By: Karin Slaughter
Synopsis
As a brutal killing rocks the city, Kate Murphy wonders if her first day on the police force will also be her last. For life is anything but easy in the male-dominated world of the Atlanta Police Department.
Kate isn’t the only woman on the force who is finding things tough. Maggie Lawson followed her uncle and brother into the ranks to prove her worth in their cynical eyes.
When Maggie and Kate become partners, and are sidelined in the search for the city’s cop killer, they decide to pursue their own line of investigation. But are they prepared to risk everything as they venture into the city’s darkest heart?
My Thoughts
This is the second Karin Slaughter novel I’ve read, and I am definitely a fan. This book hooks you pretty quickly and doesn’t let go. “Cop Town” is set in Atlanta, GA, in the 1970’s. The subjects contained in this book are difficult to tackle, but Slaughter does it. Rampant physical abuse, racism, misogyny, and homophobia are central to the plot, and accurate of the South in the 1970’s. While at times it was brutal and hard to read, it also left you feeling great compassion for several of the characters (Maggie, Kate, Jimmy, the prostitutes, etc.) and disgust for others (Terry, Chip, the pimps, most of the other cops). Maggie and Kate, while not perfect nor claiming to be, are characters worth rooting for. While I didn’t like certain things they did (Kate sleeping with a married man), I did like that they took control of their lives by the end of the book and decided who they wanted to be versus who they were told to be.
This is a novel about societal changes and the fear that causes, about figuring out who you are and who you want to be, about love and acceptance. It left me feeling great appreciation for the women that have come before me and all they endured. We still have a long way to go in the fight for equality and acceptance for women and minorities, but this book shows how far we have come and serves as encouragement to keep fighting.
These are just my thoughts. What are yours?
I like this book – read it years ago – and maybe I will again soon.
One thing has stuck with me since. It’s just a detail. But why is she wearing tights under her warm trousers? And why does she bother about them having runs?
I understood the tights to be like pantyhose. I believe it was common then for women to wear them with everything, not just dresses or skirts. They get runs, or tears, in them very easily. I remember as a child/teen in the 80’s & 90’s wearing them with dresses and using clear fingernail polish on the runs to keep them from getting worse.
Yes, it really shows how tough it is for women to be police officers…and my research shows that this hasn’t changed that much. Ongoing harassment and gender bias continue, and there are numerous cases when female officers eventually are forced to go on medical leave, sue the department, win….and the cycle of harassment continues for the next generation of women. A bit depressing, but this book did make you feel like woman were making strided even through the difficulties. It also shows how race had and has a huge impact on policing as well.
I agree. I found that although the book had depressing themes, it was ultimately encouraging in a way.