This book is a typical American bestseller with a nice collection of testimonials printed on the back of the cover, all ecstatic and delight. Inside we will find a collection of good characters, half of them completely weird, but still begging for sympathy, others of a more perfectionist and self-assured type. Breda Burrows represents the second type. The same goes for the mysterious fugitive.
Breda is an IP and a former LAPD police officer. Smart, efficient and fit, he still feels she can’t handle the case on her own, so he enlists the help of Lynn Cutter, a soon-to-retire police officer on permanent sick leave. Lynn is waiting on her disability pension due to bad knees and she spends her days drinking heavily and suffering from a hangover every morning. She has to be careful about taking temporary jobs until her first pension check arrives, as she may jeopardize her pension, but, on the other hand, she needs a lot of money. After a few duels with Breda, who is very tough after 20 years of police work among hostile male colleagues, she accepts her offer.
Their relationship is not easy from the beginning. Lynn has had bad experiences with women: his two marriages were unhappy, stripping him to the bone. Also, he can’t help but see that Breda disapproves of his lifestyle. And yet they are drawn to each other and each page makes it harder for them to resist, even though the author doesn’t say so. We can feel it.
Before long they meet Nelson Hareem, a young police officer on leave who is pursuing a mysterious fugitive who could be from Mexico or the Middle East, a drug dealer or a terrorist, or none of the above. Nelson wants to catch him at all costs, only for him to start his career all over again. His tendency to be overly anxious at work, almost fanatically, has gotten him into trouble more than once and his career has stalled. Nelson maneuvers Lynn into helping him, and a new friendship soon forms.
There are also many episodes written from the fugitive’s perspective. We soon learn that he’s on a mission, and while he’s obviously crossed the border to do something evil, we soon learn that he has very good reasons for doing what he’s going to do. I couldn’t help but wish him success. At the same time, I also wished Nelson and Lynn success, a contradiction that could not be resolved. However, the author solved it, in the most unexpected way, and Nelson got the new task that he dreamed of.
The fugitive is, of course, neither a drug dealer nor a terrorist, but I’ll leave it at that. You will have to read the book itself to learn more.
I liked the book, it kept me interested at all times. The writing style is such that as sinister as the facts are, it never makes the reader feel depressed or sad, on the contrary, it made me smile and even laugh more than once. I will have to return the book to the library in a couple of days, but I know I will miss it. I miss them all: efficient Breda, calm Lynn, eager Nelson, heroic runaway romantic Clive Devon, so devoted to his sick old mongrel that… whoops, I almost ruined everything! I won’t. The book is worth reading.