I had some ups & downs with this. Overall, it was a pretty thrilling, well done suspense novel & well read, too. The story started with a bang & there were plenty of interesting twists & turns all the way through. While there was some hyperbole, nothing too far out of bounds. The characters were well drawn, too. On top of that, there were several different threads running through the story that added a lot. IOW, Scully had a real life to juggle as one of the worst couple of weeks of his life plowed on like a train wreck.He also used a wonderful device of having Scully write letters to his father. That could have gone either way, but I really liked it. A lot of internal thought was summed up or put into perspective that way & it eventually added more to the twist. He handled guns very well & believably. That's a real plus, something to be cherished these days. Looking back over what I just wrote, you'd think it was a 4 star read. It could have been. It had the makings, but a couple of things really bugged me & I almost dropped it about 1/4 of the way in. Motivations & actions weren't always all they could have been. Some happened just because the story needed them to while I wondered why they didn't do something else. It didn't happen a lot & was forgivable. Still, with all the explanation most actions received, it felt like cheating.Worse (possibly made much worse by this being an audio book) the author pads the story with extraneous details. I HATE that. I'm a real fan of tight writing. For instance, he tossed random street names & directions into a journey that served no purpose. I kept wondering what the significance of some of them were, but there was none. They weren't well known roads & they weren't even mentioned later on in the story when the action came back to that area. Trips also had a bit of revealing dialog & then "... they said nothing for the rest of the trip." even though it was hours long. Picky? It is, but it's not believable, makes them seem shallow. I'd rather he left my imagination free to imagine small talk as most people would have indulged in.In some ways, it read like a first novel, although I think it is his 6th. Overall, I'll give it a solid 3 stars & might rate the next one higher since a lot of the background has now been filled in for this series. I'm definitely going to check out the next one.
I first became aware of Stephen Cannell almost fifteen years ago, when Silk Stalkings was after-school viewing for me on USA - totally-inappropriate after-school viewing for a nine-year old, but hey, by today's standards? Totally tame - and that appreciation for the show, which has remained a guilty pleasure for its display of the height of 90's fashions (bright colors, big shoulder pads, and bigger hair!) and the delightful rapport between its first two stars, led me to his novels. As someone who prefers to start author-relationships with series instead of standalones where possible, I picked up the first in his series featuring LAPD Sgt. Shane Scully. From the second I started it, the vitality visible in the writing hooked me, and I really enjoyed the use of dialogue (all realistic), the sense that Cannell had really done his homework on the world of the LAPD (though writing for numerous cop-shows probably helped, too!), and the characters. There were twists and turns I never saw coming - maybe I should have, but unlike a lot of the mystery/cop-novels I've been reading lately, I found that I was too engaged in what was happening on each page to try to think ahead, to solve the case before Scully did. Before I even finished The Tin Collectors, I stopped at the library and grabbed The Viking Funeral, the second in the series, and I'm definitely looking forward to continuing along with Cannell and Scully as the series progresses; the only downside is that I know it'll eventually come to an end, due to the sad, too-soon passing of Cannell two years ago. But a great, engaging, intelligent read that's as much a character study as it is a cop-novel.
What do You think about The Tin Collectors (2002)?
I was watching the A-Team with my cousin and I just fell in love with those series. The whole plot lines, the characters, I always thought that they were thought up very well. My cousin new how much I enjoy writing, and reading books, he looked up the authors name and found Stephen J. Cannell name pop up. He told me and we both went to the library and found his Scully books. After that I was in a zone. I loved reading his books over and over again. I have read almost all of the Scully books, and this one just oversees them all.
—Laine (librarianscanreadtoo)
The Tin Collectors - VGStephen J. CannellLAPD Sergeant Shane Scully intercedes in a domestic-violence situation involving his former partner Ray Molar and Molar's wife, Barbara, who was once Scully's lover. The confrontation ends with Molar dead and Scully in big trouble. Molar, who was tight with LAPD's upper brass, apparently was holding sensitive material about the department, which is now missing. The brass senses that Scully may be using the material as future leverage against possible murder charges. Facing suspension, Scully is mystified when instead he's suddenly transferred to Internal Affairs. In trying to clear his own name from inside IA--whose officers are known as "tin collectors" for their efforts to strip fellow officers of their badges--Scully ferrets out a weblike conspiracy of corruption that extends to the highest levels of L.A.'s municipal government.
—LJ
Author (King Con) and Emmy Award-winning TV writer Cannell (The Rockford Files) continues his string of commercially appealing suspense novels with an offbeat, action-driven police drama about high-level corruption in the LAPD. This time around, Cannell fans will discover a refreshingDand newly sprungDconcern for his characters' motivations. Sgt. Shane Scully, a well-decorated L.A. detective, receives a late-night phone call from Barbara Molar, a former girlfriend and current wife of Shane's ex-
—Ice
