Cop Town

April 14, 2014
Violent crime, police politics, and race relations all figure in this scintillating standalone set in 1970s Atlanta, from bestseller Slaughter (Martin Misunderstood). Maggie Lawson comes from a disjointed, emotionally disconnected family of law enforcement officers, and her time spent as an Atlanta PD cop has hardened her to many of the job’s horrors. But when her brother, Jimmy, who’s also a police officer, loses his partner to a notorious and elusive cop killer—only surviving the ordeal himself because the assassin’s handgun jammed—Maggie decides she can’t write this murder off as yet another day on the job. Determined to track down “the Shooter,” she finds an unlikely partner in Kate Murphy, a stunningly beautiful widow and new recruit reassigned to Maggie’s patrol. While the two women search for answers, Kate becomes the next potential victim in the demented Shooter’s crosshairs. Slaughter does her usual fine job of exploring intriguingly troubled characters, though readers should be prepared for plenty of gore. Agent: Victoria Sanders, Victoria Sanders & Associates.

May 1, 2014
A gritty procedural in which the streets of 1970s Atlanta are just as dangerous for cops as for criminals.Being a woman in uniform is hard enough, but thriller-writer Slaughter (Unseen, 2013, etc.) drives the point home like a knife to the eye-she does that, too-with her taut stand-alone featuring two female cops in a city bubbling over with racial and political unrest. Maggie Lawson bleeds blue-older brother Jimmy is in uniform and uncle Terry is top brass-but she's not welcome in the male-dominated police world. Besides the racial clashes erupting on the street and within the department, there's a cop killer on the loose. Known as the Shooter, he ambushes officers and executes them. As a woman whose duties involve writing tickets and generally keeping out of the way-despite the fact she has five years' experience under her heavy utility belt-Maggie can only stay peripherally involved in the manhunt, even when Jimmy's partner is killed. Officially, that is. Joined by rookie Kate Murphy, a woman trying to leave everything, from her upper-class upbringing to her dead husband, behind, the pair conducts their own investigation. Slaughter excels at empathetically flawed characters who rise above the violence-her books are not for the squeamish-of their circumstances; Maggie and Kate are on par with series regulars Will Trent and Sara Linton.There's nothing pretty about this divided cop town, but in exposing its ugliness, Slaughter forces us to question whether times really have changed.

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Starred review from June 15, 2014

Gender politics and race relations are front and center in this explosive thriller. It's 1974 Atlanta, and another policeman has been shot by the man they're calling the Shooter, yet his partner, Jimmy Lawson, is left physically unharmed but devastated. Jimmy's sister Maggie, also a cop, is convinced that something is off about Jimmy's version of events, but getting anyone to listen to her suspicions would only prove futile. After all, women weren't very welcome on the police force in 1974 and they certainly didn't investigate serious crimes. When she's partnered with Kate Murphy, whose pampered background couldn't be more different from Maggie's solid blue-collar roots, events begin to escalate, and Kate and Maggie must put everything on the line to stop a ferocious killer. VERDICT Slaughter's first stand-alone thriller is a superb, very gritty look at both a city and era in social and political flux. It's also a searing portrait of family ties and how our pasts can shape our futures, as well as a gripping procedural, with some genuinely terrifying moments. Kate and Maggie are wonderful creations, and this title is sure to win over readers new to Slaughter's work while reminding old fans of her enormous talent. [See Prepub Alert, 1/6/14; Slaughter Q&A, LJ 4/15/14, p. 24.--Ed.]--Kristin Centorcelli, Denton, TX

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Starred review from May 1, 2014
In her first stand-alone novel, Slaughter revisits the themes of her best-selling 1970s-set Criminal (2012). In Atlanta in 1974, Kate Murphy shows up for her first day of work at the Atlanta Police Department. Brought up in the genteel section of town, the daughter of a wealthy psychiatrist, Kate is wholly unprepared for the rough-and-tumble atmosphere of a department that is openly hostile to women. Sporting a uniform three sizes too big, she is a ready target for her fellow cops' emotional and physical hazing. She partners with Maggie Lawson, who has a brother and an uncle on the force, and the two are thrown headlong into a day that sees them dealing with the murder of a fellow police officer. They begin to suspect that the dead cop was the victim of the Shooter, an expert marksman who has already taken out four other officers. Frantically looking for the thread that connects the murders, conducting a harrowing interrogation of a transsexual pimp that erupts in violence, and emotionally bruised from the vitriol directed her way, Kate begins to wonder if she is cut out to be a cop. Slaughter graphically exposes the rampant racism, homophobia, and misogyny of cop culture in the 1970s, made all the more jarring by its contrast with Kate's cultured upbringing. Winning leads, the retro setting, and a riveting plot make this one of Slaughter's best.HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Slaughter has more than 30 million copies of her books in print in 32 languages; the first stand-alone novel by this exceptional crime writer is sure to win her many new fans.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)