the wire ruined police drama for me

book: doors open
autor: ian rankin
method: borrowed (tom)
completion date: 09/06/10

watching the wire i started to see the police as a business- there are quotas to fill and bosses to keep happy. now i know that this is a tv show and not totally accurate, but i know that most hbo shows do their research and try to make everything as real as possible. my main issue with this novel was not the elabourate heist or the stocky characters but it was the suspicious detective. as if his major would let him pursue a fallen crime boss and ignore the work piling up on his desk. no his major would have busted his balls and told the detective to get with the team and chib was no longer any concern of theirs. also this detective was totally suspicious of everything with no reason to be.
the idea behind the book is the main character, mike, is wealthy and bored so he and his buddies decide to steal some art, only their plan is that the art won't really go missing- they'll be stealing from a warehouse and they'll replace the art with good forgeries. the problem is this detective doesn't buy it and he keeps snooping until he finds out whats up. the whole novel just had this air of unbelievability to it which can be the kiss of death for a mystery/thriller type. the problem was that i never believed for a second these guys would get caught- the moments leading up to their demise were just silly. they were too careful, but then too sloppy.
i did however love the character of the fallen gangster who has lost most of his power and influence but who is still stomping around like the school yard bully kicking kids in the shins. and you get a glimpse into the fact that he never would have been a good mob boss because he just wasn't smart enough. he was too close to everything. he had grubby hand prints all over his dealings and they were too easily traced back to him. he was simply an enforcer who rose up the ranks unopposed. he was a very sad but of course totally unlikable character.
i have liked rankin books in the past so this is by no means the end, but it has dampened my enthusiasm.
x0- ellebee