Comparisons to authors like Dashiell Hammett and a fantastic cover by artist Chris McGrath were the initial things that made Warren Hammond’s debut novel, KOP, catch my attention. Then The Bourne Ultimatum was released and I was in the mood for this kind of fiction. I wanted to lose myself in something with action and intrigue. Thus KOP came home with me during my recent book buying orgy. It was a good choice.

Warren Hammond has entered the fiction scene with a stunning debut novel. Juno Mozambe, a dirty street cop who is getting too old to be the successful enforcer that he used to be, reluctantly takes on a murder investigation, and a new partner, at the request of former partner, now head of KOP, Paul Chang. The setting for this novel is the year 2787 on a colonial planet named Lagarto. Lagarto was a once rich planet attracting colonists from earth willing to make the 16 year journey for the promise of guaranteed wealth. Unfortunately the smuggling off-world of Lagarto’s chief export crashed the economy and for decades the planet has decayed into a world populated by a few rich and many poor. Into this world crime and corruption flourished.

Despite those minor science fiction elements, KOP is gritty, hard-boiled crime noir at its best. Juno is your true anti-hero. He is a character that reminded me of Andy Sipowicz on NYPD Blue. Credit Hammond for being able to write a character who is likeable despite his surplus of flaws. As Juno gets sucked in to the evergrowing complexities of the murder case, the reader is treated to flashbacks to a time when Juno and his partner Paul Chang were mere beat cops and allows us to see their rise to power to the point of taking over KOP and making it the corrupt police institution that it currently is. These flashbacks serve to create some interesting background history but are done in such a way that they also tie into what is currently going on in the book and in no way detract from the story. In fact, the flashback scenes are some of the most interesting and intense in the novel.

KOP is a tale filled with mystery, suspense, and a fair share of brutality. The world in which Juno Mozambe circulates is not a safe one, not a happy one. Bad things happen and because of his enforcer history the bad things sometimes happen because of Juno. Despite this, KOP is also a story about redemption, or possible redemption, and the struggle for individuals to attempt to make a difference in a world of deceit and corruption.

I found Warren Hammond’s writing to be fast-paced and his characters strongly written. The story flows very well and has just the right tenor of suspense that you want to keep turning the pages. Hammond has a sequel, Ex-KOP, that has already been written and is set for release in February 2008. Having enjoyed the dichotomy of Juno Mozabme and his new partner, Maggie Orzo, I am really looking forward to the continuation of their story and of the events that began in this first tale. If you like crime tales of any kind, KOP is well worth the time.