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Tracie Hall's Reviews > Cold Hit
Cold Hit (Shane Scully, #5)
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by
BIBLIOGRAPHIC DETAILS:
Print: 8/1/2005; St. Martin's Press; 1st edition; 978-0312269609; 384 pages.
Audio: 5/18/2006; Macmillan Audio; 978-1427220516; Duration 10:48:54; Unabridged; 9 parts
Feature Film or tv: Not that I know of.
Series: Shane Scully book 5
Main characters:
Shane Scully--LAPD
Alexandra (Alexa) Scully—LAPD
Chooch—Shane’s son, Alexa’s step-son
Zack Farrell � a Detective - Shane’s partner
SUMMARY/ EVALUATION:
The case to solve in this episode is “the Fingertip Killer�. Working through it takes a lot of sleuthing and second-guessing to figure out. Not to mention a major talent in bullet-dodging.
AUTHOR:
Stephen Cannell (February 5, 1941 � September 30, 2010). According to Wikipedia, Stephen “was an American television producer, writer, novelist, and occasional actor, and the founder of Cannell Entertainment (formerly Stephen J. Cannell Productions) and the Cannell Studios.
After starting his career as a television screenwriter, Cannell created or co-created several dozen successful TV series from the 1970s to the 1990s, often with his creative partner Frank Lupo. Cannell's creations included The Rockford Files, The A-Team, The Greatest American Hero, 21 Jump Street, and The Commish. He also wrote novels, notably the Shane Scully mystery series.�
NARRATOR:
Scott Brick. (January/30/1966).
Scott’s edgy delivery is perfect for this series.
Excerpt in Audio File magazine from an interview: “Like most narrators, I was first an actor. For me, the "Aha!" moment came when I was a Theater major at UCLA and auditioned for a professor, Gary Gardner, at the beginning of my third year. He took me aside afterward and said, "What have you done with your voice? � I had no idea what he meant so I just said I didn’t do anything with it.
“No,� he said. “Somewhere over the summer you realized it was a very potent instrument and you learned how to use it." I just shook my head No, but I trusted that something might have happened, even if I couldn't recognize it. When I think back now to the beginning of my voiceover and audiobook career, it was that day in room 1330.
The cool third act of the story is that last year UCLA brought me back to the Theater Department as an instructor. I'm teaching two classes on campus, Audiobook Narration and Introduction to Voiceover, the latter of which was taught in room 1330. The first day of class, I stood in the spot where I'd stood all those years ago and told the class my story about Gary Gardner. . Then I went outside to the spot where Gary would always grab a smoke, what we call the Gary Gardner Memorial Bench, and thanked him.�
GENRE:
Fiction, Mystery, thriller, crime, police procedure
LOCATIONS:
Los Angeles, Venice Beach
TIME FRAME:
Current-2006
SUBJECTS:
Under Cover policing, crime, criminal gangs, family, Russians, guns
SAMPLE QUOTATION:
From Chapter 1,
�2:30 AM
The phone jack-hammered me up out of a tangled dream.
‘Detective Scully?� a woman’s voice said. ‘This is Homicide Dispatch. You just caught a fresh one-eighty-seven. The DB is on Forest Lawn Drive one block east of Barham Boulevard, under the bridge.�
‘In the L.A. River again?� I sat up and grabbed my pants.
‘Yes sir. The patrol unit is there with the respondents. The blues say it looks like another homeless man so the duty desk at Homicide Special told us to give you the roll out.�
‘Isn’t that in Burbank? Have you notified the BPD?�
‘According to the site map, it’s just inside L.A., so there’s no jurisdictional problem. I need to give patrol and ETA.�
‘It’s gonna take me forty-five minutes.� I started to hang up, but hesitated, and added, ‘Have you notified my partner, Detective Farrell?�
‘We’ve been trying,� she replied carefully, then paused and said, ‘He’s not picking up.�
There was doubt and concern in her tone. Damn, I thought. Did even the civilian dispatchers in the Communications Division know Zack Farrell had become a lush?�
‘Keep trying,� I said, and hung up.
I rolled out of bed, trying not to wake my wife, dressed quickly in fresh clothes, and went into the bathroom where I did my speed groom: head in the faucet, towel dry, hair comb with fingers, Lavoris rinse, no shave. I checked myself for flaws. There were plenty. I’m in my late-thirties and look like a club fighter who’s stayed in the ring a few years too long.
I snapped off the bathroom light, crossed to the bed, and kissed Alexa. Aside from being my wife, she’s also my boss and heads the Detective Services Group at LAPD.
‘Wazzzzit?� she mumbled, rolling toward me and squinting up through tousled, black hair.
‘We got another one.�
Coming up to a sitting position immediately alert, she said, ‘Son of a bitch is six days early.�
Even in the half-light, Alexa took my breath away. Dark-eyed, with glossdy hair and the high cheekbones of a model, she could have easily made a living on the covers of fashion magazines. Instead, she was down at Parker Center, in the biggest boys club on earth. Alexa was the only staff rank female officer on the sixth floor of the Glass House. She was an excellent commander, and deft at politics, while managing to avoid becoming a politician.
‘The L.A. River?� she asked.
‘Yeah, another homeless guy dumped in the wash near Barham just inside our jurisdiction. I don’t know if the fingertips have been clipped off like the other two, but since it’s almost a week off his timeline, I’m praying it’s not our unsub.�
Unsub stood for Unknown Subject, what law enforcement called perpetrators who hadn’t been identified. We used to use words like him and his, but with more and more female perps, it no longer made sense to use a pronoun that eliminated half the population.
‘If the vic’s homeless and is dumped in the river, then it’s our unsub,� she said. ‘I better get downtown. Did dispatch call Tony?�
Police Chief Tony Filosiani was known affectionately by the troops as the Day-Glo Dago, a term earned because he was a kinetic fireplug from Brooklyn. The chief was a fair, hard-nosed leader who was a pretty good guy when he wasn’t causing havoc by reorganizing your division.�
RATING:
I gave this book 4 stars. It has a strong plot that held our attention.
STARTED READING � FINISHED READING
7/4/2021 � 7/17/2021
Print: 8/1/2005; St. Martin's Press; 1st edition; 978-0312269609; 384 pages.
Audio: 5/18/2006; Macmillan Audio; 978-1427220516; Duration 10:48:54; Unabridged; 9 parts
Feature Film or tv: Not that I know of.
Series: Shane Scully book 5
Main characters:
Shane Scully--LAPD
Alexandra (Alexa) Scully—LAPD
Chooch—Shane’s son, Alexa’s step-son
Zack Farrell � a Detective - Shane’s partner
SUMMARY/ EVALUATION:
The case to solve in this episode is “the Fingertip Killer�. Working through it takes a lot of sleuthing and second-guessing to figure out. Not to mention a major talent in bullet-dodging.
AUTHOR:
Stephen Cannell (February 5, 1941 � September 30, 2010). According to Wikipedia, Stephen “was an American television producer, writer, novelist, and occasional actor, and the founder of Cannell Entertainment (formerly Stephen J. Cannell Productions) and the Cannell Studios.
After starting his career as a television screenwriter, Cannell created or co-created several dozen successful TV series from the 1970s to the 1990s, often with his creative partner Frank Lupo. Cannell's creations included The Rockford Files, The A-Team, The Greatest American Hero, 21 Jump Street, and The Commish. He also wrote novels, notably the Shane Scully mystery series.�
NARRATOR:
Scott Brick. (January/30/1966).
Scott’s edgy delivery is perfect for this series.
Excerpt in Audio File magazine from an interview: “Like most narrators, I was first an actor. For me, the "Aha!" moment came when I was a Theater major at UCLA and auditioned for a professor, Gary Gardner, at the beginning of my third year. He took me aside afterward and said, "What have you done with your voice? � I had no idea what he meant so I just said I didn’t do anything with it.
“No,� he said. “Somewhere over the summer you realized it was a very potent instrument and you learned how to use it." I just shook my head No, but I trusted that something might have happened, even if I couldn't recognize it. When I think back now to the beginning of my voiceover and audiobook career, it was that day in room 1330.
The cool third act of the story is that last year UCLA brought me back to the Theater Department as an instructor. I'm teaching two classes on campus, Audiobook Narration and Introduction to Voiceover, the latter of which was taught in room 1330. The first day of class, I stood in the spot where I'd stood all those years ago and told the class my story about Gary Gardner. . Then I went outside to the spot where Gary would always grab a smoke, what we call the Gary Gardner Memorial Bench, and thanked him.�
GENRE:
Fiction, Mystery, thriller, crime, police procedure
LOCATIONS:
Los Angeles, Venice Beach
TIME FRAME:
Current-2006
SUBJECTS:
Under Cover policing, crime, criminal gangs, family, Russians, guns
SAMPLE QUOTATION:
From Chapter 1,
�2:30 AM
The phone jack-hammered me up out of a tangled dream.
‘Detective Scully?� a woman’s voice said. ‘This is Homicide Dispatch. You just caught a fresh one-eighty-seven. The DB is on Forest Lawn Drive one block east of Barham Boulevard, under the bridge.�
‘In the L.A. River again?� I sat up and grabbed my pants.
‘Yes sir. The patrol unit is there with the respondents. The blues say it looks like another homeless man so the duty desk at Homicide Special told us to give you the roll out.�
‘Isn’t that in Burbank? Have you notified the BPD?�
‘According to the site map, it’s just inside L.A., so there’s no jurisdictional problem. I need to give patrol and ETA.�
‘It’s gonna take me forty-five minutes.� I started to hang up, but hesitated, and added, ‘Have you notified my partner, Detective Farrell?�
‘We’ve been trying,� she replied carefully, then paused and said, ‘He’s not picking up.�
There was doubt and concern in her tone. Damn, I thought. Did even the civilian dispatchers in the Communications Division know Zack Farrell had become a lush?�
‘Keep trying,� I said, and hung up.
I rolled out of bed, trying not to wake my wife, dressed quickly in fresh clothes, and went into the bathroom where I did my speed groom: head in the faucet, towel dry, hair comb with fingers, Lavoris rinse, no shave. I checked myself for flaws. There were plenty. I’m in my late-thirties and look like a club fighter who’s stayed in the ring a few years too long.
I snapped off the bathroom light, crossed to the bed, and kissed Alexa. Aside from being my wife, she’s also my boss and heads the Detective Services Group at LAPD.
‘Wazzzzit?� she mumbled, rolling toward me and squinting up through tousled, black hair.
‘We got another one.�
Coming up to a sitting position immediately alert, she said, ‘Son of a bitch is six days early.�
Even in the half-light, Alexa took my breath away. Dark-eyed, with glossdy hair and the high cheekbones of a model, she could have easily made a living on the covers of fashion magazines. Instead, she was down at Parker Center, in the biggest boys club on earth. Alexa was the only staff rank female officer on the sixth floor of the Glass House. She was an excellent commander, and deft at politics, while managing to avoid becoming a politician.
‘The L.A. River?� she asked.
‘Yeah, another homeless guy dumped in the wash near Barham just inside our jurisdiction. I don’t know if the fingertips have been clipped off like the other two, but since it’s almost a week off his timeline, I’m praying it’s not our unsub.�
Unsub stood for Unknown Subject, what law enforcement called perpetrators who hadn’t been identified. We used to use words like him and his, but with more and more female perps, it no longer made sense to use a pronoun that eliminated half the population.
‘If the vic’s homeless and is dumped in the river, then it’s our unsub,� she said. ‘I better get downtown. Did dispatch call Tony?�
Police Chief Tony Filosiani was known affectionately by the troops as the Day-Glo Dago, a term earned because he was a kinetic fireplug from Brooklyn. The chief was a fair, hard-nosed leader who was a pretty good guy when he wasn’t causing havoc by reorganizing your division.�
RATING:
I gave this book 4 stars. It has a strong plot that held our attention.
STARTED READING � FINISHED READING
7/4/2021 � 7/17/2021
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Cold Hit.
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Reading Progress
July 4, 2021
–
Started Reading
July 17, 2021
–
Finished Reading
July 19, 2021
– Shelved
