Cop Town by Karin Slaughter
Cop Town by Karin Slaughter is a book about cops set in Atlanta in 1974. It tells the story of Maggie Lawson and Kate Murphy, two of the few female cops in the force at the time.
The premise is a good one. A serial killer is on the loose. Cops are his/her target. Maggie and Kate take matters into their hands and prove the rest of the men in the police squad wrong, by being good cops.
The plot is OK. It kept me interested BUT it was a hard book to read. I had a tough time getting into the story because of the language. To say that the characters had a “potty mouth” is an understatement. They were so filthy and vulgar. Not only in their expressions but their behavior was disgusting. And I’m not talking about the men only.
The men were sexist pigs who couldn’t imagine a woman could have any capabilities other than having breasts and a vagina. Needless to say that the two main characters in the story face sexual discrimination of the worst kind. Also, these men didn’t know what a respectable law enforcing cop was.
The women weren’t exemplar either. Even though they were given a hard time, they let the environment and the people around them get the best of them. They had to defend themselves by forgetting their morals and femininity, acting like tough, masculine at times and very vulgar women. Kate seemed like a respectable young widow in the beginning. I was rooting for Kate, until she knocked three times (I won’t spoil it for you, when you read it, you’ll understand what I mean).
All of this made it difficult for me to read Cop Town.
Read this book knowing that it juggles strong topics: murder, sexism, discrimination, race issues, sexual harassment, homophobia, antisemitism, betrayal, violence, corruption, and crime, to name a few. The language is crude, vulgar and profane.
The positive side of this book is that I gained even more respect for women in police squads, army, secret service etc. It also made me reflect on women’s roles in society today. My other train of thoughts was about corruption, antisemitism and racism. We’re still living times in which many people still face these issues be it first world countries or those from the third world. And it’s a little disheartening to see that times have changed, but we humans can’t seem to completely change and live in true world peace. More about this on my blog.
This was my first Karin Slaughter book. I’m not sure I would read more books if this one turns into a series. Cop Town is an OK book to read, that’s it.
Check out the complete review and my other musings on my blog.
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