Stephen Cannell (1941–2010)

Shane Scully from Homicide Special in LA has some problems. His son is being heavily recruited for college football, but he can barely make it home because of his workload. He caught a media-intensive serial murder case that ends up with ties to Counter-terrorism, spies, and a ten-year-old cop killing. When Homeland Security steps in to warn Scully away, he begins to realize that he can’t trust any of the ‘good guys’, not even his partner.

An action-packed thriller about a serial show more killer soon degenerates into an ambivalent diatribe on the possibilities for abuse inherent in post-9/11 legislation. It might work better if this were truly an eye-opener, but the situations Cannell posits have been well-explored by now. Meanwhile the story suffers as no real insight is given into the psychology and motivation behind the serial killings. Everything is wrapped up in a giant firefight at the end complete with helicopters, machine guns and hand grenades.

This really wasn’t my kind of book. I would have liked something more Law & Order, or more Silence of the Lambs. The lectures to his son about life were pretty sappy, and if I were Scully’s wife/boss and he acted like such an ass trying to finagle professional favors using personal tricks, I would NOT be having sex with him a few pages later. All of the spies, FBI agents, etc. are blatantly conspicuous…you would think they could be more covert. And the final straw: Who lets their 18-year-old son go scuba-diving for corpses with them?

A quick read, but without much substance. You can certainly tell the author used to write for television (A-team). Everything wraps up at the end of the show in a colossal coincidence with no regard for how and why. Unimpressive. show less

I was fortunate to receive an early review copy of Stephen Cannell’s Vigilante, a Shane Scully novel. This was my first time reading Cannell and even though it’s the 11th Shane Scully novel, I had no problem jumping into the story.

Shane Scully and his partner, Sumner Hitchens, get handed a hot case. The murder of Lita Mendez, a gang activist with a long history of filing complaints and making enemies in the police department. To make it hotter, Nixon Nash, host of the show, Vigilante, show more shows up and plans to make the case the centerpiece of his show. A show which has embarrassed police and ended careers in other cities in previous seasons.

This was a fast-paced, well-written and entertaining crime mystery. The characters were nicely developed and engaging. There were enough suspects to keep you uncertain who the killer was, without feeling misled with flimsy red herrings. It was also refreshing to have a protagonist who was fairly well-adjusted, without a drinking or drug problem, a skeleton in his closet, or some other emotional or moral problem to overcome. Just a good investigator in trying circumstances.

Nix Nash was a villiain you love to hate. A smarmy tv host with a checkered past and vast resources. His actions and the motives behind them keep you guessing until the end.

This book is in some ways an old fashioned gumshoe detective novel, but with a modern twist in the form of a tv investigation racing with the detective to solve the crime. Cannell skillfully blends the two different worlds into an entertaining novel. An interesting detective along with a complicated cast of villains and suspects makes for a very good read. I look forward to checking out other Cannell/Scully books. Recommended for any fan of crime fiction and mystery novels. show less

In his introduction the author says that he was advised against writing this book, Having listened to the audiobook version I can understand why it might be thought an ill-advised project. However, Cannell does manage to bring off the hard task of writing about a main character who is vain, self-obsessed and essentially a psychopath. The build up is such that you retain some sympathy for Chick Best in the early stages but he just gets worse and worse turning into a complete monster by the show more end of the book.

There are many times during the book when you are essentially embarrassed by what Chick Best does and I found myself often saying aloud "don't do it, don't be so stupid, you're just going to make things worse." But then that is the point, even though Best is horrible, even though his exploits make you squirm, you still keep turning the pages (metaphorically in my case).

Cannell is a brilliant writer and his Shane Scully series has gripped me from the outset. This one is a little different and I am full of admiration for an author who can run with a deeply unsympathetic main character and still maintain my interest. show less

This is only the second Stephen Cannell book that I have read. The face that I have not read the previous novels did not affect my understanding in this book. The book was entertaining and frustrating at the same time. I had no idea who was the murderer or how all the pieces would fit together. I was frustrated because I was so mad at the media guy for twisting cases to make police officers look bad. I loved how Scully & Hitch balanced each other out and worked their way through the case. show more Cannell did a great job walking the reader through the logic that Scully & Hitch used to solve the murder. I look forward to going back to the beginning and reading more of the Shane Scully series. show less