Vice Part One

**⚠ This page contains spoilers.**

Vice: Part One is the title of the upcoming debut novel by Ima Crook. It will be the first novel in the Vice trilogy and the first book in the Ima Crook Universe (ICU). Vice: Part One does not contain a complete story. Rather, the three novels that make up Vice (Vice Part One, Vice Part Two and Vice Part Three) contain one continuous story with each book picking up where the last one ended (both in story and chapter numbers).

## Official Description

*What does the American Dream mean today? When a young police lieutenant, Rose, watches her life spiral right before her eyes, forcing her in a direction she never thought she’d go, that once simple question becomes the most difficult one she’s ever had to answer. When every day brings the threat of death, capture or worse, what’s more important: surviving or thriving?*

*To regain control of her life, she’s forced to team up with the last people she ever thought she would: the men responsible for ending the life she knew and loved.*

*As Rose and her new accomplices pull off a series of daring heists, making glamorous friends and powerful enemies along the way, she’s forced to play both sides of the law -- the cutthroat criminal and the cop in charge of a task force set up to take her down.*

*As the walls quickly close in, their activities put them in the firing line of groups on both sides of the law, forcing them to battle for control of a ruthless city in which they can trust nobody, least of all each other.*

*Tales of ganglands, cops, celebrities and heists intertwine in Ima Crook’s groundbreaking three-part debut series.*

## Setting

The book is primarily in Miami and its surrounding locations in the year 2023 and takes place in the Ima Crook Universe (ICU). It tells the story of Rose McClane, a police lieutenant in the Miami Police Department's vice department as she breaks bad, turning from a straight-arrow into a wicked criminal. The story places emphasis on how her actions affect the people around her, especially her friends and family. On her road to building a criminal empire, she makes many friends (predominantly Ricardo Moreno Vega, Casey Russo, Steve Hearn and Phil Foreman) as well as a whole host of enemies (including William Montgomery, Los Perros Locos and the Rattlesnakes MC).

## Plot

Each chapter in the Vice trilogy is named after a phrase used within it - usually one that foreshadows the theme(s) and events of the chapter. Each chapter in Vice takes place over a single day.

### Prologue: A Woman Born Twice

***"Rose was a woman born twice." -*** *Vice Part One*

The Vice prologue takes place shortly after Chapter 2 and is the only non-linear chapter in the series (with the exception of Rosie Hyde). The chapter begins with Rose sitting on her bathroom floor covered in blood after being returned to her house by Ricardo Moreno Vega following his kidnapping of her. Rose showers, dresses in her uniform and leaves for work as though nothing happened. The prologue, while short, introduces us to Rose and leaves us wondering what happened for her to end up in that situation - something the next chapter answers.

### Chapter 1: Officer Down

Rose arrives back at the police station having left briefly to get a coffee (presumably from Aroma Mocha). We learn she's pulled an all-nighter at work and hadn't returned home that night. We're introduced to Arthur McClane, Rose's husband, as well as four of her subordinates: Josė Vasquez, Smithy, Joe Reynolds and Nick Tavarez.

Rose reads José's report on a shooting incident involving Reynolds an unarmed black male (referred to as 'The Jackson Shooting') in which José states what happened on the day of the shooting, as well as giving his opinion that Reynolds acted lawfully in self-defence, something Rose doubts.

Shortly after reading the report, Arthur informs Rose of a shooting incident at Montgomery Industrial where two men had entered a warehouse and were engaged in a shootout with police. Rose, believing the men to be members of Los Perros Locos, travels with José, Reynolds and Tavarez to the crime scene. Arthur pulls up shortly afterwards and is shot dead by one of the shooters. Rose charges into the warehouse but is knocked unconscious when a bullet strikes her bulletproof vest, sending her to the ground where she hits the back of her head.

When she awakes, the men tie her hands behind her back and take her to a rundown cafe.

## Trivia

* It took Ima Crook from March 2022 to September of the same year to finish the first draft of Vice Part One. She worked 18-hour days, 7 days a week for the entirety of 2022 to finish Vice so quickly.

## External Links

* Vice: Part One on Amazon (US)
* Vice: Part One on Amazon (UK)
* Vice: Part One on Goodreads
* Ima Crook's Twitter