Book Report: Intent to Harm

Let me just start this report by saying, "Thank God I'm finished."

Intent to Harm is a monster of a book, weighing in at 32 chapters, 343 pages, and 1.5 pounds (hardcover). Likable and honorable, police officer Toby Parkman narrates this story about his time on a task force dedicated to capturing a notorious and much-feared rapist. An apparent master of concealment and escape, the rapist stalks the intended victims in their own homes for days before raping and beating them. The tension increases for Parkman, his family, and his closest friends as the weeks become months and the rapist moves closer to their homes. The depiction of the tedium and frustration of actual police duty (false leads and long hours on stakeout, punctuated only by moments of hope or real achievement) is interspersed with vignettes that underscore the horror of the rapist's actions and the urgency of the police work. This slice-of-life first novel by a police reservist rings true, up to the anticlimactic ending, which after the lengthy investigation leaves the reader feeling slightly let down but reluctant to leave.

The author, Stan Washburn, served as a police reserve officer in California--and it shows. The story flips between dry, fast-moving action scenes that make me feel like I'm reading a police report, to stunningly intense and frightening scenes as the soon-to-be victims prepare for bed and endure very violent acts of rape. The book starts with one such scene and I got goosebumps immediately. One of the most chilling details is how the rapist enters the home days before hand, scouting his prey without any detection. These women come home to find things slightly out of place--in one place it was described as if everything in the house had been shaken gently. This becomes the rapists signature, and it is handled with respect. I'll be checking my house carefully for a while.

A 'moral' of this book is to highlight our (people as a society) lack of action to possible trouble. At one point, a male college student looks out his window and sees a man looking in his neighbor's house, but goes back to his homework with the attitude that the woman deserved to be spied upon. She was raped that night. At another point, the victim manages to scream once as she was being raped, but the neighbor that heard it figured it was just a nightmare. How many times have I see something suspicious and shrugged it off? I'll certainly think twice before doing so now.

The protag himself comes across as rather robotic, despite an honorable effort to show a range of emotions. Maybe it's because Toby is a cop, or maybe it's because he's a man, but very little thought or feeling is mixed in with his job in times of action. There are plenty of 'down times' where he fears for his wife and family, and even all the victims (fifty four by the end of the book), but nearly all of his thinking is strategic and explanatory. I happened to appreciate most of this, as it's information I can use for my own writing, but when reading to simply enjoy the story, I was sometimes very bored. And a note about chase scenes--I could not have been more confused when Toby and the other officers are trying to tail the suspect in their cars. People are turning every which way, all trying to avoid each other, and all the while they communicate to each other by radio, using badge numbers instead of names. On the same note, the minor characters blended together very badly early in the story--at one point, I had no idea which family member was the daughter or the mother or the neighbor. They had very shallow personalities.

As much as I struggled with this book, I also enjoyed it. The climax drew me in and there was no way I could put it down without finding out if the rapist would be caught. If you've got a LOT of time to kill, and possibly some pain reliever for a headache, this is a great book that will give you the creeps.
Two and a half stars out of five.