Floaters

Rating:
Summary: Hackneyed and poorly paced
Review: This was a slow, dragging read with unappealing characters and a molasses-slow plot. I am somewhat amazed so many respectable periodicals are slobbering over it - I recommend that people skip or read earlier Wambaugh, which is indeed fine stuff.

Rating:
Summary: Gritty & surprising in its plot turns, wonderful characters.
Review: Twisty, gritty plot. You'll laugh, you'll go "Oh, yuk!", you'll cry out "Oh, no!" Interesting characters and their tangle of motivations drive the action: two Wambaughesque cops--one married & cheating, the other divorced & hungover; a stunningly beautiful outcall masseuse, intelligent, even compassionate, whose greed proves her undoing; a gentleman of the old school who loves & reveres the traditions of yachting and will cheat or even kill to keep the America's Cup in San Diego; a vicious pimp and his comeuppance; jolly Aussie crewmen; the grungiest alcoholic loser this side of Bukowski; a madam with a heart; two excellent homicide cops, one has great legs, the other smells and looks like the collision of a garlic truck and a van full of Goodwill-reject leisure-wear

Rating:
Summary: A seat-grabber that I couldn't put down
Review: Well written and a cop's book. Wonderful plot and as usual, great one liners. I have read most, if not all of Wambaugh books, and this is one of the best.