Loose Ends
If there is one conceit in crime that’s tried and true, it’s that of the rogue cop who plays by his own rules. The boss may want his badge, but the hero won’t let up in his pursuit. Breathing some fresh air into that setup is Don Easton, a former undercover officer for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
To be honest, all I knew of the RCMP came from the DUDLEY DO-RIGHT cartoon of my youth, but in his first novel – LOOSE ENDS – Easton has created such a bad-ass character with Jack Taggart, an undercover cop who is so good at his job, it has his supervisor worried that Jack might not be playing by the rules. Thus, Jack is assigned a new partner named Danny O’Reilly, who’s pretty much told to keep tabs on him.
Two children have been brutal killed while playing where they should not have been. The bad news for the killers is the kids were Jack’s niece and nephew, thereby setting the story up as a thrilling page-turner of a read. A local gang by the name of Satan’s Wrath is behind it all, and Jack has to figure out a way to find those responsible, first by posing as a small-time dealer to get an in.
But it seems the gang has someone high up – they refer to him as “The Suit” – who is giving them some valuable intel. It was The Suit’s doing that the kids were killed, and he’s a bit of a sexual pervert, which is told in lurid detail. Easton doesn’t just make the good guys good and all the bad guys bad; everyone is painted with a shade of gray.
There are sequences in the book where you have no idea what Jack has planned out until he actually does it, which makes the book even more enjoyable. Easton never tips his hand as what’s to come, leading the reader into the world of biker gangs, petty infighting and some truly brutal scenes of violence that will make the reader clamor for more.
I’m going to take a wild stab in the dark and guess Easton might have read some Donald Hamilton in his day. Easton clearly knows of what he writes and who knows how much of Taggart is not made up? So now my opinion of the Mounties has changed: They’re no longer animated dimwits, but some tough guys you’d never want to cross, because if you do, you’re going to have serious trouble headed your way like a runaway bull. –Bruce Grossman
Thanks for the review Bruce! It’s funny that you do mention your perception of the mounties. The fact that the only point of view that has been seriously exported from Canada is the dimwitted Dudley Do-Right makes me wonder what happened? I look forward to seeing what you will think of the RCMP once you check out Above Ground.
Hi Bruce. Thanks for your comments regarding my first novel, “Loose Ends.” I think a lot of people south of the 49th have some misconception about what the Royal Canadian Mounted Police are really like. This is something I discovered when working with American counterparts in the US or other foreign jurisdictions. Hopefully my novels will enlighten people. Much of the novel is based on personal experiences, but as one reader mentioned, “The hell of it is, you don’t know which part is fiction and which part isn’t.”
I must confess that I have never read Donald Hamilton, but then again, I don’t read novels because with my own life experiences, I have found them to be too phony. I have had a sequel to “Loose Ends” published called, “Above Ground.” In the Spring of 2008 I anticipate the release of the third novel in the series which I have named “Angel in the Full Moon.”
Cheers,
Don
Don ‘Above Ground’ is on my to read pile. So expect a review in the near future.
[…] slump for Don Easton and his Jack Taggart series, picking up a few months after the story of LOOSE ENDS. Now, it needs to be stated: You pretty much have to read the first book before this, since there […]