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Welcome to Cooper
Winner of the The Bloody Scotland Debut Prize 2022 In this explosive thriller of bad choices and dark crimes, Detective Levine knew his transfer was a punishment―but he had no idea just how bad it would get. Cooper, Nebraska, is forgettable and forgotten, a town you’d only stumble into if you’d taken a seriously wrong turn. Like Detective Thomas Levine’s career has. But when a young woman is found lying in the snow, choked to death, her eyes gouged out, the disgraced detective is Cooper’s only hope for restoring peace and justice. For Levine, still grieving and guilt-ridden over the death of his girlfriend, his so-called “transfer” from the big city to this grubby backwater has always felt like a punishment. And when his irascible new partner shoots their prime suspect using Levine’s gun, all hope of redemption is shattered. With the case in chaos, and both blackmail and a violent drug cartel to contend with, he finds himself in a world of trouble. It gets worse. The real killer is still out there, and he’s got plans for Detective Levine. And Cooper may just be the perfect place to get away with murder.
269 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 2021
1774 people are currently reading
3445 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 291 reviews
January 16, 2025
Welcome to Cooper...
WELCOME TO COOPER
by Tariq Ashkanani
No spoilers. 4 stars. I don't usually read crime dramas, being that my ex-husband is an L.A. Sheriff's homicide detective, and I'm a little burned out on police procedure...
But...
This noir crime story was very good, although I must confess that it is nothing but police procedure but in a good, interesting way...
Tommy Levine (call him Thomas) has been reassigned to the s**t hole town of Cooper... disciplinary action for being caught dealing drugs...
On day one of the job...
He was sent to investigate the death of a woman (the third such victim) who was strangled, then her eyes were gouged out...
Next day...
Tommy's partner Joe told him that prints were found on the victim's belt that matched a suspect and took him to the suspect's apartment where...
At the doorway...
Joe turned and slugged Tommy, removed Tommy's revolver, and shot the suspect dead, potentially framing Tommy with his own gun...
So that...
Tommy will be complicit with the illegal activities of the dirty cops on the force...
Joe said there should be no love lost for the suspect since he had already killed two other women. They were just helping justice along a little speedier...
Trouble is...
The suspect was dying of cancer, which was pretty far along, and he didn't have the strength to kill a fly...
Welcome to Cooper...
Now go home!
As police stories go, this was one of the better ones. I was left guessing and second-guessing throughout the entire story.
Although there were some twists at the end, the ending was lackluster and just simply ended.. Also, there were a few loose ends, which is a pet peeve of mine, and that is why I removed a star.
WELCOME TO COOPER
by Tariq Ashkanani
No spoilers. 4 stars. I don't usually read crime dramas, being that my ex-husband is an L.A. Sheriff's homicide detective, and I'm a little burned out on police procedure...
But...
This noir crime story was very good, although I must confess that it is nothing but police procedure but in a good, interesting way...
Tommy Levine (call him Thomas) has been reassigned to the s**t hole town of Cooper... disciplinary action for being caught dealing drugs...
On day one of the job...
He was sent to investigate the death of a woman (the third such victim) who was strangled, then her eyes were gouged out...
Next day...
Tommy's partner Joe told him that prints were found on the victim's belt that matched a suspect and took him to the suspect's apartment where...
At the doorway...
Joe turned and slugged Tommy, removed Tommy's revolver, and shot the suspect dead, potentially framing Tommy with his own gun...
So that...
Tommy will be complicit with the illegal activities of the dirty cops on the force...
Joe said there should be no love lost for the suspect since he had already killed two other women. They were just helping justice along a little speedier...
Trouble is...
The suspect was dying of cancer, which was pretty far along, and he didn't have the strength to kill a fly...
Welcome to Cooper...
Now go home!
As police stories go, this was one of the better ones. I was left guessing and second-guessing throughout the entire story.
Although there were some twists at the end, the ending was lackluster and just simply ended.. Also, there were a few loose ends, which is a pet peeve of mine, and that is why I removed a star.
October 11, 2021
All I'm writing about this book is that it's a story within a story and I didn't know who was actually telling their confession until the very end , which I loved.The ending was the best part, but, of course you need to read it all to get to that.
October 16, 2021
Okay first a confession. I went into this book with a slightly negative mindset as I was starting to think I had chosen the wrong book for my September First Reads selection after a great review of another book (thanks Jayme!!).
Once I started, though, I found an enjoyable and well written slice of modern day noir with first person narrative from a cop who is not just damaged but deeply dirty by his own admission. Shunted out from the big city to a no-hope town and saddled with a partner who is so dirty he makes our protagonist look like a model policeman, he almost immediately gets himself into a scrape from which he can see no escape. Gangsters, serial killers, blackmail, murder, it's all here.
Keen to avoid spoilers, so I won't go into detail except to say the twist in the ending caught me completely off guard. Don't expect flowers and sunshine and heroes riding off into the sunset. In fact this book is pretty light on heroes altogether. But if you like your reading dark, gritty and dirty, this is well worth a go. Far from disappointing - now to get the book I had been wishing I'd picked before I started. Hoping for two winners.
Once I started, though, I found an enjoyable and well written slice of modern day noir with first person narrative from a cop who is not just damaged but deeply dirty by his own admission. Shunted out from the big city to a no-hope town and saddled with a partner who is so dirty he makes our protagonist look like a model policeman, he almost immediately gets himself into a scrape from which he can see no escape. Gangsters, serial killers, blackmail, murder, it's all here.
Keen to avoid spoilers, so I won't go into detail except to say the twist in the ending caught me completely off guard. Don't expect flowers and sunshine and heroes riding off into the sunset. In fact this book is pretty light on heroes altogether. But if you like your reading dark, gritty and dirty, this is well worth a go. Far from disappointing - now to get the book I had been wishing I'd picked before I started. Hoping for two winners.
September 9, 2021
No, just no. This book is terrible. I received this book as part of Amazon's First Reads and I was intrigued by the premise, a new-to-town detective immediately embroiled in a horrible crime and small town issues.
Almost immediately the book goes from interesting to bad. The writing style is almost impossible to follow even if you are paying very close attention. There is no clear genre. It felt overly edited with huge plot holes and massive missing pieces of information. The narration is not consistent. The characters are not likeable and rarely even believable. It was if the author took plots from 14 different Law and Order episodes and jammed them all together and THEN tried to make it a psychological thriller.
Do yourself a favor and skip this one. I sure wish I had! The good reviews must have been purchased.
Almost immediately the book goes from interesting to bad. The writing style is almost impossible to follow even if you are paying very close attention. There is no clear genre. It felt overly edited with huge plot holes and massive missing pieces of information. The narration is not consistent. The characters are not likeable and rarely even believable. It was if the author took plots from 14 different Law and Order episodes and jammed them all together and THEN tried to make it a psychological thriller.
Do yourself a favor and skip this one. I sure wish I had! The good reviews must have been purchased.
September 4, 2021
Stay Alert!
Hard to find a book during 'covid boredom' that doesn't read like all written off of same template. So I start many books and give up.... not this one. Unique writing style, plot twists and turns... and I'm not even sure who is the hero as all deeply flawed. Good book for chess players to figure out the plot moves as you read along?
Hard to find a book during 'covid boredom' that doesn't read like all written off of same template. So I start many books and give up.... not this one. Unique writing style, plot twists and turns... and I'm not even sure who is the hero as all deeply flawed. Good book for chess players to figure out the plot moves as you read along?
November 9, 2021
Cooper, Nebraska. Detective Levine has been transferred to this less than desirable location. This is his punishment for robbing drug dealers and then selling the drugs .. to mostly other cops. He ratted out his partner and instead of charging him with crimes or just firing him, they sent him here... for redemption, if nothing else.
On his first work day, he and his new partner are called to investigate when a young woman is found in the snow, strangled, eyes gouged out.
There is, however, a prime suspect and Levine's new partner shoots him.. with Levine's gun...all hope of redemption is in pieces.
I thought there was great promise, as the plot seemed compelling. But it fell flat for me. I did not like the author's style of writing. It was like someone looking at me, but directing conversation to someone who stood behind me. The story line bounced from now to the past and back again, with no warning, making it hard to follow. It's a first person narration but tends to be tedious. The characters were not likeable, actually they had no redeeming qualities .. nothing I could hold onto. A this is the author's debut book, I wish him the best and hope his next book is better.
Many thanks to the author / Amazon Publishing UK / Netgalley for the digital copy of this crime fiction/police procedural. Read and reviewed voluntarily, opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own.
2.5 STARS
On his first work day, he and his new partner are called to investigate when a young woman is found in the snow, strangled, eyes gouged out.
There is, however, a prime suspect and Levine's new partner shoots him.. with Levine's gun...all hope of redemption is in pieces.
I thought there was great promise, as the plot seemed compelling. But it fell flat for me. I did not like the author's style of writing. It was like someone looking at me, but directing conversation to someone who stood behind me. The story line bounced from now to the past and back again, with no warning, making it hard to follow. It's a first person narration but tends to be tedious. The characters were not likeable, actually they had no redeeming qualities .. nothing I could hold onto. A this is the author's debut book, I wish him the best and hope his next book is better.
Many thanks to the author / Amazon Publishing UK / Netgalley for the digital copy of this crime fiction/police procedural. Read and reviewed voluntarily, opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own.
2.5 STARS
October 28, 2021
An absolutely brilliant noir thriller, bleak and disturbing with a cast of unforgettable characters set in a small nowhere town where darkness awaits.
I absolutely devoured this - it is pretty difficult to put down once you pick it up and it is oh so clever, playing with character and perception throughout. Excellent quality of writing and when I put it down I was beautifully tired with a sense of reading satisfaction that doesn't come along often.
A really great read, a bit dastardly and entirely compelling. Highly Recommended.
I absolutely devoured this - it is pretty difficult to put down once you pick it up and it is oh so clever, playing with character and perception throughout. Excellent quality of writing and when I put it down I was beautifully tired with a sense of reading satisfaction that doesn't come along often.
A really great read, a bit dastardly and entirely compelling. Highly Recommended.
September 2, 2021
Disturbing and beautiful
Thomas Harris meets Ray Bradbury. Dark and disturbing but exquisitely crafted. I feel like I need to immediately read something else to get this one out of my head. This genre is not for me but if it was, wow, I think he will be a bestseller. Really amazing first novel.
Thomas Harris meets Ray Bradbury. Dark and disturbing but exquisitely crafted. I feel like I need to immediately read something else to get this one out of my head. This genre is not for me but if it was, wow, I think he will be a bestseller. Really amazing first novel.
September 8, 2021
Not worth your time!
It’s a most depressing book , one of the worst I’ve ever read - I lament the time I wasted reading it.
It’s a most depressing book , one of the worst I’ve ever read - I lament the time I wasted reading it.
February 2, 2022
What’s an Edinburgh solicitor doing writing neo-noir set in Cooper, Nebraska? Ah, but that’s the beauty of fiction, isn’t it - it’s transporting power. The closest to teleportation our civilization may ever come.
What’s in Cooper, Nebraska? Not much, actually, it’s a typical small-town USA and much like Nebraska of popular imagination it’s as down and dirty and bleak as this story depicts it. Not the sort of place you’d end up in by choice, but then again, the novel’s protagonist, a disgraced detective Levine, doesn’t really get much of a choice. The man failed pretty epically in Washington, DC and, for his sins, is sent to the purgatorial Cooper, where he promptly gets involved in another ethically and morally questionable situation, dirty cops, a serial killer and all.
Levine might have thought Cooper to be just a backwater nowhere, but it’s more than that, the murky waters hide a quicksand beneath them…the more he tries to come clean, the more it drags him under. And that’s basically the story without giving away too much.
I categorized it as neo-noir, but it doesn’t quite maintain the same class throughout, it’s darker, heavier, dirtier, and got a hypermasculine tough-guy sort of presence that took some getting used to. Overall, and especially for a debut and especially for such a far stretch (for a solicitor…nothing about law here, just lawlessness), it’s decently done, even if over seasoned with a very specific blend of tough-guy testosterone. Read pretty quickly and entertained sufficiently. Bleak, very bleak. You can tag it…a crime drama as bleak as Nebraska. Thanks Netgalley.
This and more at https://advancetheplot.weebly.com/
What’s in Cooper, Nebraska? Not much, actually, it’s a typical small-town USA and much like Nebraska of popular imagination it’s as down and dirty and bleak as this story depicts it. Not the sort of place you’d end up in by choice, but then again, the novel’s protagonist, a disgraced detective Levine, doesn’t really get much of a choice. The man failed pretty epically in Washington, DC and, for his sins, is sent to the purgatorial Cooper, where he promptly gets involved in another ethically and morally questionable situation, dirty cops, a serial killer and all.
Levine might have thought Cooper to be just a backwater nowhere, but it’s more than that, the murky waters hide a quicksand beneath them…the more he tries to come clean, the more it drags him under. And that’s basically the story without giving away too much.
I categorized it as neo-noir, but it doesn’t quite maintain the same class throughout, it’s darker, heavier, dirtier, and got a hypermasculine tough-guy sort of presence that took some getting used to. Overall, and especially for a debut and especially for such a far stretch (for a solicitor…nothing about law here, just lawlessness), it’s decently done, even if over seasoned with a very specific blend of tough-guy testosterone. Read pretty quickly and entertained sufficiently. Bleak, very bleak. You can tag it…a crime drama as bleak as Nebraska. Thanks Netgalley.
This and more at https://advancetheplot.weebly.com/
May 20, 2022
Terrific crime noir novel from Ashkanani about Thomas, a disgraced detective sent from DC to Cooper, a small Nebraskan town, who immediately finds himself caught up in corruption and murder with a mixed cast of lost and unsavory characters. It's told in multiple perspectives as Thomas tells the story of his time in Cooper while, alternatively, we read a concurrent confession. It's written in classic noir style, as the story slowly burns to a surprising and downbeat ending. Don't get all the negative reviews here on GR with people complaining about the "weird" writing style. It's called noir, people. Been around a long time. Ashkanani does it rather well. Just as good as his second one, Follow Me To The Edge. He's an author to watch for sure. 4.5 stars. Very highly recommended.
October 11, 2021
Straight up, this one will have its detractors.
You see, it's a very gritty crime novel and the characters are not very good people. (But, like I said, it's crime!)
If you're the kind of person who needs a hero to root for, the book may not be for you. However, if you want a book with edge and characters who are not only flawed, but deeply wrong, here's your book.
The story moves well and, before you know it, you're in deep with our main character and feeling somewhat complicit in everything. The author does a good job of making the book uncomfortable.
I enjoyed it. I felt a little wrong about that, but it's a good read.
You see, it's a very gritty crime novel and the characters are not very good people. (But, like I said, it's crime!)
If you're the kind of person who needs a hero to root for, the book may not be for you. However, if you want a book with edge and characters who are not only flawed, but deeply wrong, here's your book.
The story moves well and, before you know it, you're in deep with our main character and feeling somewhat complicit in everything. The author does a good job of making the book uncomfortable.
I enjoyed it. I felt a little wrong about that, but it's a good read.
September 6, 2021
Did not finish.
September 13, 2021
Feel like this book was like a game of pickup sticks with each colour stick representing a different story. The stories mesh together but not in a way that was in any way realistic which also meant the characters were also hard to be believed. I think the author tried to make the story much more complicated than it needed to be. Sometimes less is more.
February 5, 2022
Clever, dark and always engrossing Noir thriller.
When Detective Thomas Levine rats out a fellow officer he is persona non grata in the DC police department. Not that he is bothered but he is offered a new start in Cooper, he brings few possessions but a great deal of internal conflict.
He is almost beyond hope. Little self-respect and borderline self-destruct mode. A shocking murder throws him straight into police work, a fresh start but we quickly find he remains stuck in DC and haunted by his past.
Drowning his sorrows at a local bar he finds a kindred spirit in the bartender’s insight into how things are in Cooper. Mary says “No one comes to Cooper by choice, Officer.”
The unravelling of a past that removes the joy of a new day and limits thoughts of hope in any brighter tomorrow. Thomas is a flawed person and his tarnished past restricts his ability to make a fresh start. Yet it is written in such a way that as readers we fully engage with his story and want him to succeed. A broken detective but a character we can identify with. but rarely see in crime fiction in a credible roll.
Well plotted and totally believable. The further Thomas seems to go off the rails the more we hope for a means of redemption. As he tells his story you wonder if he can change or has he been masking his true nature all along. We want our heroes to be better than the villains not better at getting away with things.
Guaranteed to keep you wanting to find out more and surprised by the twists and turns the story takes. Really good story showing a darker reality than we usually see but written in a fashion that makes us less judgemental and questioning how much we would compromise in Cooper.
When Detective Thomas Levine rats out a fellow officer he is persona non grata in the DC police department. Not that he is bothered but he is offered a new start in Cooper, he brings few possessions but a great deal of internal conflict.
He is almost beyond hope. Little self-respect and borderline self-destruct mode. A shocking murder throws him straight into police work, a fresh start but we quickly find he remains stuck in DC and haunted by his past.
Drowning his sorrows at a local bar he finds a kindred spirit in the bartender’s insight into how things are in Cooper. Mary says “No one comes to Cooper by choice, Officer.”
The unravelling of a past that removes the joy of a new day and limits thoughts of hope in any brighter tomorrow. Thomas is a flawed person and his tarnished past restricts his ability to make a fresh start. Yet it is written in such a way that as readers we fully engage with his story and want him to succeed. A broken detective but a character we can identify with. but rarely see in crime fiction in a credible roll.
Well plotted and totally believable. The further Thomas seems to go off the rails the more we hope for a means of redemption. As he tells his story you wonder if he can change or has he been masking his true nature all along. We want our heroes to be better than the villains not better at getting away with things.
Guaranteed to keep you wanting to find out more and surprised by the twists and turns the story takes. Really good story showing a darker reality than we usually see but written in a fashion that makes us less judgemental and questioning how much we would compromise in Cooper.
June 11, 2025
It’s hard to like a book when you don’t like any of the characters. Plus I did this on audible and the narrator read it like a 1920s detective.
September 21, 2022
Welcome to Ashkanani. The author picked up the Scottish Crime Debut of the year award on Friday last week and I am sure I am far from the only attendee who thereafter picked up his book.
Ashkanani's story takes place in the fictional town of Cooper, Nebraska based on his love of American crime fiction and on the fact that there will be few who can shout him down on Nebraskan geography, traditions, etc. I'm sure Springsteen was the same!
Thomas Levine has been posted to Cooper following a scandal in D.C., but quickly finds himself in the thick of things with the discovery of a women's body choked to death and with her eyes cut from their sockets. Simply the introduction into Ashkanani's world is unflinching and the story does not slow down from there.
Ashkanani shows a great turn of phrase throughout and I don't think I've highlighted so many lines on my Kindle for a good while. Levine is a well sketched character both tough and tender, albeit navigated via a shaky moral compass and sense of what is right according to his own sense of justice.
Some of what I saw in the book is coloured by what I heard Ashkanani say during the panel he was on and a love of Nic Pizzolatto's Galveston and True Detective does show through in the novel, but it is far from a carbon copy or pastiche of these things.
I look forward to reading the second Cooper novel in short order, but it looks like Scottish crime fiction has another new star in its midst, who's showing there is a lot more the Scottish crime than Tartan Noir.
Ashkanani's story takes place in the fictional town of Cooper, Nebraska based on his love of American crime fiction and on the fact that there will be few who can shout him down on Nebraskan geography, traditions, etc. I'm sure Springsteen was the same!
Thomas Levine has been posted to Cooper following a scandal in D.C., but quickly finds himself in the thick of things with the discovery of a women's body choked to death and with her eyes cut from their sockets. Simply the introduction into Ashkanani's world is unflinching and the story does not slow down from there.
Ashkanani shows a great turn of phrase throughout and I don't think I've highlighted so many lines on my Kindle for a good while. Levine is a well sketched character both tough and tender, albeit navigated via a shaky moral compass and sense of what is right according to his own sense of justice.
Some of what I saw in the book is coloured by what I heard Ashkanani say during the panel he was on and a love of Nic Pizzolatto's Galveston and True Detective does show through in the novel, but it is far from a carbon copy or pastiche of these things.
I look forward to reading the second Cooper novel in short order, but it looks like Scottish crime fiction has another new star in its midst, who's showing there is a lot more the Scottish crime than Tartan Noir.
September 18, 2021
This noir thriller is a a terrific book. Not often do I read the last page and immediately turn back to re-read chunks of a novel to discover even more details of the last pieces of the puzzle that just fell in place.
WELCOME TO COOPER has multiple mystery threads woven around a vicious serial kill and corruption. The cast of characters are real and gritty, and the author shows them in a way where each has their own good and bad qualities, a basic human truth often lacking in novels of all genres, especially thrillers as fast-paced as this one.
I loved this book and would highly recommend reading it. I plan to read whatever novels Tariq Ashkanani publishes in the future. This is one hell of a debut!
WELCOME TO COOPER has multiple mystery threads woven around a vicious serial kill and corruption. The cast of characters are real and gritty, and the author shows them in a way where each has their own good and bad qualities, a basic human truth often lacking in novels of all genres, especially thrillers as fast-paced as this one.
I loved this book and would highly recommend reading it. I plan to read whatever novels Tariq Ashkanani publishes in the future. This is one hell of a debut!
March 31, 2022
I honestly can say without hesitation that this is one of the worst books I've ever slogged through in my life. Has the author ever stepped foot in the midwestern state of Nebraska. I don't think so. Are cops this horrifically corrupt yet "well loved" in Scotland because they sure as hell are not here in the US. This was not gritty, noir writing; it was just someone's sick idea of what America is like. Please, set your books in Scotland in the future!
September 11, 2021
Phenomenal read. Dark and gritty with insatiable humour thrown in was the perfect mix and kept me hooked from page 1. I couldn’t put it down and was astounded when I found I was nearly finished, although wanting to get to the end I also didn’t want it to be over. Can’t wait for more (sequel pending!)
September 5, 2021
Very dark but very good.
A fresh approach to police drama. I still cannot figure out why a Scots attorney chose Nowhere, Nebraska for his setting but it works. Well worth the time to read.
A fresh approach to police drama. I still cannot figure out why a Scots attorney chose Nowhere, Nebraska for his setting but it works. Well worth the time to read.
September 8, 2021
Wow! Very good!
It's a great novel with good character development. It's fast paced, has great suspense. It keeps you on the edge of your seat, hanging on every word. I highly suggest it.
It's a great novel with good character development. It's fast paced, has great suspense. It keeps you on the edge of your seat, hanging on every word. I highly suggest it.
September 27, 2021
Very good
Riveting story. The story never drags, so I read it as quickly as possible, then I reread parts of it. This is the best thriller I have read for a long time.
Riveting story. The story never drags, so I read it as quickly as possible, then I reread parts of it. This is the best thriller I have read for a long time.
September 7, 2021
A strange but compelling read.
This was my choice from the Prime early read for September.
At first I found it quite a strange read until the excellent and totally unexpected ending when it all fell into place (obviously 😏). I won't explain as I don't want to give away any spoilers. After finishing the book I reread the first chapter to see if I'd missed something but it seems I didn't.
There is to be another book based in Cooper but I can't see how it can follow on from this.
Not bad for a debut novel from an author without any training in writing.
This was my choice from the Prime early read for September.
At first I found it quite a strange read until the excellent and totally unexpected ending when it all fell into place (obviously 😏). I won't explain as I don't want to give away any spoilers. After finishing the book I reread the first chapter to see if I'd missed something but it seems I didn't.
There is to be another book based in Cooper but I can't see how it can follow on from this.
Not bad for a debut novel from an author without any training in writing.
October 10, 2021
What a waste of time
July 19, 2022
I was initially drawn to this novel when it was shortlisted for the Bloody Scotland Crime debut of the year 2022. I subsequently found it surprising, but refreshing, that Tariq Ashkanani had chosen to set his debut novel in the US midwestern state of Nebraska. The dialogue and language seemed authentically American, for a Scottish author. The bleak small town setting of Cooper complemented the plot well. The tale is also set in the winter, so this provided additional foreboding.
The setting, plot, characters and dialogue reminded me a lot of the first season of True Detective, a personal favorite. I can certainly envisage Matthew McConaughey playing the troubled protagonist, Thomas Levine, in a screen adaptation. I listened to a podcast by Ashkanani where he confirmed that True Detective, and Nic Pizzolatto in general, had provided him with inspiration.
The thrilling plot develops almost as soon as Levine arrives in Cooper. He becomes embroiled in police corruption, drug running and murder within a day or so of arriving in the town. Ironically, he was trying to escape this when he was relocated from his previous post in D.C. The story is gritty, dark and extremely tense.
Without spoiling it for those that have not read. The twist at the end is initially confusing and deflating, but then in the subsequent chapters it makes perfect sense. The plot twist really is stunningly crafted, leaving the reader scrambling for previous clues that might have been missed. The ending left me shocked, surprised and exhilarated.
A fantastic debut.
The setting, plot, characters and dialogue reminded me a lot of the first season of True Detective, a personal favorite. I can certainly envisage Matthew McConaughey playing the troubled protagonist, Thomas Levine, in a screen adaptation. I listened to a podcast by Ashkanani where he confirmed that True Detective, and Nic Pizzolatto in general, had provided him with inspiration.
The thrilling plot develops almost as soon as Levine arrives in Cooper. He becomes embroiled in police corruption, drug running and murder within a day or so of arriving in the town. Ironically, he was trying to escape this when he was relocated from his previous post in D.C. The story is gritty, dark and extremely tense.
Without spoiling it for those that have not read. The twist at the end is initially confusing and deflating, but then in the subsequent chapters it makes perfect sense. The plot twist really is stunningly crafted, leaving the reader scrambling for previous clues that might have been missed. The ending left me shocked, surprised and exhilarated.
A fantastic debut.
Read
October 14, 20212021 reads, #90. DID NOT FINISH. I woke up the other day and realized that I now had over 70 contemporary fiction novels in my To Be Read list, some now on that list for over three years; and that the reason it had piled up so high was because I've just come to dread taking on these books so much, in that the vast majority of contemporary fiction I read anymore (easily 95 percent of it) seems to just be an endless recycling of stories I've already heard, featuring characters I can't work up any interest in. So I made an agreement with myself, that I would try to get this list back down to a reasonable length by the time Christmas rolls around, by committing to only the first 50 pages of each one; and that, even if it's well-written, if the story hasn't grabbed me enough by that page-50 mark to make me want to read more, I would abandon it altogether and not even bother writing a review, but instead copy and paste this paragraph you're currently reading. So, that's what's happened here with my abandonment of this book; not necessarily that it's badly done, but that I simply found it bland and derivative, interchangeable with one of a thousand other contemporary novels I've already read. Keep it in mind when deciding whether or not to check it out yourself.
November 26, 2021
What a gloriously nasty piece of work this is; a twisted tangle of corrupt cops, the mobsters who manipulate them and a scheming serial killer who might just get away with multiple murders.
Morally bankrupt Detective Thomas Levine is banished to the back of beyond – the town of Cooper, Nebraska – after betraying his colleagues in the big city to save his own sorry skin. He’s easily embroiled in Cooper’s vicious conspiracies, while seeking to atone for his own sordid history.
A razor-sharp slice of modern American noir – and truly accomplished for a debut novel. Can’t wait for the next from this new author.
9/10
Morally bankrupt Detective Thomas Levine is banished to the back of beyond – the town of Cooper, Nebraska – after betraying his colleagues in the big city to save his own sorry skin. He’s easily embroiled in Cooper’s vicious conspiracies, while seeking to atone for his own sordid history.
A razor-sharp slice of modern American noir – and truly accomplished for a debut novel. Can’t wait for the next from this new author.
9/10
September 4, 2021
A must read, and look forward to more of his works. Well done. Well done Tariq,
As a new struggling author, I was glad I found this book. The concept may not have been in my opinion the type of story I would choose but As a new struggling author, I was glad I found his book. The concept may not have been in my opinion the type of story I would seek out. But, the review I read pushed my curiosity and when I started it flowed so fast ,I was already nearing the end. A must read, and look forward to more of his works. Well done. Well done Tariq,
As a new struggling author, I was glad I found this book. The concept may not have been in my opinion the type of story I would choose but As a new struggling author, I was glad I found his book. The concept may not have been in my opinion the type of story I would seek out. But, the review I read pushed my curiosity and when I started it flowed so fast ,I was already nearing the end. A must read, and look forward to more of his works. Well done. Well done Tariq,
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