REVIEW: Suspect

PLOT: LAPD cop Scott James is not doing so well. Eight months ago, a shocking nighttime assault by unidentified men killed his partner Stephanie, nearly killed him, and left him enraged, ashamed, and ready to explode. He is unfit for duty...until he meets his new partner. Maggie is not doing so well, either. A German shepherd who survived three tours in Iraq and Afghanistan sniffing explosives before losing her handler to an IED, her PTSD is as bad as Scott's. They are each other's last chance. Shunned and shunted to the side, they set out to investigate the one case that no one wants them to touch: the identity of the men who murdered Stephanie. What they begin to find is nothing like what Scott has been told, and the journey will take them both through the darkest moments of their own personal hells. Whether they will make it out again, no one can say.

REVIEW: This is the first novel by Robert Crais that I have ever read, but I have to say I was mightily impressed with his writing in Suspect. There was something that this book had from the prologue, and it never lost that special something for 300 pages. That special something, or someone, would be the 85 pound black-and-tan German Shepherd named Maggie. The way that Crais writes the thought patterns of the dog, with really nothing outside of basic commands and actions that the dog recognizes, he creates a really heartwarming character that you don't expect when you first pick the book up. I was expecting a buddy cop book, with a man and his dog, as they take down baddies and bark up the wrong trees to find trouble. Instead, this is an emotional tale of a dog leaning on his new owner's shoulders, and the cop Scott James unknowingly leaning just as hard on his new best friend. The relationship that these two develop throughout the book is wonderful, and on multiple occassions had me smiling from ear to ear trying to keep my throat from getting scratchy. I know a book is really powerful when it impacts me the way this one did, and I would highly recommend this to any reader.

Scott James is a down on himself, depressed cop that has been reassigned to a new K-9 unit because of past events that left him unable to do his duty, at least that's what his superiors think. He lost his partner Stephanie, that he feels like he left behind to die and now thinks about her everyday of his life wishing he could have done more. Then Scott meets Maggie, a German Shepherd who lost her partner in the war due to attacks and an IED overseas. When choosing a new K-9 dog to train with and become part of the team, Scott chooses Maggie because of her past and he can relate to her in a way. They are both dealing with PTSD, and it's with each other that they find themselves coming out on top in this story. It's not so much a mystery as it is a story of friendship and dealing with trauma in our lives, and lines of work. The mystery is there, as they are working to solve Scott's case, but it's not at the forefront of the book. However, that didn't bother me and I think had the two story lines been reversed, with their friendship in the background, it wouldn't have been nearly as good. Maggie nearly steals this book entirely from Scott, and the chapters written from her perspective were really cool too.

I just have to say, that anytime Maggie referenced Scott as pack, or talked about the rules of being pack, it hit me hard. The loyalty that this dog felt towards its owner was astonishing, and it really says a lot for the writing of Robert Crais. I really hope that this is the beginning of a series, as Crais is known to have a couple series and could easily turn this into hit. Also, in the same vein of all new TNT shows with two names for a title, I think they could make a good series called Scott & Maggie and it would easily be a success on TV as well. I am doing this book for my Mystery Monday book club at the library, and I really only chose it because it had to do with dogs and it was a mystery-ish book and I thought it would attract patrons to my program. Little did I know, that myself and several others who read the book would fall in love with Maggie and the relationship Scott has with her. This is a truly astounding piece of writing, and I'm very happy to have read it because without the need of mass-appealing books for book club, I never would have read this. Now I want a German Shepherd really badly now, and I would hope that we could be pack just like Scott and Maggie.

RATED : ( PG-13 )

WRITING : ( 9 / 10 )

STORY : ( 8 / 10 )

COVER : ( 5 / 10 )

AWESOME : ( 8 / 10 )

FINAL RATING : ( 9 / 10 )