Whistleblowers Shield

First there was "Serpico" now there is "Whistleblowers Shield", December 17, 2008

First there was "Serpico," now comes the "Whistleblowers Shield" to continue the exposé of the dark, sinister side of political corruption, this time set in the LA Department of Corrections. We all are aware that corruption and ... more » injustice exists in politics, and perhaps we have a sense that these negatives can be found in more abundance in the Correction/Prison system, but its something we know from afar. Roger Ryan in "Whistleblowers Shield" brings it right up front and in your face, shining an important bright light on how it infiltrates all the way up the chain of command in the prison system, aided and abetted even by the highest seats of power.

Here is a hard hitting novel that reads more like a documentary written by someone who has been there and has lived it. The author obviously knows of what he speaks as he builds his case relentlessly to its harsh conclusions.

The style is brilliantly crafted in the voice of veteran Captain Ryan with the same staccato inflections as you would expect from a hardened officer who has lived shoulder-to-shoulder with criminals of every variety. The reader is transported into this other-world of prison culture that the reader might know on some intellectual level, but rarely with an emotional, gut-wrenching insight that Ryan gives. This author brings an authentic realism to the pages that at times is nothing short of frightening.

One can easily imagine the harshness of this environment, but what becomes more evident as Ryan painstakingly draws this dark and sad picture, is that the evil in the form of brutality and injustice does not exist only on the inmates' side of the prison bars, but flourishes on both sides.

As Ryan focuses on the reality of the criminal corruption that exists in the system among the officers, all the way up to the warden and beyond, and the retribution that is exacted of anyone who tries to combat that corruption, a chilling and down-right scary scenario emerges where racism, brutality, betrayal and payoffs run rampant and where the ethical officer who is just trying to do his job, can never really be sure who he can trust and who will put him in harms way. We soon learn that viscous retribution comes swift to the cop who plays by the rules.

The book moves through these difficult issues without falling into the usual trap of the left-wing cliché -- inmates being treated as the good guys while painting the criminal officers as being the embodiment of evil. That's too easy. Ryan keeps an even-handed perspective, recognizing the criminality of the corrupt officers and administrators while at the same time not treating the inmates with kid gloves. This author embraces the difficult gray areas and is at ease with nuance.

The book also brings us into the world of Ryan as a family man, facing the same normal, every day issues at home with which the reader can easily relate. Then the reader is taken on the ride Officer Ryan makes every morning from that familiar world; it is the contrast of those two worlds that make the book so compelling and which puts the corruption in such stark contrast.

Certainly if one wants a novel that can grab the imagination from the first page, "Whistleblowers Shield" can do that as pure fiction, but its real power is its sense of documentary...of an exposé showing how insidious is the corruption in the corrections/criminal justice system -- this is where the work shines. In the end, "Whistleblowers Shield" is a documentary that stays with us. In that respect, it is a totally mesmerizing Must Read!