Author Hallie Gregory

 

Rated The Chinese Fire Drill 5 Stars!

 

 

MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE

 

The Chinese Fire Drill by A.J. Hoover

 

In A.J. Hoover’s police story the nightshift cops in Precinct 6 are constantly exposed to the worst of society on a nightly basis. This explains the Einstein quote at the beginning of the book about human stupidity being infinite. It further explains why they dubbed the authorities seemingly bungled attempts in stopping an arson fire at an abandoned warehouse in the area of the city known as Little China as The Chinese Fire Drill. That phrase has traditionally referred to the ineptitude of all involved under the heading of official business, similar to the military term SNAFU (Situation Normal, All Fouled Up).

 

The Chinese Fire Drill portrays several days in the life of fifteen year veteran H.O. Beau better known to all as Mister Hobo. The style is no-nonsense, nuts and bolts, but also observant and opinionated. Like the typical police procedural, Hobo goes through his shift following up on police calls each night in a straightforward, matter of fact way. His job is filled with boredom, interspersed with human stupidity, violence and death. This explains the gallows humor and jaded outer shell of Mister Hobo and his fellow patrolmen, and the need for a shot of artificial energy to get them through each night, as in a good cup of coffee.

 

Reminiscent of early Joseph Wambaugh, A.J. Hoover illustrates not only how a policeman works on the job, but how he is defined by it. For Hobo the work is the life. As much as he just wants to do his time and go home, Hobo eats, sleeps and breathes the job. In his dreams phantoms of his working past torment him. All his friends are either fellow police, or are dealt with, like his childhood friends, from the vantage point of a policeman. He refers to them all as “his people.”

 

However, there’s more going on here than meets the eye. Mister Hobo is streetwise, literate and selfless. But he’s also a wounded soul; hardened, lonely, lacking ambition and haunted by his past. His unrelenting mind is constantly in motion. To numb his racing thoughts he busies himself with crossword puzzles and finding solutions to the problems of others. But now he can’t let go of seemingly unrelated, recent events; the fire in the abandoned warehouse, hints of corruption in the local government and police department (where even internal affairs can’t be trusted), gang unrest, and an accidental death that may not be an accident.

 

Five stars for a cast of flamboyant characters, where the cops are sometimes more colorful than the nightlife they deal with from dusk to dawn; for eye-opening revelations about policemen’s lives the average citizen doesn’t know or think about, e.g. young cops with families who rely on food stamps!; for the depiction of humdrum nights that could easily end in killing or being killed; and for a story with an elusive undercurrent best described by pointing to the section of the book where Hobo tries to solve a sixteen letter crossword puzzle clue, “The Eye Deceived.” In The Chinese Fire Drill there’s always more going on than meets the eye.