RULES OF CRIME

The cop shop in Eugene works overtime to deal with a kidnapping and a brutal assault.

Detective Wade Jackson loves his daughter Katie dearly, but his ex-wife, Renee, a recovering alcoholic, not so much. When he learns that Renee’s been snatched and a ransom demanded from her wealthy lover, Ivan Anderson, Jackson, despite his misgivings, assures Katie that he’ll rescue her mother. Meanwhile, Lara Evans, a recent addition to the Violent Crimes Unit, is assigned to find the perp who beat college student Lyla Murray nearly to death. The kidnapping case flounders badly when two payoff attempts go belly up. The assault case stalls when Lyla’s pals at a secret sorority clam up about their initiation rites. Then Anderson’s daughter, a TV newscaster who unwisely pleads on air for donations to fund Renee’s ransom, is murdered. Is there a connection between the cases? The FBI isn’t sure. The Oregon cops don’t know. Police tails lose suspects. Bratty students call on rich daddies for legal help. And then, courtesy of an authorial curveball or two from Sellers (Liars, Cheaters, & Thieves, 2011, etc.), the cases align, but not before the body count escalates and Jackson winds up crying in his daughter’s arms.

A police procedural with the depth of a half-hour TV segment. Name a stereotype, and it’s here. Mindless pap for the undiscerning.