Welshrogue

Bumper Morgan has two days left on the best before he leaves for good, for a future with a loving woman and an easy job but first he has to survive the last two days.

Written in 1972 and set in Los Angeles, The Blue Knight is a book that is more about the character of Bumper Morgan than it is about a plot or a story. Joseph Wambaugh creates a character that seems to come to life off the page and breath. While other characters come and go in the book, Bumper stands out as the reason to read this book. At times It reads as a biography with Bumper recalling anicdotes here and there and also letting the reader in on his personal thoughts.  As you read the book you can sense that there is something bad about to happen and you hope that the lead character survives. There are ups and downs with Bumper but through it all, he comes out as an good human being but a very good policeman.

Another excellent book by Joseph Wambaugh, and one that anyone with a love for cop thrillers should read. If you like Michael Connelly books, you will love these.

The Hollywood Division goes about its everyday work while investigating a violent jewelry robbery, watched over by the sergeant everyone refers to as the Oracle.

This is an amazing book, one filled with anecdotes of police life and stories of life on the line which are layered around a crazy plot about jewelry robbery that goes right before everything goes wrong. Each of the characters are so well filled out and detailed as to be totally believable. The anecdotes are sometimes funny, sometimes very sad, but always interesting and help to flesh out the book into something real.

Its almost magical how the story goes from one incident to another, all the while weaving this tale of tweakers and Russians, money and jewels, and keeps the reader engrossed. With eleven other books for me to discover and read, Joseph Wambaugh is most definitely going on my top authors list!