Rescue: A Police Story (Police Work Books) - Softcover

Grade 4-6-A botched robbery turns into a hostage situation at the Painters Bank in Staunton, VA. The novel follows the case, at times minute by minute, from the initial 911 call through the negotiations with the captors to their eventual apprehension by the Critical Incident Response Team. The simple story is chock-full of facts about modern police work. Numerous staged photographs and sidebars explaining equipment, procedures, or jargon accompany the story. There is no real character development; the people are just names on a page. The prose is a bit flat and the dialogue is clunky and unrealistic. Still, children seeking stories about police work will enjoy this book, and it could satisfy a need for high-interest/low-reading-level material.
Timothy Capehart, Leominster Public Library, MA
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