False Negatives is a fictional story of a young man who joined the LAPD in the wake of the Watt’s riots and amidst the rising tide of violence. The novel initially reads like a memoir of a naive idealist who believed he could make LA’s streets safer and improve the department’s troubled relationship with the minority communities. When the point of view opens, the reader sees what the young idealist does not.
Written by a retired LA cop the fast-paced novel is as real as it gets. The twenty-five-year veteran doesn’t pull any punches. Nothing is taboo. Every page echoes with the unmistakable ring of authenticity. The story tells the truth that could only be told in a work of fiction.
Reading the novel you are not a witness; you are there. Sometimes gritting your teeth, other times laughing out loud, it immerses you in the life of an LAPD rookie in the early 1970s. If you’re prone to indigestion, better grab the Alka-Seltzer. Reading False Negatives is an experience. And in the words of Max Stoller’s first training officer, “Experience is a hell of a teacher.”
It is time to go to school.