Final Justice (Griffin, Web) [Hardcover]

The newest entry in the Badge of Honor series is the most extreme example. As many other reviewers have pointed out, the setting is jarringly moved from the mid 1970s to the present day. Characters are missing with little explanation. However, the Badge of Honor series has been suffering through the last few entries. Significant subplots have been developed only to drop out of the series. Two previous books have had significant subplots surrounding slayings of police officers, but these have sunk without a trace. And of course, the last book developed the idea that the crack Narcotics 5 squad was crooked, giving every suggestion that book number 8 would be based on this investigation.

As an aside, Griffin's trademark step-by-step description of procedures becomes tiresome when describing things that are commonplace to most readers, such as dumping images from a digital camera and renaming the files.

Maybe Griffin intended to write a book about investigating the 5 squad, but lost interest in a book about dirty cops. I suspect that the series has been suffering from Griffin's attention to his other books. It's a shame, because the first few books in the Badge of Honor series were some of his better ones. Of course, the first two or three entries in each of his series are always the most readable. If you're already a fan, though, odds are you'll read Final Justice despite the holes. And you'll stay up late turning the pages, because he writes well.

And in answer to my initial question, why bother with good editing when the author is assured of a loyal readership?

What I wasn't expecting was a book that's written with the main characters being the same ages as they were before, but the book's action taking place in the present. Griffin has skipped ahead through nearly 30 years of time but clearly states several times throughout the book that only a few months (possibly up to six) have passed since the action of the seventh book ended.

This means that characters now are constantly using cell phones, which are common nowadays but were nonexistent when the series left off in book 7 -- and which they never used in the books up to and including the seventh. It means characters drive cars and trucks that are mentioned by explicit make and model and that exist only now, but were unheard of (even undreamed of) in the 1970s (think SUVs).

I also found jarring the fact that many key players from previous books are absent, without explicit explanations for the changes. For example, Jerry Carlucci, the mayor of Philadelphia through the first seven books, is gone. He's mentioned once or twice, but he's no longer the mayor. I remember a brief mention that indicated he may have been elected to the US Senate, but in the previous books he was always concerned with RE-ELECTION, not with election to an entirely different level of government.

Similarly, the police commissioner is gone (a bit more easily explained, as that's a political appointment and the commissioner serves at the mayor's pleasure); the district attorney is gone; and a few other characters suffer similar fates.

Finally, the book is [filled] with errors of continuity. Matt Payne's elimination from the Marine Corps is explained in this book as a problem with his ear; in the first seven books, it was a problem with his eye. He was only promoted to detective a short time before his promotion to sergeant in the eighth book, and the series has made it plain that such promotion opprotunities rest on passing of examinations that are held only every couple of years, and that not everyone qualifies even to take those tests each time. So Payne's somewhat stellar rise through the ranks goes against the procedures and standards Griffin has described in the series up to and including the seventh book.

One character who was explicitly removed from the police force is back in this book: Wilson Carter. In the fifth book, he left the police force; now he's a sergeant and there's no indication he was ever out of the Highway Patrol.

All that said, I found the book to be an engaging read. Griffin's style always engages me, and though I do often find a lot of his dialog difficult to believe (I doubt people really talk like the characters in his book), I usually finish the books within a day or two. This one took me a week because I read it during a vacation, and only a few dozen pages at a time. And it ended very abruptly, which I'm sure is meant to set up another book, but it left me unsatisfied.

I agree with the criticisms of this and other W.E.B. Griffin books. They are all pretty much the same, fish out of water rich boy serves in the Army, Marines or Police. Finds he is really suited to a life of adventure and meets other good guys in the series, very quickly falls in love with some beauty, has sex and then gets drunk on scotch. What's not to like? I counted up the various Griffin books, I've read them all (over 30) and they are all virtually the same, and yet I love them like I love Cheetos and beer. Just can't put them down. I'll make time to read these books. I liked this one a lot and the inconsistancies were not as pronounced as with his last work.

Relax and enjoy the ride (or chase as the case may be).