Criminal Past

Criminal Past (2018) Gregory Ashe

What.

The hell?

The previous books needed an editor to a level that was annoying, but not insurmountable.

This book? Holy shit–it was all over the place, and none of it was good.

First and foremost in the bad: Out of nowhere, we suddenly have chapters–as in more than one–of one of the main characters being tortured.

Detailed descriptions.

Multiple chapters.

No.

All the nos.

In book six you suddenly pull out pages and pages and pages of torture? What the hell is that even ABOUT?

Then there are the issues that existed in previous book, but were magnified here.

Character Inconsistencies: Throughout the series, Hazard’s scar shifts between his stomach and his chest. It continues to do so here. This is not a small point, but the heart of his bad past with Somers.

“We’ll be lucky if Cravens even puts a token officer there. As far as she’s concerned, as far as anyone is concerned, (shooter) is dead.”

Except that the shooter had been ID’d as a black man–on multiple occasions–and the dead man was white, and incapable of the shooting.

Medical Ridiculousness: Hazard has a bad arm at the start of his book. It causes him pain and keeps him from doing multiple regular activities. Yet somehow Hazard manages to drive a stick shift? And then Hazard’s OTHER arm is broken and he is STILL driving. With one arm supposedly useless and the other in a cast. He can’t tie his shoes, but he can manage to drive a car and can SHOWER by himself? There’s more, but that’s the most egregious.

Procedural Shenanigans: I’m on the weakest ground here, and I don’t know police procedures for certain. However. This is NOT set in the Victorian era. This isn’t the Prohibition era. It seems highly unlikely that after being shot a police officer is allowed to remain on duty for the rest of the day. It seems unlikely that a police officer with a significant disability remains on active duty and is not relegated to desk duty. It seems even MORE unlikely that an officer involved in a shooting–in killing a suspect–would remain on active duty.

So which is it going to be? Are you going to sit behind a desk because you’re still dealing with trauma? Or are you going to solve a murder?”

“That’s not fair.”

I don’t care HOW small the police department is, there should be an investigation. Counseling. Not returning the gun to the cop and sending them immediately back out on duty.

And I also find it INCREDIBLY unlikely that any law officer would sit for DECADES on a case of child prostitution, no less law officers in two separate departments. Yeah, I can see a corrupt department covering up for bigwigs, but not a federal agent. Not for some podunk small town.

And then, as I said, the editing issues. Whole chapters ramble on and cover the same ground again and again. I’m pretty sure at least half the book could have been pared down (and that’s without the gratuitous chapters of torture).

I was willing to let the issues of the first five books slide, because they ARE self-published and one expects issues and errors. But this is book six, and there are so VERY many problems that the entire series now is pretty much ruined because this book is so utterly terrible.

If you would like to read this series, books one through five are fine. But this? This is so maddening I just want to yell and use every negative adjective I can think of.
Rating: 2/10

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