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Summary
Summary
Who else but Joseph Wambaugh could write "a joy, a hoot, a riot of a book" that is also acclaimed as "one of this season's best crime novels"? That's how The New York Times Book ReviewandTime, respectively, described his last novel,Finnegan's Week. Nobody writes a faster, funnier, more satisfying tale of cops and criminals, the high life and lowlifes that Wambaugh--andFloatersis his sharpest yet. Mick Fortney and his partner Leeds manage to cruise above the standard police stress-pools of coffee and Pepto-Bismol--they're water cops in the "Club Harbor Unit," manning a patrol boat on San Diego's Mission Bay. A typically rough day's detail consists of scoping out body-sculpted beauties on pleasure craft, rescuing boating bozos who've run aground, jeering at lifeguards, and hauling in the occasional floater who comes to the surface. But now their days are anything but typical, because the America's Cup international sailing regattas have come to town and suddenly San Diego is swarming with yacht crazies of every nationality, the cuppies who want to love them, and the looky-look tourists, racing spies, scam artists, and hookers who all want their piece of the action. It's the outstanding body and jaunty smile--full of mischief, full of hell--of one cuppie, a particularly fiery redhead named Blaze, that gets Leeds and Fortney's attention. First Leeds drowns in frustratingly unrequited boozy love from afar. Then, with her increasingly odd behavior, Blaze tweaks every one of their cop instincts, alerting them that something's not quite right on the waterfront. Indeed, Blaze will soon lead Detective Anne Zorn and Mick Fortney along a bizarre criminal trail that would be hilarious if it didn't wind up just as nasty as it gets, with a pair of murders right on the eve of the biggest sailing race of all. Filled with all of Joseph Wambaugh's trademark skills--laugh-out-loud writing, crackling dialogue, outrageous excitement, and, of course, plenty of raunchy veteran cops who leap off the page--Floatersis Wambaugh at the very to of his form. From the Paperback edition.
Author Notes
Writer Joseph Wambaugh was born in East Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on January 22, 1937. He joined the Marines right out of high school, but later earned both a B. A. and M. A. from California State College in Los Angeles.
He worked for the Los Angeles Police Department from 1960 to 1974.
His first novel was The New Centurions (1971) and several subsequent novels have been award winners. The Onion Field won an Edgar Award (1984), and Lines and Shadows won the Rodolfo Walsh Prize from the International Association of Crime Writers (1989). He has worked creatively on several film and television projects, including Police Story, The Black Marble, The Choirboys and The Blue Knight.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (3)
Publisher's Weekly Review
A plot to sabotage New Zealand's entry in the America's Cup regatta forms the premise for Wambaugh's latest police thriller, a slow-moving affair that nonetheless features the author's usual rough-and-tumble prose as well as an intriguing examination of both aquatic police work and the world of competitive yachting. The prime conspirator is Ambrose Lutterworth, the "Keeper of the Cup," an aging real estate agent and yachting enthusiast. Ambrose hopes to prevent the trophy from leaving its temporary home at the San Diego Yacht Club by using expensive call girl Blaze Duvall to coerce the city's harbor crane operator into damaging the powerful New Zealand boat in dry dock, ensuring an American victory. Blaze's conspicuous trail is picked up by a pair of harbor cops, Fortney and Leeds, who receive some vital assistance from a couple of vice cops. Wambaugh takes too long to develop Lutterworth's unimaginative scheme and to link an eventual murder to the posh world of the America's Cup. The sparks fly, however, when the sabotage plan unravels and an attempted blackmail results in another murder. The author's trademark sardonic writing is in full force here, and the police material is, as always, authentic, with the harbor cops' antics particularly entertaining. This may not be Wambaugh's high water mark, but it's not his low tide, either. (June) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Kirkus Review
Fun-loving cop-novelist Wambaugh (Finnegan's Week, 1993, etc.) centers his latest San Diego police procedural around the international America's Cup regatta off Mission Bay and, as ever, comes up with a taut tale larded with raunchy dialogue. Two stories intertwine to give Wambaugh plenty of rope for a sailboat suspenser set mostly on dry land. First come the adventures of redheaded Blaze Duvall, a call-girl masseuse who gets involved with snobby bachelor Ambrose Lutterworth Jr., a 63-year-old client who happens to be the Keeper of the Cup--now likely to go to the Australian sailing team, which clearly has the faster boats. Mother-haunted Ambrose loves the very costly Cup as if it were the Holy Grail and lures Blaze into helping him keep it: His plan is to wreck the swifter of the Aussie's two boats while it's in dry dock. Meanwhile, Blaze's speedballing buddy, street hooker Dawn Coyote, flees her pimp, Oliver Mantleberry, but not fast enough to avoid Oliver's knifeblade. When Dawn dies on Blaze's front walk and Blaze disappears, horny vice cop Letch Boggs and aging homicide detective Anne Zorn team up to nab the elusive Oliver. Mission Bay water cops Mick Fortney and his sidekick Leeds are seemingly meant to carry this tale, and they do come upon two bodies in the water (floaters), but their work on water or land has almost nothing to do with the plot's outcome--nor do they. Instead, these nonstop jokesters hang about bars where the Aussies blow off stress with booze and boasting. The author's descriptive powers get full play at last when the climax moves aboard a fabulous pleasure yacht. No dimming of Wambaugh's storytelling skills or flow of smut. But his cop raunch, while amusing, has begun to pale.
Library Journal Review
In Wambaugh's (The Golden Orange, Morrow, 1992) latest, San Diego cops investigate murder during the America's Cup. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.