Rush

An undercover narcotics officer in Pasadena, Texas, Kirstin Cates finds herself seduced by the lure of heroin and cocaine, the charm of her unscrupulous, streetwise partner, Jim Raynor, and the corruption of her fellow cops

With an unquestionably authoritative narrative voice, first novelist Wozencraft commands readers into her harrowing story of a young narcotics agent's descent into a hell of chemical dependency and moral ambiguity. While a part-time college student, 21-year-old Kristen Cates is recruited to work in an undercover drug operation with the Pasadena, Tex., police. She's "a natural," insists her partner Jim Raynor, a captain who assures her that she, like him and others before her, can stay "cool" even though she must learn to smoke, swallow or shoot up dope in order to make the buys that will convict the dealers. She and Jim become lovers and move to another operation in Beaumont in an effort to bring in a drug charge against a well-known, well-protected local pornographer, an attempt that will backfire and bring them to trial instead. This action proceeds with suspense and smooth complexity; the real conflict, however, occurs within Kristen as, watching Jim deny the extent of his addiction, she acknowledges her dependency even while compiling evidence against the people about whom she realizes: "The difference between them and me was that I understood there was no difference." In total command of her material, its language and procedures, and without resort to sensationalism, Wozencraft, a former undercover cop, writes of a world in which pain--physical, emotional and spiritual--is nearly palpable. Major/ad/promo; author tour.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Lacking cohesion and slow moving to begin with, this story of drug addiction, police corruption, and attempted murder becomes almost painfully intense. Even before attending police academy, Kristen Cates works as an undercover narcotics agent in Pasadena, Texas, falls in love with detective Jim Raynor, and learns to do drugs. Much of the book details the couple's debilitating, pressured routine of hanging out, making buys, gathering (and fabricating) evidence, and ultimately testifying in court against their "friends." Wozencraft's first novel is convincing and realistic, and although it is sometimes a mite heavy-handed, it is always disturbing. Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 12/89.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.