Certain Reprisal was an interesting read as it is outside of my usual genres. I love true crime but have never really taken to crime fiction. This story is gritty, raw. Several times I could truly imagine the places and people. We've heard the stories of crooked cops before, but never a cop that has taken it this far. I found Mahoney intriguing as we did not get much about his character or background other than his being crooked, evil, and self involved, yet he somehow led a pack of men, both cops and non, to commit a series of heinous crimes. It was truly astounding and I would've liked to understand their dynamic a bit more.
Jon Dough is also an interesting character. His name and the reference did not go unnoticed as he is a ghost in his territory. Running things from behind the scenes. His willingness to help in spite of how it could endanger his men was interesting. His personality is given to us in spurts over the course of the tale and made sense towards the end, but I definitely felt like his men most of the book wondering why he would even agree to take on this risk. I realized after reading that this is not the first book about this character. It explains why his description felt a little unfinished. The other books may provide more context on his character and history.
The writing style matched the tone of the book and as the action picks up so does the writing which gets your blood pumping. If you like crime thrillers with crooked cops getting their comeuppance this book is for you.
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