Benefit of the Doubt
Neal Griffin is a twenty-five year veteran of law enforcement. He's seen it all, from routine patrols to drug enforcement to homicide investigations, from corrupt cops to men and women who went far above and beyond the call of duty.
Benefit of the Doubt is a gripping thriller that exposes the dark underbelly of policing in small-town America, where local police departments now deal with big-city crimes and corruption.
Ben Sawyer was a big-city cop, until he nearly killed a helpless suspect in public. Now a detective in the tiny Wisconsin town where he and his wife grew up, Ben suspects that higher-ups are taking payoffs from local drug lords.
Before long, Ben is off the force. His wife is accused of murder. His only ally is another outcast, a Latina rookie cop. Worse, a killer has escaped from jail with vengeance on his mind, and Newberg--and Ben Sawyer--in his sights.
MY REVIEW: Author Neal Griffin's law-enforcement background is as impressive and fascinating as any storyline that he could create for one of his fictional characters. With his debut novel, "Benefit of the Doubt", he puts his own knowledge and skills to great use in spinning a compelling tale of loss, redemption, and ultimate justice. Ben Sawyer made a mistake, a very public mistake, and it cost him his career in law enforcement in Oakland, California. With few choices available, Ben and his wife Alex, along with their twelve-year old son, Jake, move back to their home town of Newberg, Wisconsin. Ben is now a small-town cop, and the chief of police is his own father-in-law. Distrust by his fellow officers and resentment over his family connection to the department become the least of Ben's worries when issues with drug-running and prostitution become pressing and corruption rears its ugly head. A shocking scandal occurs when Ben's wife, Alex, is labeled an adulterer and is accused of murder. Once again, Ben's law enforcement career is in jeopardy, but this time the threat to his family is even greater. With a rookie female cop, herself an outcast, as his only trusted support, Ben determines to bring down the criminal element endangering his family. Ben's worries have only just begun, however, because someone truly evil is headed his way--a convicted murderer fueled by revenge--and Ben and his family are the targeted prey. "Benefit of the Doubt" is a suspenseful, thrilling debut from an author with just the write stuff for the crime fiction genre.
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Reviews
“Benefit of the Doubt needs none--there is no doubt that this fine debut novel is the sure-handed work of an exciting new author.” ―Don Winslow, New York Times bestselling author of Savages
“[A] unique and suspenseful debut novel by a cop-turned-author who knows the turf. The story moves at warp speed.” ―Joseph Wambaugh, #1 New York Times bestselling author
“A taut and cleverly-plotted page-turner! Griffin is a terrific story-teller, and this compelling tale will keep you guessing from the first chilling line to the unpredictable and completely surprising last page.” ―Hank Phillippi Ryan, Mary Higgins Clark, Anthony & Agatha Award-winning author
“A visionary, scathing, supremely effective peek into the darkness that permeates small town Americana. Drawn in vibrant colors upon an ambitious canvas, this major debut is destined to take its place alongside the work of Robert Parker, C.J. Box, and Harlan Coben when it comes to unrelenting suspense and wondrously staged, multi-layered construction.” ―Jon Land, bestselling author of Strong Rain Falling and The Tenth Circle
A Voice from the Field
Tia Suarez jumped off the pages in Griffin's brilliant debut novel, Benefit of the Doubt. Now she takes center stage in her own story, A Voice from the Field, a gripping thriller about human trafficking in the U.S.
Gunther Kane and his white supremacist group are using forced prostitution to finance the purchase of automatic weapons. Kane snatches young women off the streets and sells them to hundreds of men. When a victim is used up, she's killed and dumped. After all, there are always more where she came from.
Physically recovered from being shot but struggling with PTSD, Tia Suarez almost doesn't believe her eyes when she glimpses a Hispanic teenager bound and gagged in the back of Kane's van. The look of terror on the woman's face makes Tia desperate to rescue her.
Kane's in the crosshairs of the FBI, who don't want a small-town Wisconsin detective messing up their big gun bust.
Tia Suarez doesn't back down for anyone. Not the department shrink; not the feds who dismiss her; not even her boyfriend, a Marine veteran who thinks she doesn't know what she's getting into. Tia will find the missing teen come hell or high water.
Reviews
Neal Griffin joins an illustrious line of cops-turned writers with this fine debut. The police work is definitive, the emotions run high, and hero Ben Sawyer is one you will root for. ―T. Jefferson Parker, New York Times bestselling author
Benefit of the Doubt is a taut, hard-hitting morality play set in small town America, but rich with big themes: revenge, betrayal and redemption. Neal Griffin is the new kid in town, and he is here to stay. ―Andrew Gross, New York Times bestselling author
A scathing peek into the darkness that permeates small town Americana. Drawn in vibrant colors upon an ambitious canvas, this major debut is destined to take its place alongside the work of Robert Parker, C.J. Box, and Harlan Coben when it comes to unrelenting suspense and wondrously staged, multi-layered construction served up suburban style. As visually stunning as it is viscerally gripping...one of the best crime novels of the year! ―Jon Land, author of Strong Rain Falling
A complicated killer seeking revenge is hunted by a complicated lawman in this unique and suspenseful debut novel by a cop-turned-author who knows the turf. ―Joseph Wambaugh, New York Times bestselling author
Griffin's work proves superior to the unrealistic fare that often passes for a police thriller. ―Kirkus Reviews
By His Own Hand: A Newberg Novel
It looks like suicide.
The body of a young man has been found in the woods outside Newberg, dead from a close-range shotgun blast. The gun―his own―lies beside the body.
Certain things don’t add up for Detective Tia Suarez. Where did the fat envelope of cash in his pocket come from? Who called the police to report the body, then disappeared before the cops arrived?
The trail leads Tia to an institution for juvenile incarceration and to the leader of a local mega-church, a political and economic powerhouse in the region. Newberg’s mayor and the medical examiner keep trying to close the case.
But what if it isn’t suicide? What if this young man’s death is covering up something that will shake the town to its foundations?
Los Angeles Times bestselling author Neal Griffin burst onto the scene with Benefit of the Doubt, which introduced Tia Suarez, the only female―and Latina―cop on the police force in tiny Newberg, Wisconsin. Griffin’s compelling suspense novels show that big-city crime regularly plagues small-town America―that Breaking Bad is the rule, not the exception.
REVIEWS
“Add Neal Griffin to your list of must-read crime writers!”― Tess Gerritsen, author of the Rizzoli and Isles series
“With crackling dialogue, dead-on police procedure, and a smart, feisty heroine in Detective Tia Suarez, Neal Griffin delivers.”―Tami Hoag, New York Times bestselling author
“Engrossing. Griffin paints a vivid picture of the difficulties of police work, in particular the harassment Tia endures from her male colleagues on account of her gender.”―Publishers Weekly
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