I read this one in two sittings. And so far it's my favorite Cannell book. This one really hit home - really worked. I couldn't put it down, and read it in probably about eight total hours.(view spoiler)[In this story, the vertical coffin describes the doorway - where most SWAT teams take the fall. A call comes in where a man is barricaded inside his house, shooting out at the cops outside. A sheriff's officer was shot on the doorstep, serving a warrant. Turns out, ATF was right around the corner waiting to see what happened, ready to provide backup if the LASD needs it. The perp had massive stocks of automatic weapons and C4 in his garage, and the Sheriff's department starts saying the ATF mishandled the operation. People start getting picked off in the back doors of their own homes - an officer from the LASD, and then one from the ATF. Scully is assigned the investigation and it immediately looks like the two departments are warring, gunning for each other. He has to dig in to find out what's really going on, and it's nothing like what it seemed. (hide spoiler)]
Another in the Shane Scully series, #4 in the line up. I definitely like this character. He is a LAPD officer, rough as they come but at the same time, working hard to be a good husband and father to his adopted son. He is working thru some job issues, questioning the reasons he became a cop while at the same time realizing he wants to do the right thing, i.e. Help People; the main reason he became a cop.This story opens with a close cop/sheriff buddy of his Emo being gunned down, in a doorway to a suspects house, the "Vertical Coffin" as it is called in cop lingo. The blame is laid on the local ATF officers and it quickly becomes a "pissing contest" between these 2 groups of officers as to who is to blame until a member of the ATF is gunned down.Suddenly each side is suspicious of the other and Shane and his wife are both entangled into this highly volatile issue.Tempers flare, trust is questioned and the chase is on for just WHO is gunning for who.
What do You think about Vertical Coffin (2004)?
This is the second Shane Scully mystery I've read by Stephen Cannell. I liked it just as much as I liked the first one, The Viking Funeral.Shane's (LAPD) buddy Emo Rojas (also a cop) is killed in the beginning of the book and it is widely thought to have been a setup by ATF. Scully is tapped to investigate since ATF has submitted a bogus investigative report which no one at LAPD believes.This appears to be a pissing match between Federal agents (ATF) and the local SWAT team (LASD). Kinda like: You killed out agent so we killed yours. The danger is escalating and more cops are dying. Scully needs to figure what the hell is going on and quickly before he too is caught in the crossfire.
—Barbara ★
After 4 novels of Shane Scully's serie I can state some early opinion: I usually love how the novels begin, the early investigation, the police procedural setting, the political relationships, the description of the supporting cast, the thrilling of some situation etc. What I really despise in these novels is how Cannell forces the finals: some really good police procedurals turning to "western", nonsense shootings and unnecessary situations. It's like Liutenant Colombo turning into Bruce Willis "Die Hard" in last 50 pages. I find this disappointing mostly because I like so much the first 3/4 of the books. It turns down each rate of half star, from a potential 4 - 4.5 stars to 3.5 - 4 stars.
—Enrico Tassinari
