Very by the numbers procedural, an ok read on an insomniac night but more filler than anything else. Requisite brooding cop with repressed nightmares and relationship problems, sexual deviancy, friend from the past, three separate cases that all carry the same moral. Lots of LA flavor and lots of trivia on somewhat uncommon topics, beekeeping and Judaism in this case, lots of rehashed Vietnam PTSD.

Trouble is, in this story everything seems to line up too easily. Big breaks come more from dumb luck and conveniently loquacious hillbillies, ending in a confession because there was obviously no other way the author could figure to get the full nature of the sexual deviancy out there. More than a few professionals who by all rights should have demanded a warrant, death certificate, or some other proof just folded after a few gruff words, basically skipping the delays that hamper real investigations.

Stylistically, a little too much emphasis on the turn by turn names driving on LA streets and the facades of buildings, rather than neighborhoods. A whole lot of overdone hillbilly speak; Okies may drawl but they aren't Appalachia incarnate. Rina is basically a perfect saint, Abel is over the top and cartoonish in his regret and hate, the fat deputy (that is always called a sheriff) just disappears when the author realized he was even more pointless and bland than the rest of the cast.

It was never offensive, in fact it kept up the interest to the end just to see how it wraps up, it just never had any moments that wow, nor the spark of insight in the best.