Bakersfield: A Crime Novel

Bakersfield: A Crime Novel sums up this book neatly, but what it holds between its pages is hardly neat. The novel delves into a seedy underworld that is being protected by the town’s corrupt politicians, police, and their wealthy patrons. Thrust into this world is Hollywood Vice Cop James Stone. Recently demoted to the tiny town of Bakersfield because he refused to participate in a police coverup, Stone, like the outsider the townspeople consider him to be, quickly finds himself entangled in the town’s underground web, asking too many questions and discovering too many secrets.

The twists and turns of the novel are as unexpected as they are clever and keep the reader glued to the page. But, it is not the shocking and the unanticipated storyline that makes this book memorable. It is the novel’s underlying commentary on today’s world that resonates with the reader. Although the novel is set in the 1950s, many of its themes gently remind the reader that our so-called “modern” society has not progressed as much as we would like to believe. The story centers on race, police cover-ups, gender-roles, and corrupt politicians: all themes relevant to today’s reader. In fact, the novel could be set in today’s time and still maintain its potent message.