Bleeding Out
Tags: Bleeding
This entry was posted
on Friday, July 9th, 2010 at 12:40 pm and is filed under Cat Training Books.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
July 9th, 2010 at 2:38 pm
How did L. A. Franco ever get her job? She hates her boss and distrusts the whole LA Police Department that she works for in Baxter Clare’s good, new book “Bleeding Out”. She’s tough and competent. I got the book for a birthday present, and I wasn’t sure I’d finish it. The back cover blurb says “Mystery/Lesbian Fiction”, and that isn’t anything I’d pick up for myself. But after a few pages, just a sample, I couldn’t leave the book alone. Baxter Clare’s first novel is a hell of a story. It’s very graphic, but that goes with the territory, Southeast Los Angeles. Frank, that’s what everybody calls Franco, drags you along with her single-minded determination to get the villain. She’s real and her friends and coworkers are real. And the bad guy is really BAD. “Bleeding Out” is what a thriller should be. It will have broad appeal among all us mystery fans.
Rating: 4 / 5
July 9th, 2010 at 5:01 pm
I found drops of brillance in Bleeding Out. As with any debut novel, I give the authoress her due. Baxter Clare introduces us to the world of Lt. Franko and all that is entailed in her inner city struggle between criminals and police politics in solving a serial rapist case. We are also privy to inner demons of a violently lost lesbian love, a rebirth into a non-conforming society, and an isolation finally thrown off. Almost as if cloaks of darkness removed will allow voids to be filled–like buttery warmed pastries & the playing of “These Foolish Things” ( I prefer Etta James’ version ) can fulfill a Sunday morn.
An intriguing criminal read with inner glimpses into important issues of lesbianism.
Rating: 4 / 5
July 9th, 2010 at 6:44 pm
Clare’s first novel, Bleeding Out, is a taut, gritty, psychological thriller set in contemporary South Los Angeles. Police Lt. L.A. Franco is a tough, tall, handsome, intelligent, dyke investigator. Years ago, the traumatic loss of her lover prompted Franco to shut down much of her personal life and focus on work. Years in one of the city’s toughest districts have built an armor around Franco.
Franco cares about the people in her district and is alarmed when the first victim of a serial murderer appears. Franco sees the pattern in these murders as an extension of earlier, increasingly brutal, rapes and walks a razor’s edge as she allows herself to sink deeper into the killer’s mind in order to track him down.
Clare provides remarkable insight into the “rearing” of a serial killer in a series of short, often horrific vignettes at the beginning of each chapter. These hauntingly powerful depictions stay with the reader.
Allison Kennedy, a young, smart mouthed, narcotics officer is brought in to act as bait for the killer. Displeased with the stake out plan, Franco is annoyed, worried and just a little attracted to Kennedy. –Feelings that Franco does not welcome, yet may be important for her salvation. Not because their relationship is necessarily destined to be a success, this is not a “happily ever after” love story. — Because for the first time in years Franco feels more than simple lust for another woman and is willing to risk the relationship.
Some of Clare’s secondary characters are difficult to differentiate, particularly in the macho police world. Yet other characters are complex, compassionately drawn and touchingly real. Not a thoughtless, pleasant armchair mystery; Bleeding Out is a well written, engrossing thriller of police investigation and politics.
Rating: 4 / 5
July 9th, 2010 at 7:42 pm
Los Angeles Police Lt. L. A. “Frank” Franco is introduced here as she seeks the killer of a young girl. She eventually ties in nine rapes and four murders to the perpetrator. Franco is meticulous and thorough as she shifts through the few clues she has. The author painstakingly puts us into the mind of both the perpetrator and Franco. This is police procedural at its best. The characterizations are such that the reader cares about the main characters even the closed-off Franco. There are several minor characters that the author manages to fully flesh out as well although Franco’s squad members are, at times, hard to identify because of her use of their nicknames – a minor flaw at best. This author deserves a wide audience. Let’s hope the author and her publisher gives us more of Baxter Clare and Lt. Franco.
Rating: 4 / 5
July 9th, 2010 at 7:45 pm
Frank, LA Freek, or as I preferred to think of her, Franco, is a gay policewoman in the sinister world of South L.A. Here, day to day life is not just a jungle, it is a survivor’s path of dirt, grafitti, wretched poverty, petty crime, and the force ’s obstacle course of keeping some modecum of decorum in their lives, as well as in their assigned neighborhood.
Franco is mourning her violently lost lover Maggie. Almost as a turtle wears it’s shell, Franco’s tough exterior is a protective armour of grueling workouts, alcohol sprints, workaholic tendencies, and self -imposed isolation. Strangely, the tracking of a serial rapist and murderer brings her back to life.
I did enjoy this criminal read. There were a few too many characters for my tastes. And at times the writing was trite. Also on the negative side, I wanted to visualize through the author’s words the take down of the rapist. That is like the pay-off in a crime story. Like pulling on a one-armed bandit till it spews the action for you. Well, no whistles and bells here–just played off with a newspaper story. I’m not sure if Ms. Clare had a reason for that or if she just ran out of ideas.
In fact, I am wondering if someone else wrote the spicy narratives found before most chapters. Now, those were tightly woven glimpses into the rapists life as the story progressed. I anticipated them and found them original, not so forced as some of the book seemed.
“Bleeding Out” is an easy to read criminal novel needing a few more twists than lesbianism. Still a good debut novel through Firebrand Books and Baxter Clare.
other reading suggestions: “The Woman Who Rode To The Moon” by Bett Reece Johnson and “The Bone Collector” by Jeffrey Deaver
Your interest & comment votes are appreciated–CDS
Rating: 3 / 5