Review: Cop Town

Cop Town by Karin Slaughter

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

WOW. Just wow...that was freakin' AWESOME!!!!!!!!

This book had it all, it was just great! It's the 70s baby!.

Lying.
Cheating.
Drinking.
Fighting.
Smoking.
Swearing.
Killing.
Discrimination to the fullest.
Jokes.

In the smack dab center of Atlanta, Georgia. The Atlanta Police Department.

This whole story is basically about civil rights for certain individuals. Blacks, whites, foreigners, homosexuals, women.

The prologue kicks off with some action aftermath. A cop, James 'Jimmy' Lawson is carrying his practically dead partner down many blocks to the hospital.
Next is when it switches to Jimmy sister, Margot 'Maggie' Lawson, who is also on the force. It's the morning after Jimmy bad night. She wakes up wanting an update on her brother. She hears what her Uncle Terry, who is also on the force, says about what happened. She then goes on her own to figure things out. Things don't add up. She questions her brother and still doesn't get anything to make sense.

Along comes newbie, Kaitlin 'Kate' Murphy. Widower, and glamorous rich. What the heck is she doing showing up at the station? Straight from the Academy, Kate shows up, a bit hesitantly, to work. The whole force is tasked to be doing whatever they can to catch this cop killer. A few things they have to go by are fact, but the rest is questionable, and Maggie isn't the only one not believing the load of crap they're being fed. With the help of a mentor, Gail, and a push and shove, Maggie starts to investigate on her own. She ends up partnering up with Kate along the way and together, they move on forward.

These characters all had flaws, all had something about them I didn't like or absolutely hated. But they each played a part in this story. It was very well thought out and organized. I can't think of a better way. I had a strong sense of disgust for the antagonist, utterly revolted and gobsmacked by their way of thinking, their beliefs, and for the most part, their actions. it was extremely creative and completely realistic. As well as too surreal at times for the rawness of the details and how I would imagine how things were. Truly vivid.
The protagonist would get on my nerves a lot. However, they were extremely entertaining. The jokes and sarcasm were hysterical, as we're the fore play and flirting, but I was a bit okay with the way things played out.

The details really got me, I was literally cringing when something relatively gross or shell-shocking happened.

The plot and storyline: INSIGHTFUL. UNNERVING. MIND-BOGGLING. EYE-OPENING, even the characters, although some more than most were effected with things going on. Many changes. A whole lot of new things. That is what the whole situation revolved around. Some embraced it, others fought against it...and things usually don't end well once that tug-of-war starts.

Overall, this was an amazing crime novel, the first I've read. Such a great way to start. Looking forward to more books by Slaughter.

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