Tully made detective in record time thanks to his book smarts, something that rankles some of his fellow officers in the small, elite Hollywood Homicide division. He's still finding his way when he and his seasoned partner, Morales, catch a weird one. A burned corpse found at the base of a sacred statue in Thai Town. Turns out though the corpse wasn't burned - he was baked. And their only witness is an Oxy addict who isn't eager to share what paltry details he does know. With politicians and departmental brass breathing down their necks, the case soon takes them to the seedy tourist trap that is Hollywood Boulevard.
I'm glad I decided to listen to this one because had I tried to eyeball read the buried ARC I had I either would have 1) skimmed large chunks or 2) given up. You've got Tully's Pretentious AF parents who had their child's life mapped out for him before he was even born, so when he breaks off his basically arranged engagement and leaves behind academia to become a cop, they're both kind of assholes about it. And because his two dads (yes, they're gay) are academics and Tully is a recovering academic, the author takes the reader down more than a few lecturing, pontificating rabbit holes that bog down the pacing and frankly are only there to beef up the word count. I know this because the author beefs up the word count further by having not just one, but two cases for our hero to work on. The second one is a serial cold case of someone poisoning couples' dogs on their wedding days.
The poisoned dogs case gives Tully a love interest, who is just as pretentious as he is (she's some sort of professional organizer because this is Los Angeles and of course she is) and hand to God readers get regaled with a "it's OK I'm on the pill and clean" first sex scene. At least we're spared a surprise pregnancy - although I can't speak to Book 2. Further proof that this nonsense can happen anywhere, not just in the romance genre.
What does work about this book is the world-building. It's quintessential LA right down to all the pretentiousness and seedy edges you'd expect. I also liked Tully's partner, Morales - a fairly stereotypical cop character who at first resents (that might be too strong a word though?) his new partner for jumping ahead so quickly up the promotional ladder, but who eventually warms up to him.
For all the pontificating and pseudo-intellectualism (have I mentioned I found most of the characters pretentious?), the ending careens into straight-up schlocky horror movie territory. Honestly it's a little jarring and doesn't entirely fit the story that preceded it, but in a strange way it kind of works and kept me glued to my earbuds. I'm not entirely sure if I'll read the next two books in the series but I'm a little tempted since Book 3 takes place on Catalina Island. Maybe once I wrap up this current listening project.
Oh, and they catch the dog murderer.
Final Grade = C
