), and the situation seems to continue.)

6. The supporting players (the lieutenants and other detectives) don't get as much attention in this book as in Homicide Central.

7. If you are an Angeleno and read crime novels or true crime, I think you will enjoy this book. If you are outside the LA area, it's still worthwhile, but I'd suggest a map to give some scope to the story.

8. One thing I would have liked to have seen was an appendix outlining the relationships of the various sets of Crip and Blood gangs, although Corwin does give a reasonable thumbnail history of the gang problem.

Overall, I'd give this four-and-one-half stars. The raw material is compelling, and Corwin's style presents it nicely, leading to the refinement of his style in Homicide Special.

As a native angeleno, I found this book about the daily lives of homicide detectives in South-Central Los Angeles to be fascinating. Corwin also provides an insightful look into the history of animosity between the LAPD and minority groups in the city, thereby providing some enlightenment into the etiology of the 1992 riots. This book is a must read for native angelenos as well as a quick page-turner for anyone fascinated with homicide detectives and their investigations.

Corwin gives us the real-life look of policing in the inner city -- not the 30-minute sensationalized "Cops" version. The book looks at all the players caught up in crime. Corwin's work on describing the Mexican background of one victim is above and beyond the call of duty. The book moves quickly and stays on focus.

As I got to the end of "The Killing Season" I couldn't help but notice that all of the murders covered by the detectives primarily featured ran together in a blur. I found myself asking, "Now which shooting was this? How was this guy killed?" I don't know if this was Corwin's desired affect, but it gives the reader an idea of the workload these detectives are under. I am an Assistant District Attorney in south Louisiana and at a certain point the criminals and their crimes blur into each other. There are always cases that stick out because of special circumstances or some bizarre aspect of the case, but many just fall into a big amorphous blob. The real message of the book in my mind is the complete disregard for life by the killers. The gangbangers in "The Killing Season" think nothing of executing a complete stranger for a few dollars. While not a good as Corwin's "Homicide Special," this work provides an accurate picture of a culture of violence which infects some of our communities.

I must say this book is as close to the "real thing" as you can get. I am a homicide detective in California, and I will tell you that Mr. Corwin writes the truth! His coverage of the LAPD's now defunct South Bureau Homicide is done in a journalistic style that keeps you turning the pages and not want to put the book down.

I have met Mr. Corwin and can only say that I am looking forward to his next book!!!

This is a great read for both cops and civilians who want a look at what homicide cops go through day in and day out.

Miles Corwin, a reporter for the L.A. Times was essentially embedded for 7 months with LAPD homicide detectives Pete Razanskas and Marcella Winn. The result is his 1997 book, THE KILLING SEASON. Corwin is a good and professional writer and the reader gets a real feeling for what the lives of detectives in murderous South-Central LA are like. They are always on call, often work at least 24 hours straight, are under a huge amount of stress, and are overworked to a lack of necessary manpower and technology.

One of the things I appreciated most about Corwin's narrative is that, though he was always with Razanskas and Winn on there calls, he never inserts himself into the narrative, remaining an observer and reporter.

But at the same time, the book is unfocused. While Corwin's method of reporting the calls as they came in provides an excellent look at the job's chaos, I found it very hard to remember which cases were which when they were referred to, often briefly, later and then later again. It had for me a kind of scattershot feel to it.

There is extensive information on how Razanskas, a veteran, and Winn, his trainee, bond and become true partners, which I liked, but their relationship is at least as important to the book as the workings of the unit. This is not a criticism, just a fact, and many readers might have no problem at all with this. But while the relationship angle is compelling and well presented, I would have preferred, even though this aspect is hardly ignored, a little more on the workings of the unit itself.

THE KILLING SEASON is actually a pretty good, book but toward the end I had to kind of force myself to finish it. I think that to a large extent my ambivalent feelings about this book, are, perhaps unfairly, due to the fact that I have also read David Simon's HOMICIDE, a book with an identical premise which is the platinum standard for this kind of thing and which is much better than THE KILLING SEASON.

I'd actually give this book around 3.5 stars if I could. I also think a lot of readers will like THE KILLING SEASON more than I did.

This book was wonderful. I am an avid reader but usually read fiction mysteries. I could not put this book down and looked for every free moment to read a little more. Reading about the actual procedures and problems that the detectives had to work through was enthralling. My hat is off to all officers of the law.

Miles Corwin takes you and puts you in the back seat of the patrol car, puts you front and center at the scene of the crime, and gives you your own desk in the squad room! In "The Killing Season", it's like you're right along with the cops who work the LAPD Homicide Division. I seriously suggest you pick up a copy of this book, and I challenge you to be able to put it down before you finish it!

Very enjoyable reading and I could really related to the events. I know several LAPD detectives that almost came out the same mold as Pete, they were from the same era where they are very good of what they do. I wonder if Michael Connelly used Pete as a base for his character Bosch in his books. I meant they both have similar height and physical description. the only reservation I had was Corvin didn't really understand or went in depth about the history and relations between rival gangs in Southern California.