Book Review: Four to Midnight

Reviewed By: Webspinner - RAM

Four to Midnight     Amazon US HC Amazon Canada HC
Scott Flander
Class/Genre:   Mystery   Police Procedural
Series: Eddie North # 2
Morrow, Jul 2003, 312 pp.

Eddie North [night-shift patrol Sergeant on the streets of Philadelphia] returns in this sequel to SONS OF THE CITY. A call for "supervisor help" brings Eddie to the side of Mutt and Roy, two of his best officers. At their feet is City Councilman Sonny Knight, who regains consciousness and accuses Mutt and Roy of assaulting him and later accuses Eddie of trying to cover it up. Nothing about the accusations makes any sense to Eddie or the two patrolmen. But no one is listening, least of all Sonny Knight or the media.

There's another high-profile case going on in the city at the same time - and Eddie's girlfriend and fellow officer, Michelle, is caught in the middle of it. An officer, gunned down by a resident while trying to make an arrest. The two cases have one thing in common - race - and the city is on the edge again.

FOUR TO MIDNIGHT is another example of Scott Flander's unique take on telling a police procedural. Flander manages to put us inside the head of the Sergeant on the beat and through him, show us just how hard those moral and ethical decisions are to make; the constant weighing of shades of gray. Eddie North puts his own career on the line for the young officers in his charge. He also has to figure out how to deal with a ring of corrupt officers without being ostracized by his fellow officers for talking to Internal Affairs. There's a thin line that Eddie and every other officer must walk. Flander sheds a bright light on that line and makes you chose sides. It's harder than you might think.

Webspinner - RAM

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Webspinner - RAM