The second in a series of a flawed private eye retired from the Los Angela's police dept. This is a solid police procedural with plenty of suspense, colorful flawed characters and is tightly written. I love this series and want more. Great stuff.

The first book in a new series featuring Detective Trevor Finnegan, a Black police officer who goes against a corrupt police department in LA. He has witnessed some terrible things and carries a lot of emotional damage. Coupled with the tense situation of police's treatment against Black people, it makes for an engaging story that feels urgent and relevant. It's set in 2014 but the story could well apply to the present time. I thought the writing is smooth and visually appealing - I can imagine watching a movie based on this book.

This is very much a character-driven story so at times it feels as if the plot takes the back seat. I was not entirely taken with Finn and I found his treatment of the women in his life could have been better. But this is a book that deals with racism, fear, difficult choices, and second chances in a thoughtful way. In the end, I liked seeing Finn's character growth and I'm sure this book is just the beginning of his journey.

Depending on how you look at it, Under Color of Law is either a mystery thriller about a young LAPD officer who finds himself a witness to a terrible act of police brutality and decides to go along with the coverup in trade for being fast tracked from uniform to detective. Only for karma to come back and bite him in the ass in a way that may be nothing less than he deserves, but endangers not just his career but his life.

Alternatively, this story is a searing indictment of the “thin blue line” and the culture that not merely allows but actually encourages bad cops to stay bad and get worse – because they know that their brothers and sisters in uniform – and even the brass that gives the orders – are more interested in covering up misconduct than investigating it. Because investigations lead to exposure, and exposure leads to questions, and questions cause the people that pay the taxes and support the police to lose even more faith and confidence in the ones who are supposed to serve and protect them than they already have.

It’s about controlling public perception much more than it is about the public good. And if both of the above interpretations don’t sound familiar, you haven’t read much crime fiction – and you haven’t been paying much attention to the news, how it’s delivered, and who nearly always ends up getting the short end of the stick.

Escape Rating A+: Under Cover of Law is compelling as hell. That’s it in a nutshell. This is an absolute breakneck page-turner of a book. I could not put it down and I could not stop reading until the bittersweet, heartbreaking but surprisingly hopeful end.

Although I have to admit that I can’t quite figure out how this could be a series starter. On the other hand, I don’t care. This was beautifully and thrillingly complete in and of itself. If there are more, I’d be thrilled. If there are not, this was marvelously enough.

(The second book in the series has been announced with the title Blue Like Me and will be published in November. I can’t wait to see how this story continues, because it felt like it ended and ended well. We’ll see.)

The, I want to call it the frame but that isn’t quite right, let’s say the opening mystery and its aftermath in the life of Detective Trevor Finnegan is one that has been used plenty of times in police-based mysteries. The story of the young cop who gets caught up in something beyond his control and chooses to go along to get along instead of risking the career he’s just begun has been used before. Sometimes the young cop goes bad. Sometimes he or she tries to blot out the memory and things go wrong that way. Sometimes they just hide it and karma comes around to be her bitchy self by the end.

The most recent series I’ve read that uses this plot device is TA Moore’s Night Shift series that starts with Shift Work. Even in that series’ paranormal setting, the plot device still works. And I’m sure there are others that just aren’t coming to the top of my mind at the moment.

What sets Under Color Of Law apart from other mystery/thrillers that use that same setup to get themselves set up is the way that it uses Finnegan’s experience as a rookie cop and his bargain with the brass to shine a light on the way that entrenched corruption rots even those who start out with the intent of reforming the system from the inside. Then it takes THAT story and contrasts it with a second story that begins with the same intentions, and interweaves it into a contemporary setting where we have all too much knowledge of how bad things really are because we’ve seen it splashed across the news following the deaths of Michael Brown and Eric Garner – among entirely too many others – in police custody under suspicious circumstances that would result in murder convictions for anyone not a cop.

We see that story unfold through the experience of Trevor Finnegan, a black police detective in LA, the son of a black police officer, as he is forced to reckon with the crimes that he committed, he allowed to be committed, and their impact on the life he’s dragging himself through instead of living.

And as we read and watch, we can’t turn our eyes away. And we shouldn’t.

2.5 rounded to 3. I just think this was not the book for me. I like the premise and it the first part kept me engaged. but the writing was SO repetitive. I found myself skimming quite a bit and I REALLY wanted to love it. I even came back to it a few times to see if my feelings had changed, which is why the feedback wasn't on time. I do think I'd be willing to check out future books from this author. I gave three stars just because the premise is wonderful and I'd check out more from Clark.

Finn is a young black detective in LA. When he's assigned to investigate the murder of another young black police trainee, he realizes that his job and life might be at stake. Set in a tumultuous time and place, this book attempts to address race and conflict with the LA police force. I liked what it set out to do, but a little less of the execution in this book. I liked Finn and the storyline as he tries to solve the murder, but the book dragged in parts when it got a little too nitty-gritty (streets driven on were named, he stops to fill up with gas... I know these are normal life details but, in this case, they seemed to bog down the story.) It was also pretty predictable. All in all, I liked this book and will be interested to see where the planned series takes Finn.

Thank you to Netgalley for the advance readers copy for review.

What is this about?
Finn is tasked with investigating the murder of a young police recruit, and in the process finds a case that takes him back to his past, and a time he’d rather forget.

What else is this about?
Finn isn’t an easy character to like, and I found most of this darker that I expected. In part because Finn himself comes with baggage I didn’t really know about.

Under Color of Law begins with a murder, one that Finn is tasked to investigate. It becomes clear when the book starts that something has happened in Finn’s past that has made him somewhat of an outcast in the LAPD, but he is there do his job.

Rightaway, I felt like Finn has been beaten down by his job and his past. His personal relationship with a casual sexual partner is painful because he makes it apparent he’s just using her for sex, while she is becoming invested. His thought processes on her being white, and what he assumes her life is about is off-putting about him to be honest.

The reason for his behaviour is somewhat explained through the book, and it’s an event that has defined his personal life. But the coldness in his dismissal of this woman he is sleepign with, and continuing to sleep with didn’t sit right with me. There’s only so much his past will explain his behaviour.

As he investigates, it becomes clear that his past is part of this case, a past he isn’t proud of, but took advantage of to rise through the LAPD.

The book takes place during the time Eric Garner was killed, but there are may elements that are relevant then and now. I think much of this book will resonate more with American readers than anything, especially whne it comes to the LAPD itself.

Finn isn’t an easy character to like, but the story itself is darker than I expected, but no less thought-provoking.

3.5 stars.
Morally compromised and closed off with everyone he knows is a good way to describe the main character of this compelling story. Trevor Finnegan is a LAPD detective, and is called out to the suspicious death of a young, black man, who it turns out is a trainee police officer. During the course of the investigation, Trevor discovers links going back to a case Trevor was on as a rookie; it evokes bad memories, and was in many ways a defining case for his trajectory as a police officer.
I've never read anything by this author before; I liked how he pulled me into this story right away, and showed the tensions within the LAPD and the reactions to the LAPD. Also, I really liked how Aaron Philip Clark showed us the tensions within Trevor, a Black man who is also a policeman, who feels frustration with the public's perception of the LAPD, even while Finn knows there are problems within the force.
I'm eager to read more about Trevor, despite the fact that he's a difficult person to like for much of the book, as he's wedded to his anger and uses the anger to justify some of his poor decisions, and is unwilling to commit to caring about anyone or anything, including his former love of painting. The author, however, handled a turn in Trevor's views and feelings well, and left me wanting to know what's next for this interesting and conflicted character.

Thank you to Netgalley and to the publisher Thomas & Mercer for this ARC in exchange for my review.

Thank you Thomas & Mercer for this outstanding novel!

I really enjoyed this book, it is very well written!
The characters here made me feel things and made my heart hurt! I felt for them and wanted to hug them so tight!
This was a terrific book and the writing is phenomenal.
Just read this!!!!!

All About the Blue
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Aaron Philip Clark's novel Under Color of Law is an engaging, provocative story of a detective whose latest case forces him to face past mistakes. When Trevor "Finn" Finnegan is called in to investigate the case of a dumped body, he does not know what to expect. That body belongs to one of the Black recruits at the police academy, a prospective LAPD man who has been murdered. As he delves into the means, method, and motivation behind the crime, Finn discovers some ties to an unfortunate incident from his own rookie days. He also puts himself in jeopardy with his fellows officers. What's more important: The truth or another coverup? A life or a career? These are the questions driving the action of Under Color of Law.
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The prose moves fast in this one, and there are some heavy topics under consideration (including the abuses of authority, which inspires the title) but Clark never loses sight of telling an entertaining, gritty story of a man looking for answers in a hostile world that would prefer he not shine his light too brightly. Race, politics, and the serving the public trust collide in this book, but Clark remains true to the investigatory spine: whodunnit and why?
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This is the kind of book that draws comparison to the giants of the cop story, but it's a personal tale. This is not something Ed McBain would have written about, and it's not a story James Ellroy would care to write about. Instead of treading familiar ground, Aaron Philip Clark uses the cop story/detective framework to explore some new ground. And the Finn at the end of the book is a changed man from the Finn we meet in the opening pages.
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Clark uses his background in both screenwriting and law enforcement to make a stronger novel. The verisimilitude of situations and characters speaks loudly about the sorts of things and people one might meet in a big city law enforcement, and the economy of language builds impact without relying on pages of cluttered description. Clark writes a mean, lean line, and though the book balances both Clark's work life with healthy doses of his private life, the pages nevertheless fly right on by.
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Under Color of Law is a solid standalone, and the potential start to an intriguing and incendiary new series, a unique look into the lives of a detective, his department, and the society he walks in. This is the sort of book that begs to be passed between friends, a water cooler novel. Clark is a real deal, and I cannot wait to see what's next for this author and his Trevor Finnegan character.

Aaron Philip Clark, Under Color of Law

Aaron Philip Clark’s Under Color of Law is a gripping, sharply observed, fast-moving journey through the dark and treacherous world of the LAPD. It is written as the first-person, present tense narrative of Detective Trevor ‘Finn’ Finnegan, a young black cop who daily confronts the kind of horrors “that strip a person bare and leave them hollow”. We have a sense of travelling with the narrator as he undertakes his perilous tasks, finding things out at the same time he does and sharing his perspective so completely that we feel each narrative shock as events unfold.

Drawing on his own experiences of working in the LAPD, Clark creates a powerful representation of Los Angeles crime, policing and official corruption as experienced by a detective who is throughout tormented by his own inner demons and his habit of creating conflicts with those around him:

“I may be the most hated detective in the Southwest Division... I have an 87 percent clearance rate. But if you were to ask those I serve with, they would… say that I hustled my way to becoming a Detective in the coveted Robbery-Homicide Division—that I bent the rules, forced the department’s hand—and they wouldn’t be lying. See, I’m a good cop, but I fear I haven’t been a good man in a long while.”

Haunted by his own bad decisions, Finn is determined to try to tackle the brutality and abuses of power that are rife in the LAPD. The case at the centre of Under Color of Law is the murder of a black recruit who is training to become a rookie – the kind of case that could ignite Angelinos’ anger if it turns out that the victim’s death has anything to do with his skin colour: “a dead black police recruit at a time when many black people don’t trust or want anything to do with the police… it could turn the city upside down.” Finn becomes convinced that justice for the murdered man will come only by bringing the full truth to light.

Under Color of Law is both a compelling crime novel and a persuasive engagement with the wider issues raised. Thoughtful and nuanced, it confronts the complexity of policing LA. Finn’s ex-cop father tells him that “maybe you aren’t doing enough to change things,” but neither of them underrates the difficulty of this mission: “to be a black cop in Los Angeles—or anywhere else, for that matter—requires the ability to walk a tightrope. And the moment you miss a step, stumble, or go crashing below, you become another example of why blacks don’t belong in the ranks.”

Clark’s novel is an insightful exploration both of the systemic problems of policing a city like Los Angeles and of the struggle within his protagonist’s own character. Finn’s failures make him doubt his ability to tackle the damage inflicted by fellow policemen who have shown themselves to be corrupt and sociopathic. How can someone as manifestly flawed as he is change stubbornly resistant circumstances or right wrongs? Finn’s determination to stop the erosion of trust in the whole of the LAPD means that he must grapple with his own weaknesses as well as the hostility of fellow officers. He is driven on by a recognition that is at the heart of Under Color of Law: “The city may be veering to the point of no return, and if so, it’s because its failures are what got us here…Justice…will come only one way. It’s the time for daylight; the citizens of Los Angeles deserve the truth.”