Reviewed By: Webspinner - RAM
Vertical Coffin
Amazon US PB Amazon US HC Amazon Canada PB Amazon Canada HC
Stephen J. Cannell
Class/Genre: Mystery Thriller
Series: Shane Scully
"Vertical Coffin: A term used by SWAT teams to describe any threshold. When clearing a house, police are most vulnerable to gunfire while passing through doorways." -- SJC
Harleys growling, the Iron Pigs were out for a Sunday ride, twisting and turning up canyon roads in the Malibu Mountains, and Shane and Chooch are along for the ride. They stop at The Rock Store for food and beer and when most of the other bikers have left, Chooch, Shane, Manic and Goat stay, reluctant to have the day end. When the Mongols arrive and take exception to the 'bottom rockers' the Iron Pigs wear under their colors on their jackets, a brawl ensuses. "Iron Pigs don't run", and by the end, the Mongols are under arrest by the LA County Sheriff's Office - members of the Iron Pigs [membership restricted to cops].
Two months later, one of the members of the Iron Pigs that Shane considers a friend is shot down in a 'vertical coffin' serving an arrest warrant for a class-B felony that suddenly turned into a SWAT free-for-all and involving the federal ATFE team. When the official investigation finally comes down, written by the ATFE, no one else is happy, including the mayor, the County Supervisors, the Sheriff's Department, and the governor, not to mention the public at large. LAPD [as being a mostly uninvolved party, except for Shane] is given the task of investigating the investigation and providing an independent report. Alexa, now both Shane's wife and his boss at LAPD as acting division commander and head of Detective Services Group, gives the responsibility to Shane - and he is assigned a partner from the Sheriff's Department - one Jo Brickhouse. And things go downhill.
I have to admit up front that I adore both Stephen J. Cannell and his work on the screen and on paper. _Vertical Coffin_ offers all the tension, action, bureaucracy, thrills, and characterization you could fit into one book. From a young man trying his best to grow up, to the constant readjustments within a marriage, to the inner workings of police department investigations, to the rivalry and distrust between agencies, to the all-out pulsating action of chases and fire fights, Cannell has once more proved what a gifted researcher and writer he truly is; dyslexic or not!
Webspinner - RAM
Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Webspinner - RAM
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