Wednesday 11 November 2015

MICHAEL FOWLER - BLACK & BLUE (2014)

Synopsis/blurb…

Tormented by the recent bloody murder of his first love, teenager, Hunter Kerr, has but one ambition – bring her killer to justice.

The realisation for him is that in order to do so, he has to become a cop. And, so he embarks on a career which will bring him closer to her investigation.

Though, he has other cases to manage as well, including the brutal attack on an elderly and frail woman, which leaves her at death’s door.

Throwing himself into the investigation, little did Hunter realise that the hunt for her attacker would take him a step closer to being a murder detective.

November’s opening read was a 77-page novella and an introduction to author Michael Fowler’s series character D.S. Hunter Kerr.

Kerr features in 4 full-length novels – none of which are loitering in the ranks of the collection, though I do have Reap What You Sow. (40-odd pages) – full list of Fowler/Kerr books below.
1. Heart of the Demon (2012)
2. Cold Death (2012)
3. Secrets of the Dead (2013)
4. Coming, Ready or Not (2014)
Reap What You Sow (2014)

I’ve not read too many UK-set police procedurals in my crime reading journey, I’m more biased in favour of the US PI or “outlaw” novel, but if this short book is anything to go by I’m missing out.

We pick up with Kerr on the beat during his probation period. He’s mentored by an older cop and shown the ropes, familiarising himself with the local characters on his patrol. He falls victim to the pranks played by other officers as part of his initiation process. There’s maybe a slight element of box-ticking as Kerr is involved in responding to a burglary, a speeding/stolen car incident, a domestic dispute, discovering a dead body, as well as assisting with tedious rounds of door-knocking as the uniforms support CID in a more serious investigation.

Interesting introduction to a young policeman at the outset of his career. After a slow start, Kerr shows himself to be adaptable to the demands of the job. He makes himself useful to his seniors and we get an understanding of his over-riding motivations for joining the police. Grief and anger at the unsolved murder of his girlfriend years previously. I get the feeling that this might be a theme at play in future books.

Enjoyable and a lot worse ways of spending a couple of hours.

4.5 from 5


Michael Fowler has his website here. Unsurprisingly he was a policeman in his earlier life.

He's also on Twitter - @MichaelFowler1

Bought some time ago on Amazon for Kindle.



  

13 comments:

  1. Now, this sounds interesting, Col. And the premise sounds like a fascinating motivation for a person to become a police officer. The look we get at a young police officer's first year or so on the force sounds interesting, too. Glad you enjoyed this.

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    1. Margot cheers. I think the author (from his career) obviously knows his subject. I'd like to read more, but at the minute there's a rather long queue in front of him!

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  2. How old is the protagonist? The premise sounds um interesting....I mean I've heard of situations where someone becomes a lawyer for instance when a family member is sitting in prison and they believe they are innocent. Becoming a cop to avenge your teenage girlfriend? Not saying it's impossible but sounds like a bit of a stretch but I don't have all the details.

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    1. Haha - you cut straight to the point every time!
      Yes, it kind of sounds unlikely and a stretch. (Didn't Bruce Wayne become the crime-fighting Batman to avenge his parent's death?) It's maybe not quite like that, insofar as he doesn't try and spend every waking moment on the job digging for clues etc. Initial motivation for a career-choice probably (and I am guessing that the unsolved homicide forms part of an over-riding series story arc - but I could be wrong.)
      I'll have re-visit - probably the author has done a better job selling it to me and in the book, than I have done trying to rationalise it here

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  3. The only way it makes sense to me is to have it be a over-arching theme since it's a cold case. If it's good that's all that matters. Sometimes I get in my own way when I question things.

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    1. Keishon, I don't think it's wrong to question anything. Plot elements are often what spoil books for me, sometimes you just can't buy what the author's trying to sell. I'm tempted to go and get the first proper novel in the series, but I'll hold fire. If I do, it will probably only sit on the device for a few years, as I move onto other things!

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  4. Hmm - open to persuasion on this one, I need you to read a full-length one and report back.

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    1. Might be a while then - there's about 4000 books in front of him!

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  5. Col, I think, it's interesting to read about a cop or sleuth who goes into his or her profession with emotional baggage and be spurred to do one hell of a job on the case, though not always.

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    1. This time around it worked for me, but I agree it can sometimes over shadow things and be an unwelcome distraction.

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  6. I have a problem whenever I read a summary of a first novel where the protagonist's (usually a policeman) wife or lover or child dies and they are avenging the death. I am sure I am missing some good books because of my prejudice. And probably have read some series that start out that way. But it happens a lot now. I will wait and see what you have to say about one of his books.

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    1. I understand what you mean, some times it puts me off sometimes I can ignore it or get past it. In this case it didn't interfere, but I am surmising that it will feature in the future.

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