Law and Order

Law and Order #omnibus 1-3

by G.F. Newman

A seminal series about the British criminal justice system, examining endemic corruption from the perspectives of the police, the criminal and the solicitor. The novels in this omnibus edition became the basis of the groundbreaking and controversial television series Law & Order . In the wake of a bungled armed robbery, the series focuses on Jack Lynn, a villain already known to the police; Inspector Fred Pyle, a cynical Scotland Yard Detective determined to nick him, and Alex Gladwell, a cunning lawyer who's perverting the system in order to get him off. As we are told the story from three different perspectives - The Detective's Tale, The Villain's Tale and The Brief's Tale – shocking questions begin to gather was Lynn even at the robbery? Do the police have any real evidence? Do the courts really want justice done? Do prisons change or simply reinforce criminal behaviour? 'GF Newman secured himself a place in television history... a brutal assault on the police and the manner in which some of them operate' Daily Express

Genres: Crime

512 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1983

About the author

Gordon Frank Newman is an English television producer and writer. He is known for his two series Law and Order and The Nation's Health, each based on his books.

Reviews

[Linden · Rating 4 out of 5]

Omnibus edition of the three TV series tie-in novels, updated slightly for the early 1980s e.g. A10 has now become CIB2 and someone's referred to as pootling around in a Mini Metro. This is a more focused piece of work than the TV plays which sometimes dispensed with the main storyline to show unrelated scenes that nonetheless demonstrated that Pyall and colleagues were at it, fitting up villains and taking bribes pretty much all the time. Rather more surprising are the omission of the scenes where grass Mickey Fielder gets his legs done, and where the A10/CIB officer anonymously phones Pyall to let him know somebody's dropped him in it. Both quite shocking moments in their different ways. They're replaced by a sub-plot featuring Pyall's affair with a villain's mistress which doesn't really go anywhere. I suspect it might have been included at the paperback publisher's insistence to bump up the number of sex scenes, which are quite explicit in 70s pulp fashion. The final third of the book, set in prison, is unrelentingly grim, even more so than the TV version.

Well worth a read for anyone who likes 70s crime and isn't averse to Newman's polemical stance.

[Gareth Evans · Rating 4 out of 5]

For much of the CV-19 lockdown I have been listening to the full series of Newman’s ‘The Corrupted’ and my enjoyment of this inspired me to purchase ‘Law and Order’. ‘Law and Order’ is a simpler work than the radio series and related to the TV series. Initially, it’s rather confusing with too many extraneous characters, but it settles down to a simple, melodramatic tale that is well told. Examining corruption and systematic failures of the criminal justice system in the early 1980s, I am unsure quite how much relevance it has today, although I am sure that the points about rehabilitation are still important. The novel claims to look at the system through the perspectives of a policeman, a criminal and a solicitor, but there is little about the last of these. It’s an enjoyable read with some excellent set pieces.

[Stephen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think this was part of a trilogy, because the one I actually read was A Villain's Tale, and, being a south Londoner, and to read real locations and identify with them, with talented, honest writing, made for a read that lingers forever in the memory.