The Tin Collectors

Rating:
Summary: An Excellent Police Thriller!
Review: If you only read one book in the Shane Scully series, this book should be it! It offers a storyline unlike the same-old, same-old cop stories one gets used to.

Rating:
Summary: New series by Cannell is off to an excellent start
Review: In The Tin Collectors, Stephen Cannell offers the first in a new series that is also very much a police procedural. With 5 successful prior novels, Cannell is still best known for writing/producing such television hits as the Rockford Files, Baretta, The A-Team, Renegade, Silk Stalkings and many others.

Officer Shane Scully gets a frantic call from the wife of his ex-partner Ray 'Steeltooth' Molar. Molar is beating her. Again. ("You don't get the name 'Steeltooth' just because your last name's Molar") In self-defense, Scully is forced to kill the abusive husband. The killing of the popular, virtually legendary cop brings Scully more grief than he ever imagined. Put in charge of Scully's Internal Affairs prosecution is Alexa Hamilton, the department's "number one tin collector." When he is accused directly by the Chief of Police of taking files from Molar's house and threatened with facing a murder charge if the material is not returned, Scully is convinced he's being set up.

Scully begins his own investigation and soon uncovers evidence of corruption in high places. Hamilton is the only one he can turn to who just might believe him.

Some glib prime-time dialog does seep in. (When Scully's house is hit in a drive by shooting he says, "I got enough lead in the walls to go into strip mining.") Cannell keeps the tension and pace at high levels so a bit of cliché doesn't really detract. There is no mistaking Cannell's mastery of story telling. The same sense of character and dialog that have made his television shows hits, guides him here. The Tin Collectors is a sure winner.

Rating:
Summary: CANNELL SCORES ANOTHER HIT!
Review: LAPD Detective Shane Scully receives a phone call in the middle of the night from his ex-partner's wife, she is begging for help as her husband is beating her. Scully races to help her, only to be thrust in the middle of an argument that results in death.

The death of his ex-partner will put Scully at the hands of Internal Affairs, as they investigate what appears to be a renegade cop killing. Desperate to save his carreer, Scully begins to uncover a conspiracy that reaches the top of the force.

With nowhere else to turn, he begins looking into the dead officer's past, only to find more mystery of the man he thought he knew.

While trying clear his name and battling Internal Affairs prosecuter, Alexa Hamilton, he must also protect the teenage boy left in his custody by Sandy Sandoval, the LAPD's leading informant.

"The Tin Collectors" is a non-stop ride of action and mystery, with a dynamite plot, and lightning fast pacing.

Stephen J. Cannell is one of the leading writers of escapist fiction, and his new tale should rocket up the bestseller list's.

Readers looking for a novel they can't put down should try this one.

Nick Gonnella

Rating:
Summary: A must read
Review: Los Angeles Police Sergeant Shane Sculley sleeps peacefully in his bed with no major cares haunting him until the call at 2:16 AM comes. Barbara Mular, the wife of Shane's former partner pleads with him to save her life from her husband Ray who is beating her up. When Shane arrives at the Mular home, the door is open so he enters. He sees Ray knocking Barbara around with his nightstick. Shane tries to diffuse the situation, but is forced to kill Ray when the latter draws out his gun.

Instead of the normal channels, a high up in the department forces Ray to go before a review board. Ray happens to have been the mayor's driver and bodyguard. "His Honor" wants Shane to go down preferably with a murder conviction. Shane learns that things are soon missing form Ray's home and if they discretely reappear all charges would be dropped. Shane knows corruption has been a way of life for LAPD, and he has to uncover it if he wants to clear his name.

Stephen Cannell starts this novel with a fast-action tale that continues to build up momentum until the story line exceeds the speed of light. Readers will empathize with Shane, an endearing hero struggling to regain his idyllic life lost in the corruption maelstrom. THE TIN COLLECTORS is an exciting story that leaves the audience wondering who will police the police when IA is corrupt?

Harriet Klausner

Rating:
Summary: Mindless fun
Review: Shane Scully received an emergency call from his ex-partner's wife saying that her husband is trying to kill her. Shane comes and shoots his former partner, Molars, dead in a clear case of self-defense. Unfortunately, Molars buddies do not see it that way and they will go beyond the call of duty to make Scully's life a living hell.

This is one of those books that if the bad guys had left well enough alone there would not be a novel. In this case, there is an extensive Internal Affairs investigation to bring Scully down. Shane's hand is forced and he investigates his former partner. He uncovers a conspiracy in the LAPD as well as the mayor's office.

If you do not try to look for logic in the story you might enjoy it. This book is pure escapist fiction where anything can happen. Lot of action, lot of chases and lot of double crossing. I liked this book, but I preferred KING CON.