By Lynda Le Plante https://lyndalaplante.com/ @LaPlanteLynda
Narrated by Laura Kirman @laurakirman
Published by Bolinda/Bonnier Audio, Zaffre https://www.bonnierbooks.co.uk/imprints/zaffre/ @ZaffreBooks (an imprint of Bonnier Books UK)
528 pages (14 hours 20 minutes) ISBN 9781785768521
Publication date 22 August 2019
The Dirty Dozen is the fifth novel the Jane Tennison Thriller Series.
I reviewed an audiobook using the BorrowBox library app https://www.borrowbox.com/ @BorrowBox. I would like to thank Tracy Fenton @Tr4cyF3nt0n from Compulsive Readers for the opportunity to take part in the #TEAMTENNISON review project. Click on the links to read my reviews of Tennison, Hidden Killers, Good Friday and Murder Mile. My review of Blunt Force the sixth novel in the series will be posted on this blog in the first week in February.
The Cover
A lone woman walking along a high-level walkway, in keeping with the other covers of the series. A bit workmanlike and generic for me.
The narration
No idea why there is a continual change of narrator which is a little frustrating as a regular listener. That said she did a great job, and the change did not detract from my enjoyment.
Pete’s ponderings
Every decade or so there is a film or TV series that pushes the boundaries of the medium. In the 1990’s the movie Se7en had a huge impact with its style and cinematography and influenced film and television. The chiaroscuro style lighting has been brough into the mainstream when it comes to giving a moody feel to productions.
In the 1970s in the UK The Sweeney broke the mould for the portrayal of the police on television. Prior to this there was the kindly beat bobby of Dixon of Dock Green or the mobile officers of Z Cars who brought a touch more urban realism, but still somewhat tame. Then Jack Regan and George Carter crashed onto our screens with an impact like their bronze Ford Consul smashing through a crowed marketplace. For a young lad just coming into his teens it was quite an experience, these guys were badder than Starsky and Hutch and a whole lot cooler in a downbeat way. Cops who were aggressive and violent, quite happy to play dirty to get results and they didn’t always get the result they wanted. They also had some great patter (even if a bit dated now) – crook “who are you”, Reagan “We’re the Sweeney son and we haven’t had our dinner”. If there was no Sweeney would the ever have been Gene Hunt and Life on Mars?
Jane Tennison is the most driven and determined female officer in the Metropolitan Police so it’s only right that she encounters the Flying Squad. She previously tried to join in Good Friday but instead got a placing in the Dip Squad and a brush with terrorism. The first female officer in the uber macho Sweeny, you know this is going to be good…
My review
Its Jane’s first day in the Sweeney and she doesn’t even make it into the office before she’s out on a ‘shout’, only as a ride along but it will be good experience. The armed robbery doesn’t go to plan, weapons are discharged and the Flying Squad arrive just too late. A tough baptism for Jane but she quickly brings her detecting skills to bear.
Back at the office is becomes apparent to her that not everyone is in favour of her having a spot in the squad. This is a tight knit ‘band of brothers’ who have each other’s backs; there must be complete confidence in your colleagues when you go up against the most dangerous criminals in the country. They work hard and play hard and revel in harsh humour amongst themselves. On the first day Jane is given the nickname ‘Treacle’ which is unhappy about, not the best of starts if she wants to get her face on the poster of the film The Dirty Dozen hanging in the office.
The main thrust of the story is the familiar one of Jane battling to succeed and gain the acceptance of her colleagues. Of course, along the way she will put some noses out of joint, make some blunders through her over enthusiasm that put lives in danger and the case at risk of failure. Once again she puts herself in a dangerous, if slightly unlikely situation, such is the desperation to capture the armed robbers. In the end though she is an excellent detective, marrying the skills she has developed along with an outstanding coppers instinct.
The plot is surprisingly straightforward and linear. A little unusual by modern standards, the nearest we come to a side plot is a doubt about the honesty of colleagues, but with the author’s vast experience the story works to perfection. If anything, it reinforces the single-minded determination of the squad on the trail of a gang of armed robbers, where pursuit becomes almost an obsession. This is a story about the Sweeney and there is much on the subject to be mined. It escalates rapidly, with plenty of action along the way before a satisfying finale
The period feel is certainly impressive down to the references to Betamax v VHS and Shaw Taylor on Police 5, the forerunner of Crimewatch. Then there are the car chases, careering around London trying to find the rat runs and short cuts with only an ABC to guide them. Operating Countryman, a wide-ranging investigation into police corruption in the 1970s, is added into the mix and presents Jane with one of those career defining dilemmas.
The Dirty Dozen is a cracking police procedural that captures the spirit of the original The Sweeney whilst still remaining a Jane Tennison story.
The Dirty Dozen can be purchased from the Bookshop.org here
The author
Lynda La Plante (born Lynda Titchmarsh) is a British author, screenwriter, and erstwhile actress (her performances in Rentaghost and other programmes were under her stage name of Lynda Marchal), best known for writing the Prime Suspect television crime series.
Her first TV series as a scriptwriter was the six part robbery series Widows, in 1983, in which the widows of four armed robbers carry out a heist planned by their deceased husbands.
In 1991 ITV released Prime Suspect which has now run to seven series and stars Helen Mirren as DCI Jane Tennison. (In the United States Prime Suspect airs on PBS as part of the anthology program Mystery!) In 1993 La Plante won an Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America for her work on the series. In 1992 she wrote at TV movie called Seekers, starring Brenda Fricker and Josette Simon, produced by Sarah Lawson.
She formed her own television production company, La Plante Productions, in 1994 and as La Plante Productions she wrote and produced the sequel to Widows, the equally gutsy She’s Out (ITV, 1995). The name “La Plante” comes from her marriage to writer Richard La Plante, author of the book Mantis and Hog Fever. La Plante divorced Lynda in the early 1990s.
Her output continued with The Governor (ITV 1995-96), a series focusing on the female governor of a high security prison, and was followed by a string of ratings pulling miniseries: the psycho killer nightmare events of Trial & Retribution (ITV 1997-), the widows’ revenge of the murders of their husbands & children Bella Mafia (1997) (starring Vanessa Redgrave), the undercover police unit operations of Supply and Demand (ITV 1998), videogame/internet murder mystery Killer Net (Channel 4 1998) and the female criminal profiler cases of Mind Games (ITV 2001).
Two additions to the Trial and Retribution miniseries were broadcast during 2006.
Source: Goodreads profile
Peter turns the page 