Reviewed by: Keith Nixon
Genre: Crime / Thriller
Approximate word count: 55-60,000 words
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Author:
Curt Rude is
a highly decorated, ex-police officer with a 30 year career in law enforcement
who then turned to writing.
Description:
Charles
‘Badge’ Pullet is a policeman in the small town of Normal. All his life he’s
wanted to be on the force and to wear the badge. But Badge has a problem, the
Urge, which affects his judgement, drawing him into deeper predicaments even as
he rises through the ranks.
The Urge
impacts others around him, his wife, his Deputy, and the women he targets,
among others. For a small town Normal has some large personalities from which
nothing good can come.
Appraisal:
This was a
seriously disappointing novel, a strange mix of bland ‘thriller’, police
procedure ,and trashy erotic novel, although I suspect the latter was
unintended.
The Urge is
Badge’s sexual proclivity, he cannot help himself when it comes to satisfying
his needs. Unfortunately, the author seems to delight in various descriptions
of Badge’s penis and what he does with it. JusThis
goes through the motions of attempting to bring the issues resulting from
Badge’s activities to a justifiable conclusion. Ultimately, it was a depressing
end.
A
comparatively minor example of Badge’s ‘conquest’ description:
If a woman’s husband didn’t
understand her, Badge found out what she needed, then gave it to her–and she
did the same for him. She’d get wide-eyed as his pants hit the floor and would
spend a wonderful night wrestling with his trouser python, but once it was
over, Badge lost interest. Once he had defiled her, the thrill was gone. He’d
move on to another man’s bride.
Periodically
there would be some description of actual police work, although it tended to be
a particularly gruesome car smash or a brush with a troubled personality, some
of which had succumbed to ‘Mr. Intoxication’ or ‘Mr. Mental Illness’.
The
characters were distinctly unpleasant, I didn’t warm to a single one of them.
They all had huge flaws that ultimately made them weak-chinned individuals that
I just wanted to shout at, kick in the pants, or both.
There was
virtually no dialogue, vast swathes of text was dominated by internalized
thought or long descriptions meaning there was little real action until the
culmination of the story in the final chapters. What dialogue there was tended
to be bland. The following example is supposed to be a light-hearted joke
directed at Badge (I imagine it spoken in a high-pitched, Marilyn Monroe like
tone):
You’re really the first policeman
I’ve ever spent time with. You must be brave to do what you do. I’ve been a
good girl all my life, so it’s not like I’ve ever gotten a speeding ticket or
been handcuffed.
Enough
said, I think.
FYI:
Sexual
scenes.
Format/Typo Issues:
None.
Rating: * One Star
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