During the first part of this book, I was not sure about this Salt character. Is she cray, cray? A glutton for punishment? She is in these gang member's faces and messing with them on a daily basis. I kept thinking that this woman was going to get herself killed. She puts herself in danger like almost everyday.

Then I realize that this woman cares (and there is something going on with her head due to an gunshot injury) and danger does not scare her. Yeah, I know corny, but this is a good read and I loved the play on salt and pepper.

Thanks to Penguin Group Putnam and Net Galley for providing me with a free e-galley in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.

Four stars

Strong and intense female character.

I voluntarily read an advanced copy.

I loved this book. I can't wait to reading more books from this author.

This installment of Boyce’s Sara Alt series is a treat. In this novel, we are thrown back in time to the case that resulted in Salt’s (S. Alt = Salt) promotion to homocide, where the series began. I love a good origin story and this qualifies. Salt is a beat cop who knows her patrol neighborhood and it’s people well. It is her dedication to the true meaning of the phrase “Serve and Protect” that leads her to solve the murder of a woman on her beat. The victim of the case at hand was a woman who lives in an undesirable neighborhood, has drug problems and has repeatedly broken the law. Still, this murder is taken seriously and is the core mystery of this novel, for which I admire the author.

This novel introduces Sarah Alt known as Salt to her colleagues and the people she serves as a police officer in the Homes, a poor and violent housing project in Atlanta. Salt has patrolled the streets working the 4 to midnight shift for ten years. She has gotten to know the streets and the people.

This case concerns the death of a drug addicted hooker named Shannell. Salt has known her, her boyfriend Big D, her son Lil D, and her daughter Mary for years. Shannell and Big D have a contentious relationship. Shannell often goes after him with her favorite knife. When she is found shot to death, Big D is the first suspect. Lil D is sure he did it. But Salt isn't and begins an investigation which is hampered by sheer amount of crime in the Homes. Homicide, in the person of Detective Wills, has too many cases to spend much time working on Shannell's death.

Salt finds herself looking at Man Man who runs the local gang and who sells drugs to get justice for Shannel. Lil D works for him. So does Stone. Over the years, Salt has tried to help Lil D get away from the drug culture and the violence but the problems are so deep that it is easy for one kid or two to slip through the cracks.

Salt is an intriguing character who is still battling her own ghosts resulting from the suicide of her policeman father on her tenth birthday. Her mother remarried and moved away even before Salt finished college. They talk every once in a while but she doesn't feel any need to let her know when she's shot while conducting a routine traffic stop.

Her best friend is Pepper, a black man, who became a police officer the same time she did and who has worked with her patrolling the same area. Her focus on finding Shannell's killer and dealing with the aftereffects of the gunshot that grazed her head has caused her to distance herself from Pepper and her other work colleagues until a traumatic event reminds her that they are there for her.

The story setting is gritty and grim with rampant poverty and the culture that goes with it. The day to day police work is a never ending slog with only the occasional small victory. Still there are glimpses of hope and Salt is determined to make a difference. I enjoyed this story which is the first I've read about Salt enough to buy copies of the previous two books in the series to learn what happens next for her.

Gritty! I received this book free from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review. Written by Trudy Nan Boyce, and published by G.P. Putnam's Sons, New York in 2018, this is probably the most realistic police procedural I have ever read. The protagonist is uniformed Police Officer Sarah Diana Alt. Her name tag reads “S. Alt,” so her police partner, a black officer who called himself “Pepper,” begins calling her “Salt.” The nickname sticks. Now, everybody on her beat in a run-down area of Atlanta, GA called “The Homes” calls her Salt. Salt, Pepper and most of the other officers in Atlanta patrol alone in their old, beat up police cruisers. The city can’t afford two officers per car, and the city council wants the maximum number of cars on the street.

As the story opens, Salt pulls over a driver on the freeway entrance ramp for improper lane usage and a scuffle and gunfight ensues. Salt receives a gunshot wound to the head with a minor concussion that will cause her recurring symptoms for months. The symptoms include hallucinations that help her to solve a murder mystery.

Unlike most other officers, Salt becomes emotionally attached to many of the residents of The Homes, which is ruled by gang bangers, and where the drug trade dominates the local economy. One of her victims and perpetrators is a crack whore named Shannell. She has two children, a boy and a girl. The girl is named “Mary,” and the boy is named “Lil D” after his father, who is known as “Big D.” Lil D is drawn into the gang and becomes a part of the drug business, while Mary goes to live with her very strict and religious grandmother. Shannell has gotten into a fight with her boyfriend Big D and stabbed him with a knife. Salt is the first officer on the scene. She manages to save Big D’s life, but has to arrest Shannel and take her to jail.

Big D survives and goes into hiding, and Shannell is released from jail only to be found by her daughter dead from gunshot wounds in a closet in her home some time later. Salt makes it her mission to find out who killed Shannell, and to look out for Shannell’s children as much as she can. But who killed Shannell, and why? Was it “Stone” a twisted and sexually perverted member of the drug gang who hates Salt? Was it “Man Man,” the leader of the gang? Perhaps it was one of the other gang members. The answer might surprise you.

When Salt digs too deep, somebody travels to her farm and attacks her sheep herding dog, “Wonder.” After nursing the dog overnight, and then taking him to the Vet for stitches the next morning, Wonder eventually recovers and resumes his herding duties for Salt’s five sheep at her small farm and Pecan orchard. Later, another attempt is made on Salt’s life, but is able to escape.

There is much more to the story, including flashbacks to her father, a policeman who committed suicide when Salt was only ten years old. The character development is quite good, in my estimation, and the story does not suffer from too much description and detail. Dialogue is realistic, and the entire story is quite believable. I had trouble putting this book down after I got into it a bit. I really liked this book, and I would recommend it to those who enjoy police procedurals, especially realistic ones. Five stars for this one, and plans to read the first one of the “Salt” series for which this novel is a prequel: “Out of the Blues.”

Really enjoyed reading this prequel to the Salt series by Trudy Nan Boyce where we learn about the case that got her promoted to homicide. After Salt is shot during a routine traffic stop, she begins to have "visions" which help her to solve the case she is currently working on. A gritty, realistic police procedural. Can't wait to read more from Boyce.

Trudy Nan Boyce has created a compelling addition to the crime fiction canon with the indefatigable Sarah "Salt" Alt, the heroine of two previous tales before this latest, THE POLICEMAN'S DAUGHTER. In this prequel, we get an opportunity to see how Salt came to be. She's ten years into her career on the police force, and working The Homes, a low-income projects, with both toughness and compassion. When a murder takes place in The Homes, Salt can't simply pass the case on to the homicide detectives on scene. No, Salt has The Homes etched into her soul, and what happens there involves her to the core. Her dogged attempt to bring the killer to justice reminds me of Harry Bosch, one of the leading men in crime fiction. This series has that kind of chops, mostly due to Boyce's familiarity with the subject she writes (Boyce served 30 years in law enforcement herself). The supporting characters also add a great deal to this novel. The most fully drawn were Man Man, a local drug lord; Sister Connelly, matriarch of the projects; Lil D, a young street hood who Salt has a soft spot for because of an earlier failing on her part; Pepper, Salt's partner in crime; and Wills, the detective who works to capture not only the killer, but also Salt's heart. The ending brings forth a resolution that is both surprising and sad. A gut punch of an ending, for sure. I truly hope this garners Boyce some new fans. All lovers of crime fiction would be wise to jump aboard now.

Thank you Netgalley and GP Putnam's Sons for this ARC

I like the Salt stories....and the Atlanta setting. This one went sort of slow for me and
I don't know why. Salt was more of a "lone wolf" kind of character in this book than in the previous ones.
Maybe it was the head injury. There was more of her backstory and I gained a deeper understanding of
her character and her relationships with the other regulars. I like that she looks underneath the surface of those she's sworn to "protect & serve". A gritty story about one tough lady.