Crossing the Blue Line

BOOK REVIEW by MC Simon

When I heard that the author graduated with a BS degree in Criminology and a minor in Psychology, I became more than anxious to read William Mark’s novel. The anxiety became even stronger when I learned that he attended a Law Enforcement Academy and has several years of experience in Homicide assignments.

I have to admit that, while being a child and teenager, I’ve read tons of crime and suspense novels, and I was falling in love with almost all the main police characters. But after a while, I understood that in real life, police officers are not exactly as the books describe them. Not only did I stop myself from falling in love with police officers, but I almost began hating them hearing so many negative news stories.

Therefore, I was curious, what a real police officer can make me feel when also having the role of a writer.

Can you guess how a cleverly and extremely well-written crime thriller that starts out in a cemetery would make me feel? Not that it’s the first book ever starting out this way, but the dialog there made me understand that I missed reading the first volume. Usually, I would go looking for it and start reading it. Unfortunately, the second volume already had me hooked.

A quest for revenge had been realized. It was over. The two men responsible for the murder of Dylan’s daughter had been exterminated like vermin. Beau and Dylan had found, judged, and executed the men, sending them to the afterlife. Beau believed their path was the road to hell as opposed to the one of eternal grace. He wondered which path awaited him.

The fact is, I’ve just read a book that you will not want to put down. One page more and another one until the last page was finally turned.

The feelings which I developed had a wide spectrum. If I think better, there are only a few human feelings that were not born inside me while following the plot. I loved the twist of the situations, I loved the alert of the actions, I almost loved each detail highlighted by this book.

I recommend the book to anyone who wants to raise his adrenaline level, while comfortably sitting in an armchair when nothing really dangerous hunts him. If by chance, you want to relax, open the covers of any other book.

“Crossing the Blue Line,” makes you enter into a very complex world which, I suppose you can’t see or hear about every day; maybe never in a lifetime. But… everything you’ll read about and everything you’ll feel while reading the author’s words will give you chills.

The end of the book left me in a potentially relaxed phase.

Bad guys were replaced with bait and tackle, a friendly harbor master was substituted for a hateful IA commander, and the quaint marina took the place of a police department that didn’t care. Instead of patrolling a beat, Beau took barefoot walks on the beach. There were no more carnage-filled crime scenes to work, domestic dramas to unravel, or collisions to sort through… He wasn’t sure if he had found redemption or hell.

But… each moment during the last chapter, I had the feeling or better said the desire that maybe another twist, and another one, will make my heart beat faster. And while finally breathing calmly, I found myself hoping to know what will happen next.

Will there be a next one, Mr. (Author) William Mark?

Because you’ve succeeded to make me love and trust police officers again.

From the desk of MC Simon, the WritersPayItForward reviewer, an adrenalizing five-star verdict.