The Dirty Dozen (Jane Tennison 5) by Lynda La Plante
| The Dirty Dozen (Jane Tennison 5) by Lynda La Plante | |
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| Category: Crime | |
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Reviewer: Sue Magee
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| Summary: Jane Tennison joins the Flying Squad, but she's not there because of hard work. It's a good, easy read, if somewhat predictable. | |
| Buy? Maybe | Borrow? Yes |
| Pages: 512 | Date: August 2019 |
| Publisher: Zaffre | |
| External links: Author's website | |
| ISBN: 978-1785768507 | |
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Jane Tennison had worked hard to get a place on the Flying Squad and she felt that she was there on merit. The Squad wondered who she'd slept with to get the place and bets were being taken as to who she'd sleep with in the first week. What none of them - Jane included - knew was that she was there as an experiment, in the hope that a female presence would have a calming effect. The job had been advertised and Jane was the only female who applied who ticked all the boxes. She doesn't tick all the boxes for the head of the Squad, DCI Murphy. He wanted someone with at least ten years' experience, and the appropriate set of genitals - and he's determined that Jane will fail.
OK - let me get my gripes out of the way first. I remember what it was like back in the seventies when you were the first - or one of the first - females to do a particular job. Lynda La Plante is right - there was always discussion about who you'd slept with to get there and whoever was in charge inevitably felt you'd been foisted onto them. They didn't set out to deliberately make you fail, but you were more closely watched that your male counterparts. She's got that perfectly.
What annoys me is Jane. She's immediately able to contribute something in any given situation and usually it's something the men who'd been in the job since Dick was a lad had never even thought of. She might make mistakes, but somehow they always turn out right in the end and gradually most of the men come to love and respect her. The ones who don't are obviously unreconstructed warhorses. I'm not giving much away here - if you've read any of the earlier books in the series you'll know that this is what happens, and you'll be expecting that Jane will be patronised to the back teeth and then prove the men wrong.
The characterisation is good if overly reliant on physical descriptions (it would be no problem to pop into M&S and kit out the male characters). The men are stereotypical, but that's what you get if you read about the Flying Squad. It's a good mix with a few thrown in who might be baddies - but you'll have to read the book to find out how that one works out.
The plot's straightforward and you'll probably be able to guess the major plot twists before they occur, but if you're looking for an easy, engaging read, you could do a lot worse. I'd like to thank the publishers for sending a copy to the Bookbag.
This is the fifth Jane Tennison book - the best so far, for me, has been Hidden Killers.
Lynda La Plante's Jane Tennison Novels in Chronological Order
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