Review by srensch1 -- A Police Action by A. A. Freda

[srensch1]

[Following is a volunteer review of "A Police Action" by A. A. Freda.]

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4 out of 4 stars

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A Police Action should appeal to a large pool of readers. It is about two young people trying to make their relationship work despite their immaturity and mistaken assumptions about each other. The book is also about the male protagonist’s nine months in Vietnam. Both young relationships struggling to succeed and the war are interesting to me, and I suspect that they are also attractive to many other readers.

The central figure is Specialist Fourth Class James Coppi, a young soldier whiling away his time until he is deployed to Vietnam. The Coppi who inhabits the first third of the book is, for this reader, difficult to like. He is a product of the male-fantasy, more Burt Reynolds than real. The women all want him. The men want to be him. His cons all work, and money flows his way. He drinks hard and will fight any man. He not only has no respect for authority but consistently humiliates or manipulates those in authority. He always manages to escape the consequences of his actions. When a beautiful young woman, Sam, falls in love with him, he enjoys her but refuses to commit to her.

Though I thought about it in this case, I have learned not to walk away from a book which rubs me the wrong way in the beginning. In this instance, my persistence was rewarded.

Coppi is sent to Vietnam. As one of those who is a member of the Vietnam War generation but somehow avoided going to the war, I have always been hungry for details of that experience. Author Freda supplies them. The description of Coppi’s experience is not so much about combat as it is about the life of the soldier in between times of combat. . . the jokes they play on each other, their thoughts about home, their fears about combat, their sadness about buddies lost, and the money-making schemes they run under the nose of the Army. If Coppi’s macho way of being was obnoxious in the first part of the book, it becomes appropriate in Vietnam, and he becomes likable.

It would not be fair to tell you whether or not Coppi and Sam find a life together, or even whether Coppi makes it home from Vietnam. The book is not that long, and you are going to have to do the work yourself.

A Police Action is a good read. I did not even find any editing mistakes. In the end, I certainly did not regret the few hours I put into A Police Action. So I give the book four out of four stars.

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A Police Action
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[Stephanie Elizabeth]

Great review. I also reviewed this book and LOVED it!

[srensch1]

Thanks, Stephanie.