Champion, a freelance L.A. journalist who claims to be a ``police department insider,'' may have murder, mayhem and Thompsonesque noir in mind, but his clueless cops-and-robbers tale reads instead like an effort to set a new Guinness Book record for non-stop cliches. (The book's opening sentence, in fact, offers a prime example: ``The bridges of San Francisco framed the town like sleeping sentries: inert but implacable.'') Harry Schlacter, a hard-boiled Dirty Harry clone, falls in love with Lela Eberhart, daughter of LAPD Internal Affairs paper-pusher Frank Eberhart, who's forced to suspend Schlacter for his cavalier use of weaponry. When Lela is kidnapped by an L.A. gang that has it in for Harry, the maverick cop-turned-gumshoe engineers his own rescue effort, tracking the thugs to a remote mountain shack where they're holding the girl hostage. Stock characters, a predictable plot and stilted, overwrought prose contribute equally to the downfall of this lackluster debut. (July)
Renegade cop Harry Schlacter is always involved in high-profile cases and arrests because he aims to bring justice to the streets. Harry has fallen in love with school teacher Lela Eberhart, who is kidnapped by a bad dude named Whistler in retaliation for the unsolved death of Badeye, one of Whistler's men. Lela's father is Frank Eberhart, a by-the-book member of the LAPD's Internal Affairs Department, and Harry and Frank must work out their professional and personal hang-ups before they can rescue Lela. First-time novelist Champion has written a satisfying tale about contemporary police officers who do not fit the stereotype and who fulfill their roles as protectors of the citizenry. Fast paced and well written, this exciting tale should find a spot in most fiction collections.-Jo Ann Vicarel, Cleveland Heights-University Heights P.L., Ohio
