When the feds fight the feds
August 13, 2012:
Several readers have asked me why I decided to start writing the Jeff Trask series. Two reasons, basically:
(1) I'm old, and have lots of stories to tell, many of the true ones much stranger than fiction.
(2) The main reason - although I love to read a lot of the authors in this genre, very few actually "tell it like it is." That's fine; entertainment should be the primary reason for reading fiction, and it still drives me to do so. In the legal/crime thriller category, however, it's just not reality for a single hero or anti-hero to go around solving complex cases by his or her lonesome self. Teamwork across various agencies - federal, state and local - is almost always required to make real headway against criminal organizations and conspiracies. The Trask series is based upon that truth, and I think that's the reason why it has been so well received by other prosecutors and investigators (who have been good enough to post their thoughts in the form of Amazon reviews). The challenge for me as the writer has been to tell the stories of these task forces in an entertaining fashion, without having a hero retreat to his closet to don a cape and tights when the going gets rough.
The other side of the coin is that where teamwork is essential, the refusal of some of our law enforcement agencies to work together has been, in my experience, the single biggest boon to the bad guys. Far too often, egos, desires for promotion, and glory hounds get in the way of doing the right thing, and agencies fight each other for credit and stats instead of working toward a common goal. A unified national investigative service would solve many of these problems. Some fear a "national police force." Newsflash: we already have one, it just doesn't work.
Several readers have asked me why I decided to start writing the Jeff Trask series. Two reasons, basically:
(1) I'm old, and have lots of stories to tell, many of the true ones much stranger than fiction.
(2) The main reason - although I love to read a lot of the authors in this genre, very few actually "tell it like it is." That's fine; entertainment should be the primary reason for reading fiction, and it still drives me to do so. In the legal/crime thriller category, however, it's just not reality for a single hero or anti-hero to go around solving complex cases by his or her lonesome self. Teamwork across various agencies - federal, state and local - is almost always required to make real headway against criminal organizations and conspiracies. The Trask series is based upon that truth, and I think that's the reason why it has been so well received by other prosecutors and investigators (who have been good enough to post their thoughts in the form of Amazon reviews). The challenge for me as the writer has been to tell the stories of these task forces in an entertaining fashion, without having a hero retreat to his closet to don a cape and tights when the going gets rough.
The other side of the coin is that where teamwork is essential, the refusal of some of our law enforcement agencies to work together has been, in my experience, the single biggest boon to the bad guys. Far too often, egos, desires for promotion, and glory hounds get in the way of doing the right thing, and agencies fight each other for credit and stats instead of working toward a common goal. A unified national investigative service would solve many of these problems. Some fear a "national police force." Newsflash: we already have one, it just doesn't work.
No comments have been added yet.
