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A review by wyrmdog
Under Color of Law by Aaron Philip Clark
3.0
I must give Clark credit for creating such a flawed and realistic character. Finn juxtaposes abject (yet disturbingly understandable) cowardice with self-sacrificing bravery, but seems to hew a little too close to the ugly side of the character to make Finn truly worth embracing. He's a cipher and more of a plot device than a character.
Never sentimental, Under Color of Law is also never as assured as it should be. It eschews the soapbox but can't quite find its footing, leaning heavily into a story that feels tepid in spite of its explosive subject matter. We see and hear Finn's thoughts but we never really get into his head. Internal monologues with the potential to illuminate are sublimated to a sense of detachment that comes directly from the writing. We contrast curated cosmopolitanism with sudden tribalism that feels like box-checking in spite of the authenticity of the viewpoint. It's a strange narrative to find yourself in.
The greatest, and perhaps only true sin of the novel, is that it is not entertaining. It isn't fun the way I want my crime novels to be. Every novel must entertain and novels that fail to entertain fail to deliver any other message they might have. Under Color of Law commits exactly this sin. By failing to deliver a compelling story, a story where things happen and the reader both cares and is perhaps concerned, all the messaging, all the pertinence is lost and worse, any desire to keep going with this series flutters away on a breeze I never even felt.
I prefer crime novels that embrace the crazy and lean into the wind. Westlake, Leonard, Rucka, Hayder, Cross...I suppose I have plenty like that available, given that list. But I am finding that the more procedural ones like those from Connolly or Uhnak just aren't really my thing. Clark falls into the latter category. That doesn't really mean it's bad, just that isn't what I'm looking for.
Never sentimental, Under Color of Law is also never as assured as it should be. It eschews the soapbox but can't quite find its footing, leaning heavily into a story that feels tepid in spite of its explosive subject matter. We see and hear Finn's thoughts but we never really get into his head. Internal monologues with the potential to illuminate are sublimated to a sense of detachment that comes directly from the writing. We contrast curated cosmopolitanism with sudden tribalism that feels like box-checking in spite of the authenticity of the viewpoint. It's a strange narrative to find yourself in.
The greatest, and perhaps only true sin of the novel, is that it is not entertaining. It isn't fun the way I want my crime novels to be. Every novel must entertain and novels that fail to entertain fail to deliver any other message they might have. Under Color of Law commits exactly this sin. By failing to deliver a compelling story, a story where things happen and the reader both cares and is perhaps concerned, all the messaging, all the pertinence is lost and worse, any desire to keep going with this series flutters away on a breeze I never even felt.
I prefer crime novels that embrace the crazy and lean into the wind. Westlake, Leonard, Rucka, Hayder, Cross...I suppose I have plenty like that available, given that list. But I am finding that the more procedural ones like those from Connolly or Uhnak just aren't really my thing. Clark falls into the latter category. That doesn't really mean it's bad, just that isn't what I'm looking for.