It’s always best to read from an author who knows his subject inside and out, and can weave together a story the layman can understand. Police officer Michael A. Black does both in RANDOM VICTIM.

What happens to a case that’s so cold, it has icicles forming off it, especially in an election year? You form a task force with the idea that it will get good press, and if the case gets solved, even better. This is what Sgt. Frank Leal had put upon him after a little outburst at a judge, and is thrown into a no-win situation with two green officers and a fellow sergeant who knows Leal shouldn’t be in charge.

The case is that of a dead judge who went missing months ago, only to turn up dead in a trunk floating in the water. From the start, Leal is hampered by not only his lieutenant, with whom he has a past, but the inefficient former investigator as well. But Leal has some pluses on his side: namely, a young partner named Hart, a part-time bodybuilder who seems just as determined to solve this case, no matter whose toes they step on.

As this pair slowly peels away the layers, they discover something much larger and far-reaching into the world of drugs, while more roadblocks are thrown their way, even by members of their own department, including the task force commander who is under the belief that the judge was a just a random victim of a carjacking.

Black has created a believable police story that doesn’t rely on gimmicks of a supercop who can do what he wants with no repercussions. No, Black’s character lives in a very real world where officers are hurt and bureaucracy is everywhere. For people who have read their share of Joseph Wambaugh, here is an author who can proudly pick up that torch. Black’s writing is so naturalistic for its genre, never going for the cheap out. Once the climax reveals all, you truly will be stunned. —Bruce Grossman

Buy it at Amazon.