Green Sun by Kent Anderson, Book Review

Wow … wow … wow. This book gets three wows from me. When I saw the following quote by Mark Billingham on the back cover of Green Sun ,‘The most powerful cop novel ever written’, I thought, hmmm, let me be the judge of that (me as in reader, not me as in reviewer). 

Well, I can’t say Green Sun is the best cop novel ever written, haven’t read them all, but what I can say, is that it is excellent indeed. I intentionally don’t find out about the author before reading a book, but this one is so authentic that you wonder if it’s autobiographical. And to some extent it probably is. 

The author Kent Anderson is a US Special Forces veteran, his protagonist Hanson fought in Vietnam. Kent Anderson was a police officer in Oakland, Hanson too is a cop in Oakland. Anderson taught college level English, Hanson too was an English lecturer before becoming a cop again. 

The structure of the book is interesting as well. Each chapter is a self-contained episode in the life of an American cop, yet the overarching focus of the book is the personal journey of Hanson, a complex, wounded and flawed character, yet with enough grace and goodness that the reader wants him to save himself. 

People often are saved with the help of someone else, but Hanson is assigned the worst possible neighbourhoods and areas which abound with drugs, depravity, depravation and hopelessness. You wouldn’t expect anyone to find salvation there, let alone a police officer and especially not one hell-bent on self-destruction. It will take someone very special indeed. 

Published in February 2018 by Mulholland Trade Paperback at £14.99, also available on Ebook.