Older crime thriller still works

.. .. .. Cold Shoulder is the first of three Lynda La Plante thrillers featuring Lorraine Page. It was originally published in 1994 and it reads as fresh now as it did then. La Plante titles could just about fill your home library on her own with a number of characters the subject of numerous episodes.

We find Lorraine Page wearing the stripes of a police lieutenant, seemingly glowing in her role in the homicide squad, and with a devoted husband and two beautiful daughters.

But her secret is about to blow that world apart. Lorraine is an alcoholic, and drinking on the job. She shoots and kills a young man who she believes is about to fire at her. It turns out all he had in his hand was a cassette. Her police career is over, her husband and children leave her. Pretty soon Lorraine hits rock bottom, living on the street and prostituting herself to fuel her habit.

After years of finding herself at the bottom of society she hooks up with another woman who has already taken steps in redeeming herself, after she escapes the clutches of a dangerous criminal.

Gradually Lorraine also started to get her life together and she reconciled with some of her former colleagues as they struggle to catch a serial killer.

Cold Shoulder is a rollercoaster read, as Lynda La Plante works her magic with both characters and plot. The fact that this one of her earlier thrillers matters not. It’s another great read from a master storyteller. — Tony Nielsen