My first novel is available today on Kindle. I like it! I tried to tell a story that would cause a response of some of my peers such as: “Wasn’t me, I was in the shitter,” He hasn’t got any pictures,” and “Musta been the otherguy.” At the same time, more sheltered readers would wonder, “that didn’t happen, did it?” Maybe, maybe not.
People get so much information about police and policing from a wide variety of sources. So much is wrong or incomplete or specific to a particular agency that the issue is further confused, rather than clarified. I decided to add my biases to the mix. Namely: the criminal justice system is portrayed as monolithic. It is not. Each agency has its culture, and individual officers are subject to that culture. Cooperation among agencies is due to the hard work of individuals, and not built into the structure. The police, District Attorney, and judges each have a different way of measuring success, and the methods do not compliment one another. But we make it work.
It is popular to focus on a particular drug and expound on its virtues or vices. This approach is disingenuous, it is not the inanimate object, it is the social system that promotes, transports, packages, sells and uses the drug that is destructive. I suspect if you were to compare the organizational structure of NAMBLA and the YMCA you would find similarities in the structure and interests. How about it; want to send your boys to an NAMBLA summer camp?
Enough of the soap box. I wanted to tell a story that would entertain and inform the reader, a story that is populated with believable and likable characters. I also hoped to honor the many narcotics investigators it was my privilege to work with. I hoped to do so in such a manner that masters of the genre like, Joseph Wambaugh, George V. Higgins, and John Le Carre wouldn’t throw stones at me. I still have the ego if not the actual ability.