Book Review: The Betrayal by Jerry B. Jenkins

The Betrayal by Jerry B. Jenkins
ISBN: 978-1414335834
Publisher: Tyndale House
Retail: $14.99

“Detective Boone Drake has just pulled off the most massive sting in Chicago history, bringing down the heads of not only the biggest street gangs in the city but also the old crime syndicate. The story is the biggest in decades, and the Chicago Police Department must protect the key witness at all costs. Yet despite top secret plans to transfer the witness prior to his testimony before the grand jury, an attempt is made on his life.
It soon becomes apparent that someone inside the Chicago PD leaked information to the the shooter. As evidence mounts and suspicion points too close to home, Boone doesn’t know whom he can trust. An investigation reveals that the turncoat might be someone very close to him, even someone he loves—or is someone just trying to cover up corruption at the highest level of the police department? Trusting the wrong person could prove fatal.”

What an excellent book! This is the second book in the Precinct 11 series, the first being The Brotherhood. (Yea, I keep reading the seconds) Sure the scenario of dirty cops at the top being taken down by those near the bottom is overdone (what, you don’t think so?) but it depends on the whole set up of the story. I’d started to read the other books by Jenkins and never got far. They were slow in my opinion. Didn’t grab my attention. This one wasn’t much different at the start. But I was determined to stick this one out. I’m glad I did!

It could be that I prefer movies that have a lot of action in them. This is one of those books. It spans 10 days of action and suspense. I thought I had it figured out about 1/3 of the way through (but really I knew there had to be something more since I still had so much to go!) but it seemed whenever I thought I knew what was up, it was turned around.

Main characters include Boone Drake, shot and should be laying in a hospital bed recovering, Jack Keller, older cop that Boone trained under and his ideal, Pete Wade, the cop at the top, Haeley Lamonica, secretary at the Organized Crime Division and Boone’s girlfriend, Fletcher Galloway, soon to be retired chief of OCD, and a handful of others that are important to the story in ways. It starts with Boone getting the run around after he is shot- no on will tell him what’s going on. No one from his division calls or visits. It’s confusing at the start. But I think that Jenkins did well to have the reader confused as the main character was. Made it much more suspenseful.

It turns out that someone from the OCD leaked important information that got Boone shot and Haeley is arrested for conspiring with a former cop. Not just any former cop; Boone’s former partner who had lost his job for lying under oath to protect Boone. Perfect reason for him to turn against Boone and set him up for something that could have cost him his life.

I really don’t want to give anything away on this one. I think it is safe to say that you know how it ends …but I’m not going to tell you if you are right or wrong!  Good book though. I recommend it if you like action. It takes you through the steps of Jack and Boone as they sift through the information they have on Haeley being the informant to new information they gather on their own- stuff that has been deleted, omitted, or simply ignored by others.

The descriptions are done well for the most part. I was given an advanced reader copy and have never had one before. This one has some typos- missing a few words in the sentences and some strange formatting that wasn’t omitted. The formatting bit didn’t deter me from enjoying the book but the few missing words make me think I may have missed some descriptives. Or perhaps not. It was done well enough that I got the picture and kept reading it to the end.

As mentioned, I received an ARC from Tyndale House Publishers in exchange for an honest review. I was not required to give a positive review.