Anything You Say Can and Will Be Used Against You - by Laurie Lynn Drummond (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

This riveting debut collection of short fiction about women cops comes from the author's real-life experience as a Baton Rouge police officer. In an entirely fresh and unique voice, these stories reveal the humanity, compassion, humour, tragedy and redemption hidden behind the "blue wall."

Anything You Say Can and Will Be Used Against You centres on the lives of five female police officers. Each woman's story-like each call in a police officer's day-varies in its unique drama, but all the tales illuminate the tenuous line between life and death, violence and control, despair and salvation. Because the stories come from the author's own experience, they open a curtain on the truth behind the job-how officers are trained to deal with the smell of death, how violence clings to a crime scene long after the crime is committed, how the police determine when to engage in or diffuse violence, why some people make it from the academy to the force and some don't, and all the friendships, romances, and dramas that happen along the way. It illuminates not only how officers feel while they are in uniform, holding their guns, but also what they feel after they go home and put those guns aside.

Review Quotes

"Tough, scary and riveting." -- Entertainment Weekly

"Unforgettable, beautifully written stories." -- New Orleans Times-Picayune

"Strong and wise ...like the memory of a loved one passed, these stories linger long past their last breath." -- San Diego Union-Tribune

"Drummond's clear voice shuns distracting, overtly literary first-book flourishes. The author's mapping of complex terrain ...keeps the pages turning." -- Time Out New York

"Stories that [put Drummond's] insider's knowledge to work, offering fresh insights into the lives of police officers and women." -- Atlanta Journal-Constitution

"This astonishing debut collection makes it clear that Drummond was a writer long before she was a police officer." -- Los Angeles Times Book Review

"Combining Southern grace and urban brutality ...Drummond continually surprises with her profiles in courage." -- Publishers Weekly

"A superb debut ...marvelous command of fear and sensuous involvement. Prose that weighs like a gun in your palm." -- Kirkus Reviews (starred)

"Drummond brings a major new talent to the crime fiction scene." -- New Orleans Times-Picayune

"For readers who like their crime fiction raw and flavored by moral dilemmas, these stories are intriguingly fresh." -- New York Daily News

"This is an exceptional body of writing." -- Library Journal (starred)

"Elegant, graceful, unexpected and completely haunting." -- New Orleans Times-Picayune

"Tough and tender, this book is simply unforgettable." -- New Orleans Times-Picayune

"Unforgettable stories. . . that will make readers suck in their breath." -- San Antonio Express-News

"A brilliant debut carries the flash of fact." -- Portland Tribune

"Unflinching in its portrayal of [female officers'] lives." -- Cincinnati Enquirer

"So compelling that it's difficult to stop reading." -- Entertainment Weekly

"A superb debut. Prose that weighs like a gun in your palm." -- Kirkus Reviews (starred)

"This is an exceptional body of writing." -- Library Journal (starred review)

"Choosing original characters over clichés and gritty detail over simplification, Drummond continually surprises with her profiles in courage." -- Publishers Weekly

"...Elegant, graceful, unexpected and completely haunting. Drummond brings a major new talent to the crime fiction scene." -- New Orleans Times-Picayune

"Fresh and engaging. [Drummond's] stories hold pleasures beyond those of a standard whodunit." -- San Francisco Chronicle

"For readers who like their crime fiction raw and flavored by moral dilemmas, these stories are intriguingly fresh." -- Daily News

"Sincere praise from Elmore Leonard is the equivalent of striking literary gold, and that's just what Laurie Drummond has done." -- Bellingham Herald

"Searing...eye-opening...[Laurie Lynn Drummond] is a deft storyteller." -- Contra Costa Times

"The stories are sure-footed and fascinating in their insight into the specifics of a cop's reality." -- The Oregonian (Portland)