(Spoilers for "The Blue Night")
I don't know if Joseph Wambaugh is known to most people. For those unaware, he was a prolific writer of crime novels and true stories.
I read his first novel, "The New Centurions," and his first true crime novel, "The Onion Fields," and liked them. Although they were not my genre of choice, they were good.
I also started the book, "The Blue Knight". I visited my mom, for the first time in years, when she lived in North Carolina and just had her son (my half-brother), Quintin. I was in high school in Southern California and it was a trip I was looking forward to.
On the flight, I started the book The Blue Knight but didn't quite finish it. I knew my mom loved to read, and she hadn't heard of this, so I let her read it—now this is before I finished it. She seemed to love it and was up one night reading it. I went to bed, and she finished the book.
She was so (I thought) impressed she actually woke me up as I was sleeping (jet lag) to tell me I had to finish the book. Like, right now.
So I sat down to finish the last few chapters. The author had set up several plots and sub-plots, and I wanted to know how he concluded them in the few chapters left.
You know how? Without resolving any of the plots, the protagonist (the titular Blue Night) dies in the line of duty. Just dies. No leaving clues for the next guy. No follow-up chapter where the actions of the dead guy led to convictions. Just dead. End of book.
Horrible.
I was so annoyed with my mom as I heard her laugh as I came into the front room to complain. Ah.. good memories (really).
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