Reviewed by Sadonna
TITLE: Protective Behavior
SERIES: Bad Behavior
AUTHORS: Cari Z and LA Witt
NARRATOR: Michael Ferraiuolo
PUBLISHER: self-published
LENGTH: 7 hours and 22 minutes
RELEASE DATE: April 21, 2021
BLURB:
Detective Mark Thibedeau is perfectly happy doing his job in Internal Affairs and going home to his cat. Still, when his assistant wants to set him up on a blind date, he can’t help but be intrigued.
Dr. Ryan Campbell loves the frenetic pace of working in an emergency department. He likes his life and doesn’t need anyone. But that guy his colleague wants him to meet does sound pretty interesting.
It’s instant chemistry when they meet – and instant chaos.
That chaos isn’t just phone calls interrupting dates. When a patient comes into the ED rapidly bleeding out from a gunshot wound, Ryan suddenly finds himself in possession of evidence that could very well put two White cops in jail for killing an innocent Black man in cold blood.
Not sure what else to do, Ryan takes the evidence to the only cop he can trust – Mark.
Now, Mark is investigating a delicate case, and Ryan is a material witness, and putting their fledgling relationship on hold is the least of their problems. Dirty cops stalk Ryan and his colleagues. Higher-ups question Mark’s investigative integrity at every turn. Worse, he’s tugging at threads of a citywide systemic problem of cops getting away with racially motivated murder.
And there are cops with blood on their hands who will gladly kill to keep that system running.
CW: racially motivated violence, White cop-on-Black civilian violence
REVIEW:
Note: While this is Book #5 in this series, it works well as a stand alone. There are spoilers for the first 4 books and the relationship which cover the relationship of some secondary characters, but it won’t detract from enjoyment of this book if those haven’t been read first.
Internal Affairs detective Mark Thibideau hasn’t been in a relationship in, well, forever. Neither has ER doc Dr. Ryan Campbell. But when a mutual friends wants to set them up, they both surprisingly agree. They both have irregular schedules that can also change on a dime, so most people aren’t necessarily up for dating someone who may have to cancel at the last minute repeatedly. And even on their first blind date Mark gets called back.
Both Mark and Ryan are surprised about their mutual attraction and chemistry. But as luck would have it, their schedules don’t line up well. Ryan works a lot of night shifts so he needs to sleep during the day and Mark works a lot of long days, so he’s up early and doesn’t do late evenings. But they are determined to move ahead. They manage calls and texts and keep looking forward to the time they might both be free at the same time. They manage a couple of breakfast meetings at least and when they do finally manage some time together at Mark’s apartment, again Ryan gets called back to work 🙁
But Ryan is called back in due to a GSW and the victim is a young black man. While two cops try to break into the trauma room while Ryan is trying to stabilize the victim, Martin, the young man, tells him that these are the men who shot him. Ryan blows his stacking at the men who have barged in while he’s trying to work. And when he loses the patient, he experiences a lot of different things – anger, frustration, despair, dread, etc. He turns over the rest of the man’s belongings to the cops, but he retains the last thing Martin has given him. And when Mark realizes that he may have a proverbial smoking gun in his hands, he’s not sure what to do. But he does know that he needs to make sure that this potential evidence gets into the right hands – those of IAB and Mark.
After Ryan turns over the evidence and share with Mark what happens, thing start changing for the worse. But Ryan and one of the paramedics are very uneasy as it seems that the cops in question are determined to get their hands on whatever Martin had that they are worried about. Both men start experiencing unnerving situations – mysterious cars following them, unwarranted contact from the officers, and other more nefarious and dangerous situations. But Ryan figures if he keeps his head down, Mark can do his job and get to the bottom of whatever happened. If only it were so easy. And when it becomes clear that anyone potentially involved in this case could be in danger, things get worse for Mark and Ryan. Mark’s boss and the higher ups want this resolved without any attention and Mark knows that this is unlikely. If they are going to get to the bottom of what really happened and make sure that the cops in question are held accountable, everyone is going to have to dig deep and make sure that everything is done by the book – which means no quick resolution.
This story is really absorbing – sort of like a Law & Order taken from the headlines. There is no dearth of examples of black civilians being shot by a cop and being exonerated – despite the fact that there is no evidence that the civilian was threatening the officer, was armed, or escalated the encounter. We now have plenty of video and recorded evidence that these incidents take place with alarming regularity. What seems to very irregular is that the LEO is indicted and held accountable for any of these incidents. We all know the name of the very few who have been indicted, tried and convicted. In this story, the authors take not only the individual case that our MCs are involved in, but go a step further, with Mark, the IAB office taking a look back at the historical cases to confirm with fresh eyes to see what might have been missed in previous reviews. When the overwhelming numbers are revealed, Mark finally gets some attention from his boss and there is some hope that the department will face the truth honestly – that implicit bias and systemic racism are indeed part of the fabric of society and specifically police work. This story could not be more timely as we continue to grapple with policing issues in the US in particular. This story is gripping and surprising and violent and all too real. I loved the way these authors were able to make the story so viscerally real. Michael Ferraiuolo does a fantastic job of bringing this story to life. The urgency, the pain, the distrust, the chemistry between the MCs were all brilliantly done and added another level to this story. Highly recommended and well worth the listen.
RATING: 
BUY LINKS:
Audible