BOOK REVIEW: Under Cover of Law (Trevor Finnegan #1) by Aaron Phillip Clark

 

Publication Date: October 1, 2021 Format: Kindle Genre:  police procedural/ thriller

Publisher: Thomas & Mercer     Length: 298 pages Buy:  Kindle | Paperback

Synopsis

Black rookie cop Trevor “Finn” Finnegan aspires to become a top-ranking officer in the Los Angeles Police Department and fix a broken department. A fast-track promotion to detective in the coveted Robbery-Homicide Division puts him closer to achieving his goal.

Four years later, calls for police accountability rule the headlines. The city is teeming with protests for racial justice. When the body of a murdered black academy recruit is found in the Angeles National Forest, Finn is tasked to investigate.

As pressure mounts to solve the crime and avoid a PR nightmare, Finn scours the underbelly of a volatile city where power, violence, and race intersect. But it’s Finn’s past experience as a beat cop that may hold the key to solving the recruit’s murder. The price? The end of Finn’s career…or his life.

Review: 

What a well written and timely book. I love flawed characters and Finn definitely qualifies.  He is an outcast in the LAPD due to how fast he moved up in the ranks.  When he was a rookie he witnessed something he knew was wrong and now his inaction is coming back to bite him.  Tasked with finding the killer of a new black recruit Finn finds himself confronting his past and trying to figure out who he wants to be and if being a cop is really the future for him.  Before he was a cop, he was an artist, a really talented artist but a horrific incident made him turn his back on his art and look toward law enforcement, following in his fathers footsteps. But the LAPD hasn't quite caught up with the times yet and the racial imbalance in their ranks is obvious. 

In the wake of the current climate of Black Lives Matter and the move toward holding police accountable for their actions while on duty this book is perfect.  The perfect blend of acknowledgment of the corruption while also showing how sometimes good cops stay silent.  It's a peak behind the blue wall of silence.  Wonderfully written with well developed characters I really enjoyed this book. I even pre-ordered the 2nd!

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