Midnight Run by Lisa Marie Rice

Name one real life inspirational cop. I certainly can’t do it. So why is this profession so popular with writers? What’s more, cops don’t actually solve that many crimes. 20% tops. If I only did 20% of my work I’d be given my pink slip. I’ve seen some really fat slobs in cop uniform lacking even the most basic people skills. I do admit they are needed to keep the traffic running smoothly but that’s hardly glamorous work.

Anyway the hero of this novel is a police lieutenant. With a habit of getting himself shot up. The hero’s name is Bud. Personally. I think that’s a terrible name for a hero. I suppose it’s meant to signify honest-to-goodness blue collar values like hard work, integrity, loyalty. To me it signifies too much beer, rolls of fat and not being too bright. To the author I think it signifies the ability to fuck energetically for hours on end and to put up shelves. Not that we get much of the former in this novel. What we do get a lot of is the c-word. I don’t have anything against the c-word per se. However when it’s used to describe the whole woman as opposed to just a part of her anatomy I do wonder about the person using it in this manner.

The heroine is a virgin! (In an Elora’s Cave novel!) And her gentle initiation takes about a third of the story. A tiresome business. I was more interested in Bud’s descriptions of his fucking with the waitress. I also didn’t see where the romance was. Bud literally steamrollers Claire into an engagement because he’s too intimidated by her father’s wealth and social status. Presumably Claire accepted because she was grateful that he gave her a good time in bed. People have got married for worse reasons than that but it’s hardly the stuff of a good romance.

What I enjoyed in the novel were Claire’s descriptions of the personalities of the doctors and nurses who treated her in hospital while she was ill. These form only a small part of the story.

And. It needs to be said. Claire and her friends must be the most crime prone trio in the whole of Oregon. Which considering their income bracket is truly amazing.

Finally. Another poor minor character dies horribly in this novel. Todd Armstrong. The token gay friend. R.I.P.

I’m going to read another in the series. Midnight Angel. I just like the fact that the stories are contemporary and feature minor and major issues in current affairs. (In Oregon that is).