Lethal Rage: A Mystery (The Rage Series) [Hardcover]

Brent Pilkey (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 2010 | Series: The Rage Series

Filled with drugs, prostitution, and crime, this mystery explores the unglamorous life of a street cop in the rough-and-tumble 51 Division. Jack Warren, a young officer who enters the dangerous downtown streets after working in a virtually crime-free area, is immediately thrown into a brutal war against a crack-cocaine dealer intent on taking over the city’s drug trade. Jack soon discovers that no one is safe from the dealer’s quest for domination when the war turns horrifically personal. Working with the division’s elite major-crime unit, Jack learns there is an imperceptible yet enormous difference between the law and justice—and being a police officer and surviving in the 51.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Canadian policeman Pilkey writes from firsthand experience in his gritty procedural debut, which introduces Jack Warren, a six-year veteran of the Toronto force who moves from a relatively quiet sector to the violent 51 Division. Drugs, prostitution, robberies, and domestic abuse are rampant, Jack soon discovers, while an aggressive new crack cocaine dealer, who's calling his product Black, is exacerbating the violence. Pilkey charts the stresses the dangerous job puts on Jack's marriage, the us-against-them mentality that binds patrol cops, the off-duty cop parties to blow off steam, and the way the 51 can change good cops to bad. A deadly confrontation with the chief suspect responsible for Black forces Jack to face the inadequacy of the legal system as well as the possibility of taking the law into his own hands. Pilkey's insider knowledge and his restraint in romanticizing Jack and his comrades more than compensate for the at times stilted narrative. (May)
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From Booklist

Very much in the mold of Joseph Wambaugh, this police procedural follows Jack Warren, a Toronto police officer recently reassigned to a tough new division. We see him getting to know his fellow officers, navigating the streets of his new territory, encountering unfamiliar situations. But while he's learning the ropes, Jack is also stepping into a violent drug war that will threaten to destroy his life. Pilkey, a 20-year veteran of the Toronto Police Department, writes with a sure hand; he gets the details right (the book feels gritty and real), but he also does a nice job of creating characters that transcend cop-show stereotypes. The dialogue is a bit awkward in places—you can sense the author is still finding his way, at least in this respect—but, overall, this novel bodes well for a strong cop series in the Wambaugh and Ed McBain tradition. --David Pitt

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: ECW Press; First Edition edition (May 1, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1550229257
• ISBN-13: 978-1550229257
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,144,681 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)