Customer Reviews

Love, Death, and Other War Stories: Tales of Crime and Punishment in the Wild West

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Tales of a seasoned policeman; written with different perspectives, dramatic, funny, compassionate and blunt. Victor Cass does not disappoint and neither do his detailed characters of life as citizens and police officers in the City of Pasadena. Enjoyed the detailed descriptions of each character and City were events take place. Although fiction I'm sure much of what is told in this novel is based on true accounts of experiences that Mr. Cass and colleagues have had while on duty; makes for interesting and delightful reading. Chupacabra, gang bangers, seasoned officers, rookies, loves, friends and family all make for enjoyable and interesting reading.
Victor Cass is a true storyteller able to get and hold your attention to the end, and leaves you wanting and waiting for more.

Love, Death and Other War Stories is a fun and interesting read for anyone who enjoys crime or action novels. However, it isn't all about the action. Cass does a great job of developing his characters. The more information you read about a character, the more your opinions and feelings about them change. Cass also does a good job in setting the scene and taking the reader through all of the action, as if you are in the passenger seat of the police car. If you are interested in law enforcement, you will enjoy this book. However, it is not all police drama. The book follows the characters in their personal lives as well. Overall, a very good read.

The three sections of this book could stand on their own as stories, but instead they interwine gracefully. Although I didn't immediately like the main characters, once they were completely revealed I found myself empathizing with them. Having grown up in the more affluent part of Pasadena it was exciting to read about what really happens just a mile or two away from my neighborhood. I suggest this novel to anyone who's curious about the gang underworld and also enjoys some surprising twists.

For a first novel, LOVE, DEATH, AND OTHER WAR STORIES is certainly ambitious. However, it clocks in at almost 700 pages, which is not bad if those 700 pages were interesting. In this case, they are mildly entertaining, and perhaps interesting to anybody who is NOT a police officer. There are stretches of police radio traffic seemingly taken verbatim from recordings that are very boring to read. The characters are one-dimensional, and the dialogue unrealistic. The book revels in profanity, street slang, and sex, seemingly wanting to appeal to the readers' prurient desires, but which actually come across as juvenile and repugnant.

Cass appears to be attempting to take some of his police experiences and literally transform them to the written page. The result is amateurish, dull, and prosaic. Joseph Wambaugh was so successful in his police novels, because first of all, he was a talented writer, and second, he embellished and created real entertaining stories from his police experiences.

I admit I only read about fifty pages of this book, and skimmed through the rest. It was too long, too tedious, and all that literal radio traffic dialogue made me insane. When I was a deputy sheriff working patrol for seven years, I had to listen to the police radio every day. When I read a book, I don't want to read an exact replica of what I've been listening to at work for eight hours. An escapist novel, it ain't. There are good descriptions of actual Pasadena locations, although a travelogue would do the same job.

My copy of this tome makes a good door stop.

Love, Death and Other War Stories is an excellent read for those who enjoy police or action novels. It's a bit slow getting started, but once all the characters have been introduced it moves quickly through continual action, both in the long-term plot and in the daily interactions between the Pasadena police and their neighborhoods. Told from the standpoints of everyday cops on the beat, an ongoing series of vignettes gives a good look at their feelings, motivations and reactions to their work. Cass's characters, unlike the standard cop-fiction action heroes, are reality-based- insecure, confused, humorous and caring. In addition, the plotline (like real life) is unpredictable, keeping the reader on edge. Though the book is graphic, sexually explicit at times, and scatters four-letter words throughout (not for the faint-hearted), it is enjoyable and closes with an unexpected and truly heartwarming twist. This is less an action novel than a good, close-up look inside the world of law enforcement. Add this to your summer reading list.

It was a very long book but if you take the time to finish it you will be glad to see that it ends with warm fuzzies for the main charcter, who at times seems too good to be true.