Samyann
Over fourteen hours of listening, narrated by Kathleen Early. This book has primarily good reviews. A few readers (listeners) have panned Cop Town, but, for the most part, it has been well received. Much of this story is extremely disturbing. If an author has an objective to evoke emotion, Slaughter has pulled it off, i.e., the female characters will make teeth grind. Realizing this story is based in the mid-seventies, the reader will get the picture regarding women being subjected to brutality beyond modern-day comprehension. Cop Town was published in 2014, ergo, women triumph in the end, but I’m of the opinion that the 1970s Atlanta police department’s viscious chauvinism is over-stated considerably.
Cop Town is a decent police procedural surrounding the serial killing of Atlanta policemen and the resulting mystery. The writing is good, the story good. The characters, however, are grating. All male characters, Atlanta policemen, are bullies, bigots, chauvinists, drunks, and fundamentally nasty, mean, and disgusting. The female characters, most Atlanta policewomen, are often submissive, enabling, whiney, one even swoons. Even in the mid 70s, the Atlanta police department would not put officers on the street with such ridiculously little training, uniforms so ill-fitting they would endanger their lives or the lives of fellow officers … even women or blacks. Frankly, much of the detail is absurd and wouldn’t have happened. I’m ready and willing to buy into a good-old-boy mentality and childish pranks in the police department, but … come on, some of this is just plain garbage annoying to read.
If you can get by some eye-rolling issues, the police procedural, clues, mystery … all is good. Narration by Early is fine, no trouble discerning who says what to who.
