Murder Book by Richard Rayner

Billy McGrath is a 15 year veteran of the LA Police Department. Billy has a wife, from whom he's divorced, and a daughter to whom he is devoted. The failure of his marriage is all his fault, and he allows this to weigh heavily on his mind.

Billy is assigned to a case of murder in which the main drug lord of LA's mother was brutally tortured before she was murdered. When the drug lord approaches Billy with a bribe of $1 million if Billy will turn over the name of the murderer to the drug lord who wants his own form of justice against this person, Billy doesn't think very long and hard before accepting the bribe. Billy's reasoning is that now he can provide for his ex-wife and daughter in a much better way than he's been able to up to that point.

The story continues from there to a very satisfying conclusion in which all loose ends are nicely cleared up. How all this comes together is somewhat "convenient" at times, but the writing, particularly the characterizations in this book, is so good that I could overlook some of the story that was a bit contrived.

Rayner has written a lot of psychological insight into this book, so I wouldn't recommend it to someone who likes face paced stories. However, I would recommend it to someone who enjoys more depth and insight into what enables a person whose job involves daily doses of murder and mayhem to keep facing that kind of horror day after day after day. I enjoyed Murder Book and would definitely read this author again.