Officer Down [Hardcover]

Theresa Schwegel (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 11, 2005

Chicago police officer Samantha Mack's gun killed her partner. But who pulled the trigger?

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Schwegel's instantly engrossing debut crime novel begins with the bungled bust of child molester Marko Trovic: after Samantha "Smack" Mack, a chain-smoking, hard-drinking Chicago police officer, and her partner and ex-lover, Fred, storm a pitch-dark tenement house, Smack wakes later with a nasty concussion, but Fred, shot during the attempted arrest, never does. Police officials decree that Smack's "friendly fire" killed Fred, but she's sure there were others in the room with them that night. Reeling from her concussion, Smack is given administrative leave, but offered little support (or hope of commitment) from her married lover, detective Mason Imes. A determined Smack realizes busting Trovic will be her problem alone: a meddling Internal Affairs operative harasses her, the Sarge threatens to confiscate her badge and Mason says they're going to close the case. Persistence and detective work fueled by righteous rage lead Smack to a guilty informant and an elaborate drug ring supervised by an ever expanding cast of suspects, some much closer to her than she ever imagined. Smack's voice is rough and real, conveying both her tough cookie persona and the authentic emotions behind her street face. Schwegel's sympathetic protagonist and fast-paced action turns out an impressive, gripping first novel. (Sept.)
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From Booklist

This debut mystery has a first-person female cop narrator who is neither an armored truck of toughness nor a paper-thin facade shielding a dump truck of vulnerability--too often the either-or into which so many fictional women cops fall. The narrator, a North Side Chicago cop named Samantha Mack, comes across like a real, nonwhiny, funny person. It's not that Mack doesn't have baggage--she must go on patrol with her ex-partner, who deserted her to get married, for one thing--but the backstory never overwhelms the character. After Mack and her estranged partner get shot at in an apartment sting, Mack wakes up in the hospital to learn that the old partner is dead from gunshot wounds and that the cartridges came from her own gun. The rest of this absorbing quest novel comprises Mack's attempts to buck the police bureaucracy and get to the bottom of the murder. Credible cop background and evocative Chicago scenes add to the pleasures of this memorable first novel. Connie Fletcher
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Minotaur Books; 1st edition (August 11, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312343140
• ISBN-13: 978-0312343149
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,836,594 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

52 of 63 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Take a pass., January 30, 2006

By 

Jay Wilson "Retired CPD" (Chicago) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Officer Down (Hardcover)

I tend to like books like this. Sadly, not this one. As a 30 year Chicago Police veteran, with my last assignment in the Detective Division I picked this up to read when I noticed that it took place in a district I had worked at one time. The main character is somewhat real, kind of hard-edged, like an officer with a few years on the job.
I was ready to forgive the author stretching the boundries of the 23rd District way up to the 24th, past the 20th. I could also forgive, for the sake of the story, that her 'boss', a sergeant,(not a lieutenant, or captain as in real life) would call her in on her day off. Not likely, certainly given that she would have to be paid at a great overtime rate. I could even forgive that she would walk into the men's locker room to ask who she was working with. (not likely in any district, and certainly not 23). I might even forgive that her boss, or any of the officers would make her work with her 'ex' for a tour.
BUT, when she gets into a shooting where her partner is shot, and she doesn't (or he as it first starts when he is still alive) call in 'shots fired' a 10-1, or as the title suggests "officer down" then things begin to go south real fast. To begin with, they had requested back-up at this location before going in. For the deparment to suspect that this was a bad incident and not to take her word from the start and begin to look for the named suspect is dumb. In any shooting such as this, on-duty, the benefit of the doubt would go to officer, and all effort would be made to find the offender. Certainly the word of another of the beat cops that he couldn't find any sign of someone being there would not be given any value. And, if this were indeed an empty building in that area, it would be loaded with signs of occupants, previous or squaters. IF it was to be determined after investigation that he had been shot by her rather than the bad guy, only then would steps be taken to suspend her. Sadly, most of the police story doesn't ring true at all.
Lastly, while the author seems to know locations, it's too bad that for all her knowledge of the city, she didn't know that we don't have "DAs" in Chicago, or Illinois. It is an "SA" or States Attorney. And the police deal with "ASAs" for investigations.
As another reviewer mentioned, this is just the same old story about the female officer blamed for something that she hadn't done by the bad old police deparment forced to prove herself. Skip the effort for this one and read a better one.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Funny and dark, tough and tender, November 5, 2005

By 

Ken Harvill (New England) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Officer Down (Hardcover)

Officer Down is great debut crime novel thanks to the complexity of its protagonist. I am not an avid reader of detective/cop novels, and I've read far fewer that feature women as the main character. However, the novels of this sort that I have encountered generally feature spunky police gals who hold their own among the boys or a sweet female PI/chef who includes actual recipes among the chapters.

Samantha "Smack" Mack is not a cozy character who likes to cook, and she isn't a tough gal in the clichéd sense. Smack feels pain intensely, yet maintains grim humor in the darkest moments. She is a smart cop who makes some stupid choices. She is tough but vulnerable. As a reader, I wanted to protect her from a host of seedy characters, but most of all, I wanted to protect her from herself.

Officer Down is written in the first-person. I suppose first-person is a common approach in whodunits because the reader has the same limited access to information as the protagonist. However, Samantha Mack is such as mess (she drinks too much, she's had a concussion, she is ruled by her emotions) that I wasn't even sure if she was providing reliable information on her own actions. I had trouble trusting anyone in this novel, including the one telling the story. The novel is also written in present tense, which contributes to the sense of immediacy and instability that dominates the story.

My favorite line: "I'm starving, so I start a pot of coffee and root through the fridge for something to eat. Mustard, soy sauce, Hershey's syrup; two Budweisers left in a six-pack. All the ingredients for take-out."

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars First book I haven't liked in a long time, February 18, 2008

By 

N. Basile "TV Addict" (Amish Country) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Officer Down (Hardcover)

I'm usually pretty forgiving with books, even music and movies, but I couldn't let this one slip by. "Office Down" is just not written well. The main character is a mess of contradictions, claiming to keep her boyfriend (a married man) at a distance, but meanwhile we only see her throw jealous fits and play clingy games. We also hear from other characters that she's a good cop, but meanwhile she leaves footprints at a woman's house who figures out she was there, and she screws up left and right. The characters aren't written well, there's only one redeeming guy, and he's not in it much. And the actual plot/mystery only takes up about a third of the book. Most of the time is spent in the main character's head, listening to her whine and pity herself for no good reason.

There are also story threads that go nowhere and not much interesting happens. Pass on this book. You'll thank me.