Review: I appreciate the human side of police work shown by Officer Ivy.
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 05 1, 2012
I read an awful lot of books.  I investigate an awful lot of books before I read them.  When I come across one where there are only five star ratings showing my suspicion meter starts going haywire.  No way everybody can like one book that much, right?  Got to be some hanky panky going on, right?  Well, in this case I can answer with two resounding "no's".  This novel IS that good and there is absolutely nothing fishy going on.I readBad Luck Cadetand was, quite surprisingly from my point of view, blown away.  I loved it but anybody can hit the target once in a while.  Ha!  From now on I am going to have to check my pessimism at the door where the writing of this police officer is concerned.  Not only can she tell a story but she can make you truly anticipate when the next installment will come out.Suzie Ivy is one of those rare individuals, a natural story teller.  She takes real life events and includes just the right amount of detail to allow the reader to completely understand what the situation is.  She has a natural turn of phrase so that people not involved with law enforcement can understand the hilarity or futility or ridiculous nature of her first several years as a police officer.  The training aspects aren't glossed over but they also aren't repeated so often that they become boringly redundant.  The mistakes she makes, whether funny or potentially dangerous, are presented in all their truthful glory.  The very human side of police work is depicted here.  Sometimes it's funny, more often it will be tragic.  I can only imagine that Officer Ivy must be an incredibly wonderful person to have on your side and the victims of the crimes she investigates are lucky to have her working her brains out for them.Read this book if you have ever been curious about what actually goes on inside a police department.  Inside the parts and places we as civilians never get to see.  Reading Suzie's story is very much like doing a ride-along in the front seat of her patrol car, you never know what's going to happen at the beginning of shift, but you know at the end that you've been on one heck of an adventure.  For those of you who want specific information, there is some profanity in the book but probably not nearly as much as actually happens.  It wouldn't be realistic if she had tried to leave it all out.  And I'm sure some of the stories have been added to or edited somewhat in order to make the novel both readable and able to pass the legal litmus test.  I am eagerly awaiting the third book in the series.  Too bad Suzie would have to quit the job I love to read about in order to be able to write faster.  No, I don't want that so I'll simply learn to be more patient.I received a complimentary copy of this novel for review purposes.  The opinions stated are my own.