TV writer-producer and novelist Stephen J. Cannell, who has been involved in the production of some 40 TV series, knows the politics and defense mechanisms of law enforcement agencies like few others. Through his central character, Shane Scully, an LAPD investigator with a steady and steely approach, he gets us deeply embroiled in a jusrisdictional hurricane when SWAT units from the L.A. Sheriff's Departent and another from the ATF botch up a raid.

Scully himself can be a bit of a bad boy, prone to bar brawls followed by face-saving denials and apologies to cool his wife Alexa's anger, not only from a matrimonial viewpoint but that of a superior officer on the force. Preserving both parts of this relationship is a balancing act weighted with humor and love. When our misbehaving hero attempts to mollify Alexa's understandable rage over an unbecoming altercation by offering her lunch, she responds with, "I don't break bread with lawless brawlers." "I was not brawling," he insists, "I barely hit anybody." "Noon at the Peking Duck," she snaps back. An example of Cannell's fine, good humor.

The story gets into action mode when homeowner, cop-wannabe Vincent Smiley shoots popular deputy Emo Rojas through the door (a "vertical coffin") as he was attempting to serve what he thought was a routine misdemeanor weapons warrant. He had no idea how unroutine this warrant service was going to be since the issuing agency, the ATF, forgot to mention Smiley'd been showing off his arsenal of heavy weapons and C-4 explosive to neighbors. The death sets off a battle with SWAT teams from different agencies who barricade the house while under fire from the renegade resident. Scully pulls his friend Emo's body from the porch even as Smiley is shooting his AK-47 from an upstairs window. The battle ends in a WACO-style burndown and a charred body. Two long-range assassinations of SWAT officers follow, adding to a twisting set of mysteries about what actually happened and to whom. Nothing is as it appears.

As political pressures force administrators (even Alexa!) to make wrong decisions, Scully, assigned to the investigation, fights their desire for a quick close to the case based on assumptions. He has his own tested methods which don't support the conclusions everyone is jumping to.

This is a powerfully written action thriller with a gut-punch here and there, tempered by human sensibility and model marital compatibility. Cannell places high value on hard action and private passions, which he illuminates with an impressive inside knowledge of law enforcement in all its day-to-day dimensionality. Marital insights are freely integrated and his twists are models of plot plausibility. He may just get a movie offer.