Cold Shoulder by Lynda La Plante

Cold Shoulder by Lynda La Plante
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - in and out over 4 days

Pages - 415

Publisher - Random House

Source - Bought

Blurb from Goodreads

Lorraine Page is a down-on-her-luck ex-LAPD cop, recruited against her will to hunt for a serial killer. Cold Shoulder is the story of a young woman who has everything: a devoted husband, two beautiful daughters, and a successful career as a lieutenant with the Pasadena Homicide Squad. But when her partner is shot and dies in her arms, Lorraine's life starts to unravel. The after-hours drinking that once was social becomes her refuge, and soon she's not waiting until the end of her shift. From there it all comes undone with frightening speed: Drunk, she kills an innocent boy while on duty, is fired from the force, is abandoned by her family, and ends up living on the street as a prostitute. Cold Shoulder is the dramatic, frighteningly explicit account of Lorraine Page's fall and nightmarish recovery while caught between the danger of a serial killer on the loose and the manipulations of the old-boy police force that had ostracized her not so long before. The book reverberates with realism because it is based on a true story, one that has been meticulously researched and crafted by Lynda La Plante, a consummate expert in crime writing.



My Review

Thia has sat on my shelf for years, went on a bit of a buying splurge when I read this authors Bella Mafia and then Red Dahlia. Cold Shoulder opens with decorated officer Lorraine Page making a fatal mistake at work. Drunk and killing an innocent kid, career in tatters she hits the booze harder and loses everything including years of her life. Once she has hit rock bottom the road to recovery has to start, battling addiction/alcoholism does she not end up in the path of a serial killer. The last place Lorraine wants to find herself is with or helping the police. Past and present must be faced if she is to overcome her demons and face the challenge of helping stop a killer before they strike again.

Ooft what a busy book and some of the things Lorraine does! She is a very very unlikeable character, she goes to the very bottom of humanity with her addiction being the be all and end all. It is a gruelling journey to follow but we see glimpses of humanity and then fling in a killer, I got really pulled into this book. I forgot how much I enjoyed La Plante's writing, even when it is characters you really really don't like. You absolutely want to see where they head and what is next for them.

This is part of a trilogy, I have the other books as I bought a ton back when I found this author. It won't be long before I pick up book two and see where the story goes next. Some people may find upsetting the parts were addiction has it claws into the character, horrible choices and behaviours, dangerous situations, lack of care for herself, prostitution, endangerment and vile/selfish behaviour and attitude. Makes for very gripping reading though, 5/5 for me this time.

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