This novel, which the author describes as partly based on his life and part fiction, is a mix of police procedural, hunger for connection with a musical idol and graphic sex. Divided into chapters based on Emmylou Harris songs, the somewhat predictable story tells how a good cop is forced into vigilante behavior and how he struggles to choose between one relationship based in real life and another based on longing.
Local beat officer Joey Passleu prowls the streets of Glasgow drinking, brawling and setting criminals to rights while songs of Emmylou Harris play in his head. Promoted to an elite Task Force, Passleu is trained in firearms and uses them during a bank robbery gone bad. Shot four times, he still manages to kill the robbers and save a young pregnant girl who is on tour with Emmylou Harris.
He forges a friendship with his idol, while at the same time recovering from grievous wounds, surviving a wrongful death trial and defending his family, with force, from cohorts of the slain bank robbers. After these triumphs, he puts his real life girlfriend on hold and travels to America where he and Emmylou meet again to decide the course of their relationship.
While the story touches the yearning most of us have to connect with an unattainable icon, the writing makes for a difficult read. Punctuation is random, sentence structure awkward, dialogue stilted. Characters are often tossed into the story with no introduction, and the location frequently changes with no notice. Even though the author writes with passion, he mostly recites the story, leaving readers unable to visualize the action.
While this story holds the promise of a fun, fantasy-fulfilling read entwined with gritty police realism, wooden writing and lack of editing leave the reader unsatisfied.
Also available as an ebook.
