A sometimes-interesting undercover crime story undermined by its fragmented structure.
An inside account of an elaborate undercover police sting that snagged a Northern Irish terrorist.
For almost two years, William James “Jimmy” Fulton, a suspect in the March 1999 murder of a Catholic lawyer in Northern Ireland by Protestant paramilitaries, thought he was part of a criminal gang, or “firm,” operating in South West England. He worked as the driver for the gang’s boss, socialized with its members, and helped them in varied other ways. But he was actually the main target of “Operation George,” an elaborate and audacious undercover sting by British police that recorded almost his every word on audiotape and resulted in his arrest in June 2001. “Just like Jim Carrey’s character in The Truman Show, Fulton’s environment had been controlled and his life manipulated,” co-authors Dickens (a pseudonym) and Bentley, both former undercover officers, write in this rare and at times compelling window into the murky world of undercover policing. Fulton was not charged with the slaying of lawyer Rosemary Nelson, but Operation George amassed enough evidence to get him convicted of 48 terrorist offenses, including the murder of a grandmother. Dickens and Bentley are at their best in describing the intricacies of the sting and the tightrope the undercover officers walked as they fraternized with Fulton in the hope he would spill the beans on his criminal activities in Northern Ireland. “They were living and working in a stress-filled atmosphere laden with potential danger to themselves,” the authors write. Fulton’s boss had to time bathroom breaks on their road trips to coincide with changing the tape in his listening device but made sure to use different locations so “Jimmy didn’t start forming a pattern in his head,” and when the officers went out drinking with Fulton, they had to find ways to dump their drinks to manage their alcohol consumption. Such details make the first half of the book worthwhile. But the second consists of a dry compendium of excerpts from Fulton's taped admissions to the undercover officers and the judge’s ruling at his trial—a trove of documentation that might have made for a more absorbing story had the authors incorporated the right material into a single coherent narrative.
A sometimes-interesting undercover crime story undermined by its fragmented structure.Pub Date: April 11, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-73981-362-8
Page Count: 314
Publisher: Hendry Publishing Ltd
Review Posted Online: Jan. 18, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Bright and breezy Maggy makes a charmingly down-to-earth sleuth. A bit of romance and coffee lore provide the froth on top.
Can too much caffeine lead to murder?
Though she still has bitter thoughts about her dentist husband dumping her for his 20-something hygienist, attractive divorcée Maggy Thorsen has channeled her energies into making her coffeehouse a success after the untimely murder of her partner (Uncommon Grounds, 2004). Now she faces serious competition from Marvin LaRoche, owner of HotWired, a big chain of coffee shops, one of which has recently muscled into her territory. While Maggy’s up to her eyeballs working on the creative contest she’s running for baristas at Java Ho, Milwaukee’s competitive coffee trade show, her partner Caron asks her to steal Amy, the talented barista who manages the shop run by Marvin’s wife, Janalee. Despite her budding relationship with Sheriff Jake Pavlik, Maggy feels like a suspect after someone burns down Janalee’s Place, and even more vulnerable when she discovers Marvin’s body under a table at her mega-caffeinated contest, bashed to death with the first-prize trophy. Marvin’s opening speech alienated a lot of people, and his tough business practices earned him plenty of enemies. It’s up to Maggy and Jake to figure out who did the deed.
Bright and breezy Maggy makes a charmingly down-to-earth sleuth. A bit of romance and coffee lore provide the froth on top.Pub Date: Dec. 1, 2007
ISBN: 978-0-7278-6549-6
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Severn House
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2007
A routine procedural from Spencer (Dangerous Games, 2007, etc.) made disturbing by dark glimpses into the mind of a child...
The abduction of a young girl from a local park brings DCI Charlie Woodend personal anguish and professional peril.
Angela Jackson’s disappearance puts urgent pressure on the Central Lancashire police force, and they respond with their first team: irascible, efficient DCI Charlie Woodend, DS Monika Paniatowski and young PC Colin Beresford. They even re-attach Woodend’s old sergeant, Bob Rutter, to the group, hoping they’ll find the missing girl before the worst happens. The team works well. Rutter and Paniatowski have eased the tension from their disastrous affair. Monika even helps care for widowed Bob’s daughter Louisa. But their key suspects—pedophile Peter Mainwaring and Edgar Brunton, whose wallet is found near the scene—both have alibis. And Martin Stevenson, the psychiatrist assigned to help profile the abductor, is fresh out of ideas. So the worst does happen: Angela’s abused body turns up, Woodend’s team is kicked to the curb and Charlie has a second corpse on his conscience. It’s a virtual replay of the Taylor case, when his promises to the kidnap victim’s family were mocked by the discovery of her body in the Thames. But as Stevenson predicts, Angela’s abductor won’t stop, and another child disappears. Finding her might offer redemption, but Charlie’s boss, Henry Marlowe, makes it clear: Off the case means off the case.
A routine procedural from Spencer (Dangerous Games, 2007, etc.) made disturbing by dark glimpses into the mind of a child molester.Pub Date: Dec. 1, 2007
ISBN: 978-0-7278-6544-1
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Severn House
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2007
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