Book review: Dead Air

To follow up on last months' Book Rivew, I have found another great female character, Jessie Drake.
Dead Air (Jessie Drake, book 4) by Rochelle Krich.

Great book!
From Ms. Krich's website:
LAPD homicide detective Jessie Drake is astonished when her closest high school confidant, who hasn’t been in touch for almost two years, shows up at her door with an alarming tale of being harassed by an unseen stalker. The friend is now "Dr. Renee," a popular radio talk show psychologist who doles out quick-fix no-nonsense advice to troubled callers on everything from lackluster marriages to steamy illicit affairs. Now Renee is desperately frightened and convinced that Jessie can help her.

Jessie Drake is a great role model. Love her style. She deals with typical gender bias in an in-your-face kind of way. But she also picks her battles, asmy daughter does with her 3-year-old!

Krich weaves in Judaism in this book, in a way that illuminates, for me, these traditions. I love learning, especially through a novel like this!


Other sub-topics, *police violence, gender issues in the workplace, police officers unaccountable for their actions. Recently, these topics have been in the news in Canada (e.g., G20, see below), specifically Ottawa Police Services, whose  special constables have been perceived to be more than rough with alleged members of the public. Bias and stereotypes of women's issues, e.g., workplace abuse, domestic abuse, leave me nodding in agreement as I read this book. It totally rings true, her characters, and the reality of the world she creates.

 Rochelle Krich was born in Germany to Holocaust survivors, and eventually wound up in New Jersey and New York. Ms. Krich and her family moved to Los Angeles.

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 *'How can a friend make me a victim?'

How can a man I considered a friend, a co-worker, someone whom I have put my life in trust with and whom I have also supported on dangerous dispatches.../Female Police Office, news story.

Video of Stacy Bonds' encounter with Ottawa police

25 Nov 2010 ... Stacy Bonds, a theatrical makeup artist, should not have been arrested. Bonds, 27, who has no criminal record, was walking home when she was...Stacy Bonds is pinned to the floor after her shirt and bra strap have been cut with scissors at Ottawa police headquarters.

As a woman, Bonds received wide, sympathetic coverage. Less publicized was a more savage police attack on a male victim, albeit one already in custody. In 2009 constable Desmond Sandboe viciously attacked 33-year-old Andrew Clyburn at the Lac La Biche RCMP detachment in northern Alberta. Clyburn’s alleged “provocation” was to correct the pronunciation of his name. It too was all caught on video.