Customer Reviews

The Tin Collectors

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I have to admit that I love Stephen J. Cannell. The characters in this book all come alive, you meet them, some you like and some you don't. But they all develop and grow, some in a good way and some in a bad way. There are enough twists to keep you reading straight through. The "near misses" that Shane seems to encounter constantly kept me on the edge of my seat. This isn't the first cop story that exposes corruption in high places, but I think that the resolution that Mr. Cannell gives his story has a more realistic ring to it than most. And you can't help but like Shane and Alexa's approach to "information gathering". A fast, fun, engrossing book to read, one of Mr. Cannell's best!

The Tin Collectors is Cannell's sixth novel. At first blush it seems to be just another basic, good, cop story; but it develops into something more, going beyond the action and plot into relationships. LAPD detective Shane Scully receives a call in the middle of the night from Barbara, his one-time girl friend who is married to his ex-partner, super cop Ray Molar. Ray has gone berserk and she needs help. Shane dashes the five miles to their house and finds Ray about to kill Barbara. When Shane intervenes, Ray tries to shoot him. Shane returns fire in self defense and kills Ray. This is a difficult situation, but Shane knows he is in the right and expects that all will work out. Ha! For reasons Shane cannot figure out, the top administration of the police department quickly elevates the situation to a major affair and turn it over to Internal Affairs. The Internal Affairs Division is informally known as "The Tin Collectors" because of their high rate of convicting cops and collecting their "tin" (badges). Shane's case is assigned to an IAD prosecutor brought back from another assignment. An earlier investigation of Shane in which he was exonerated was one of her few defeats. Several young cops for whom Ray was something of an idol are assigned minor roles in the investigation and make things difficult for Shane. Why are these cops even involved-their normal assignments are far from IAD business? In the end justice prevails, although it takes some skillful writing to resolve the situation without artificial solutions. Along with the standard cop story, Shane is involved with a fifteen year-old problem child. The boy's single mother has asked Shane to let her son, Chooch, stay with him for a month or so in order to have a good male role model. The relationship between the mother, the boy, and Shane is slow to develop, but adds significantly to the overall impact of the book. I thought the book was very slow in the beginning, and almost put it down. I am glad I didn't. It was not until I was nearly through that I realized that Cannell is best known for his screen writing (The Rockford Files, Hunter...). The early pages probably work better on screen than on paper. In retrospect, they visualize very well and do set the stage effectively.

LAPD Detective Shane Scully receives a phone call in the middle of the night from his ex-partner's wife, she is begging for help as her husband is beating her. Scully races to help her, only to be thrust in the middle of an argument that results in death.

The death of his ex-partner will put Scully at the hands of Internal Affairs, as they investigate what appears to be a renegade cop killing. Desperate to save his carreer, Scully begins to uncover a conspiracy that reaches the top of the force.

With nowhere else to turn, he begins looking into the dead officer's past, only to find more mystery of the man he thought he knew.

While trying clear his name and battling Internal Affairs prosecuter, Alexa Hamilton, he must also protect the teenage boy left in his custody by Sandy Sandoval, the LAPD's leading informant.

"The Tin Collectors" is a non-stop ride of action and mystery, with a dynamite plot, and lightning fast pacing.

Stephen J. Cannell is one of the leading writers of escapist fiction, and his new tale should rocket up the bestseller list's.

Readers looking for a novel they can't put down should try this one.

Nick Gonnella

Veteran TV writer and novelist, Stephen J. Cannell ("King Con," "The Devil's Workshop") builds his latest thriller around a brutal, far-reaching police conspiracy.

LAPD detective Shane Scully, awakened by his ex-partner's hysterical wife, races over to save her from a savage beating and ends up shooting her husband in self-defense. Though the husband is known for his brutality, he is also something of a hero in department circles. An IAD inquiry which should be open-and-shut turns into a prosecutorial vendetta, complete with Scully's longtime nemesis, ice-queen and ace prosecutor Alexa Hamilton (mid to late-thirties, Alexa must have been amazingly young when she prosecuted Scully 17 years earlier - just one of the novel's noticeable, if minor, holes).

Threats escalate to violence as Scully attempts to save himself by doing his own digging. Each unsavory secret he uncovers leads to another, encompassing bigger and bigger fish, ultimately threatening the life of a troubled, angry teen entrusted to Scully's care by his mother, a high-level call girl and police informant.

Cannell's writing is slick and easy, his protagonists deep enough to like and his villains more brutish and greedy than clever. He exposes the threads of conspiracy at a pace designed to keep the pages turning, building to an all-stops-pulled climax which manages to involve air, land and sea (okay it's a lake but why quibble?).

Like most conspiracies I found this one hard to swallow but the novel is great entertainment and, I must admit, I've read stranger stories of fact.

I love this new character, Shane Scully. Cannell is getting better with every book. This one is even better than King Con, which is saying something. Can't wait for the next Shane Scully mystery thriller. Thank God he writes a new book every year.

I read a lot of thrillers, and I found this book highly entertaining overall. Stephen J. Cannell, who is mainly known for his television work, is a surprisingly good novelist. This is a well-paced novel of suspense, and I kept turning the pages.

The major downside of this book is the plot. This book starts as a realistic police procedural. LAPD detective Shane Scully is forced to shoot a fellow officer, and faces discipline from Internal Affairs. Cannell does a great job explaining this process. He obviously did a lot of research into the LAPD and its inner workings. In some ways, I thought this novel was on par with some of Michael Connelly's great work. The first half of THE TIN COLLECTORS is very realistic and gripping.

Unfortunately, during the second half of this novel, Cannell pretty much throws reality out the window. This novel eventually turns into a silly "conspiracy plot" book where Scully does battle with his own Police Chief, the corrupt Mayors of two (!) separate major cities, as well as a major hollywood producer. Somehow, he single handedly brings all these people down, engages in some major gunfights, and starts a new romantic relationship in the process.

In other words, this novel ends up being kind of silly, like a dumb action movie. That's okay -- a novel doesn't have to be realistic to be entertaining. And THE TIN COLLECTORS is more entertaining that a lot of novels that I have recently read.

Still, I think that Cannell has the potential to write something better and more gritty than what I found in this book. I think if he set his mind to it, he could write something as good as Michael Connelly or Robert Crais. He hasn't done that with this novel, which is too bad.

Sgt. Shane Scully is not having a good day. A trash talking 15 year old has been dumped in his lap by a high priced hooker "for a month"...he has just shot and killed his former partner to prevent him from beating his wife to death (she is also Shane's former girlfriend)...and in spite of the fact that the partner shot at Shane first, the LAPD is out to make an example of him and Internal Affairs is set to perform an Administrative Review which, as the story unfolds, does not portend a happy ending for Sgt. Scully. Everyone from the mayor on down is upset by the shooting for reasons that Shane cannot understand, until he slowly starts to peel away layers of disinformation to get to the truth. When a character scoffs at him, "You're being paranoid"..Shane corrects her..."I'm being framed." And is he ever on the money with that observation.

Stephen Cannell has written another page turner that will hold your interest to the end. The use of the character of the troubled teenager he is babysitting gets a bit warm and fuzzy, but the story and the unraveling of the mystery are worth the read.

See storyline above.

I have to say that with each novel, Mr Cannell keeps getting better. The Tin Collectors is a gritty novel about corruption in the LAPD and the IAD. Mr. Cannell has an uncanny way of getting good information about LAPD operations and also giving you a good picture into this organization. The pace moves rapidly making it hard to stop reading. Police drama at its finest.

Recommended for crime thriller lovers

Shane Scully received an emergency call from his ex-partner's wife saying that her husband is trying to kill her. Shane comes and shoots his former partner, Molars, dead in a clear case of self-defense. Unfortunately, Molars buddies do not see it that way and they will go beyond the call of duty to make Scully's life a living hell.

This is one of those books that if the bad guys had left well enough alone there would not be a novel. In this case, there is an extensive Internal Affairs investigation to bring Scully down. Shane's hand is forced and he investigates his former partner. He uncovers a conspiracy in the LAPD as well as the mayor's office.

If you do not try to look for logic in the story you might enjoy it. This book is pure escapist fiction where anything can happen. Lot of action, lot of chases and lot of double crossing. I liked this book, but I preferred KING CON.

In The Tin Collectors, Stephen Cannell offers the first in a new series that is also very much a police procedural. With 5 successful prior novels, Cannell is still best known for writing/producing such television hits as the Rockford Files, Baretta, The A-Team, Renegade, Silk Stalkings and many others.

Officer Shane Scully gets a frantic call from the wife of his ex-partner Ray 'Steeltooth' Molar. Molar is beating her. Again. ("You don't get the name 'Steeltooth' just because your last name's Molar") In self-defense, Scully is forced to kill the abusive husband. The killing of the popular, virtually legendary cop brings Scully more grief than he ever imagined. Put in charge of Scully's Internal Affairs prosecution is Alexa Hamilton, the department's "number one tin collector." When he is accused directly by the Chief of Police of taking files from Molar's house and threatened with facing a murder charge if the material is not returned, Scully is convinced he's being set up.

Scully begins his own investigation and soon uncovers evidence of corruption in high places. Hamilton is the only one he can turn to who just might believe him.

Some glib prime-time dialog does seep in. (When Scully's house is hit in a drive by shooting he says, "I got enough lead in the walls to go into strip mining.") Cannell keeps the tension and pace at high levels so a bit of cliché doesn't really detract. There is no mistaking Cannell's mastery of story telling. The same sense of character and dialog that have made his television shows hits, guides him here. The Tin Collectors is a sure winner.