What do you think?
Rate this book
Collision Course
Collision Course is an intense police procedural and legal thriller incorporating elements of blind political aspirations, human failings, and hope.
In the style of Scott Turow and John Grisham, Collision Course is a fascinating and enjoyable read.
The novel is set in the background of the strained relationship between the Police and the minority community arising from racial prejudices embedded within police departments.
Sergeant Josh Williams, East Providence (RI)) Police Department and his fatal encounter with Anthony ‘JoJo’ Machado, a troubled Marine Corps war veteran, becomes a victim of politics and the quest for power.
The tragic taking of a life used to further one man’s personal gain.
The novel explores the human aspect of those thrust into a nightmare beyond their control. An ambitious US Attorney turns the rage of racial inequality into a platform for a run for the US Senate, perverting the Justice system and trampling over anyone in his way to succeed.
A misogynistic, but brilliant, defense lawyer stands between the abuses of the government and pursuit of the Justice.
Collision Course is a must read for fans of courtroom drama and the deadly situations Police officers face on a daily basis.
In the style of Scott Turow and John Grisham, Collision Course is a fascinating and enjoyable read.
The novel is set in the background of the strained relationship between the Police and the minority community arising from racial prejudices embedded within police departments.
Sergeant Josh Williams, East Providence (RI)) Police Department and his fatal encounter with Anthony ‘JoJo’ Machado, a troubled Marine Corps war veteran, becomes a victim of politics and the quest for power.
The tragic taking of a life used to further one man’s personal gain.
The novel explores the human aspect of those thrust into a nightmare beyond their control. An ambitious US Attorney turns the rage of racial inequality into a platform for a run for the US Senate, perverting the Justice system and trampling over anyone in his way to succeed.
A misogynistic, but brilliant, defense lawyer stands between the abuses of the government and pursuit of the Justice.
Collision Course is a must read for fans of courtroom drama and the deadly situations Police officers face on a daily basis.
408 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 22, 2014
36 people are currently reading
337 people want to read
About the author
Joe Broadmeadow
20 books26 followersJoe Broadmeadow retired with the rank of Captain from the East Providence, Rhode Island Police Department after twenty years. Assigned to various divisions within the department including Commander of Investigative Services, he also worked in the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force and on special assignment to the FBI Drug Task Force.
Joe is the author of seven books; three novels based on his experiences as a police officer, Collision Course, Silenced Justice, and A Change of Hate, a Y/A novel, Saving the Last Dragon, and three non-fiction books; Choices: You Make 'em You Own 'em written with Jerry Tillinghast, UnMade: Honor Loyalty Redemption written with Bobby Walason, and It's Just the Way It Was: Inside the War on the New England Mob and other stories written with Brendan Doherty former superintendent of the Rhode Island State Police.
Joe also writes for two blogs, The Writing of Joe Broadmeadow (http://www.joebroadmeadowblog.com) and The Heretic and the Holy Man (www.thehereticandtheholyman.wordpress...) and as a guest columnist for the Providence Journal and GoLocalProv.com.
When Joe is not writing, he is hiking or fishing (and thinking about writing). Joe completed a 2,185-mile thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail in September 2014. After completing the trail, Joe published a short story, Spirit of the Trail, available on Amazon.com in Kindle format.
Joe lives in Rhode Island with his wife Susan.
Joe is the author of seven books; three novels based on his experiences as a police officer, Collision Course, Silenced Justice, and A Change of Hate, a Y/A novel, Saving the Last Dragon, and three non-fiction books; Choices: You Make 'em You Own 'em written with Jerry Tillinghast, UnMade: Honor Loyalty Redemption written with Bobby Walason, and It's Just the Way It Was: Inside the War on the New England Mob and other stories written with Brendan Doherty former superintendent of the Rhode Island State Police.
Joe also writes for two blogs, The Writing of Joe Broadmeadow (http://www.joebroadmeadowblog.com) and The Heretic and the Holy Man (www.thehereticandtheholyman.wordpress...) and as a guest columnist for the Providence Journal and GoLocalProv.com.
When Joe is not writing, he is hiking or fishing (and thinking about writing). Joe completed a 2,185-mile thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail in September 2014. After completing the trail, Joe published a short story, Spirit of the Trail, available on Amazon.com in Kindle format.
Joe lives in Rhode Island with his wife Susan.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
July 4, 2015
I enjoyed this book. It is a legal thriller about a veteran white police officer, prosecuted for a questionable civil rights violation after shooting and killing a black criminal who turned out to be unarmed at the time of the shooting. An ambitious United States Attorney sees the case as a way to advance his career in politics, while a maverick defense attorney and the officer's friends rally around him in an attempt to clear him of the charges.
The first sixty pages or so are backstory, somewhat more than necessary in my estimation, but some of this is necessary to set the stage for the courtroom drama that is to come. There is quite a bit of POV shifting, but once the story really gets underway, it is hard to put down.
The main characters in the story are fairly well developed -- the secondary ones less so -- there are so many that it was hard to do them all justice in a 360 pp. book. There is quite a bit of "cop speak" in the novel. Some of it gets a little tiring, but it is probably necessary for realism.
The author has a writing style that I appreciate, blending drama and excitement with a dash of humor and a healthy dose of cynicism. All in all, I would highly recommend this book for anyone who enjoys legal thrillers.
The first sixty pages or so are backstory, somewhat more than necessary in my estimation, but some of this is necessary to set the stage for the courtroom drama that is to come. There is quite a bit of POV shifting, but once the story really gets underway, it is hard to put down.
The main characters in the story are fairly well developed -- the secondary ones less so -- there are so many that it was hard to do them all justice in a 360 pp. book. There is quite a bit of "cop speak" in the novel. Some of it gets a little tiring, but it is probably necessary for realism.
The author has a writing style that I appreciate, blending drama and excitement with a dash of humor and a healthy dose of cynicism. All in all, I would highly recommend this book for anyone who enjoys legal thrillers.
March 2, 2015
Broadmeadow knows his topic. And because of it, he puts the reader in the story. His knowledge of police work and legal intricacies makes the plot develop very smoothly and makes reading very enjoyable. His characters are well developed also, you can identify with them as you follow along. I would recommend this book to anyone looking for entertainment and intrigued by police work. Looking forward to more works from Joe Broadmeadow.
March 22, 2015
Let me start off by saying this type of novel is not my cup of tea, but I'm sure a lot of men would enjoy it. If you like military, police type action/murder novels, then this is for you.
The characters were interesting, but not well enough described for me to envision them or even keep them straight till a quarter of the way through the book. I thought the book was going to be about Jojo, and ex military turned soft criminal, but it wasn't. It turned out to be about Josh, a policeman. He killed an innocent man on the job and the whole book is him awaiting his trial. Doesn't sound interesting, but there were many subplots to keep the story going, like the one between Josh and his wife, both of whom were lacking interest in each other and finding it in other people.
The language was very real, but not for the weak-hearted. I was in the Navy and can honestly say yes, military men talk exactly like that. I can only assume the author himself was in the military as well. It felt very natural to me, but like I said...it can be offensive to many not used to it.
I'm not saying I wouldn't recommend it and I'm not saying I would. I'm on the fence about this one because it was better than most writing with little errors, but just not my kind of story and not enough character description. He did a great job with character background stories, though. I'll give him that.
The characters were interesting, but not well enough described for me to envision them or even keep them straight till a quarter of the way through the book. I thought the book was going to be about Jojo, and ex military turned soft criminal, but it wasn't. It turned out to be about Josh, a policeman. He killed an innocent man on the job and the whole book is him awaiting his trial. Doesn't sound interesting, but there were many subplots to keep the story going, like the one between Josh and his wife, both of whom were lacking interest in each other and finding it in other people.
The language was very real, but not for the weak-hearted. I was in the Navy and can honestly say yes, military men talk exactly like that. I can only assume the author himself was in the military as well. It felt very natural to me, but like I said...it can be offensive to many not used to it.
I'm not saying I wouldn't recommend it and I'm not saying I would. I'm on the fence about this one because it was better than most writing with little errors, but just not my kind of story and not enough character description. He did a great job with character background stories, though. I'll give him that.
January 2, 2015
Impressive
Great story line with lots of unexpected twists and turns...and believable characters with whom you can identify. You will either love them or hate them. The author must have an extensive background with investigative police work because he deftly described the legal system, and medical terminology, as well as describing the camaraderie and banter between police officers. Being from New England, it was fun to have the story centered in familiar territory. You will enjoy this book.
Great story line with lots of unexpected twists and turns...and believable characters with whom you can identify. You will either love them or hate them. The author must have an extensive background with investigative police work because he deftly described the legal system, and medical terminology, as well as describing the camaraderie and banter between police officers. Being from New England, it was fun to have the story centered in familiar territory. You will enjoy this book.
March 14, 2015
Excellent
This was a really exciting and humorous book. Loved the reparte between the various characters. I found this book to be exceptional in it's story line. It did get a little wordy at times but that could not take away from the overall wonderful reading experience.
This was a really exciting and humorous book. Loved the reparte between the various characters. I found this book to be exceptional in it's story line. It did get a little wordy at times but that could not take away from the overall wonderful reading experience.
February 28, 2016
The story was good although not original. White cop kills black guy and gets accused of murder. The typos were incredibly distracting from the story.
July 20, 2015
This book was recommended via Goodreads (Legal Thriller group) and it was available via Amazon Prime Lenders, so I borrowed it. The first third or so of the novel was about a theft gone horribly wrong and a couple of murders committed in the process. The purpose of this back-story, I discovered, was to set up a legal case in which a police officer, Josh Williams, is charged with a race crime for shooting an unarmed black man who fled the murder scene. Josh is defended by Hawk Bennett who seems to me to be the more important protagonist in this novel. In any event, the trial ensues presided by a no-nonsense judge and I found the narrative compelling and realistic if somewhat unimaginative.
The book ends in a strange way with Josh (the accused) and his wife, Keira, being reconciled. It's long-winded, kinda mushy, and seems wholly out of place, as well as gratuitous, in the context of a legal-crime novel.
There is yet another inexcusable problem with the edition I read (cost: one star), that is, a near complete lack of proof-reading. On almost every other page, there is some grammar error, missing/incorrect word, or other problem necessitating a couple of re-reads to discern meaning. It is hard to believe that a book could be published with this poor level of editorial review!
The book ends in a strange way with Josh (the accused) and his wife, Keira, being reconciled. It's long-winded, kinda mushy, and seems wholly out of place, as well as gratuitous, in the context of a legal-crime novel.
There is yet another inexcusable problem with the edition I read (cost: one star), that is, a near complete lack of proof-reading. On almost every other page, there is some grammar error, missing/incorrect word, or other problem necessitating a couple of re-reads to discern meaning. It is hard to believe that a book could be published with this poor level of editorial review!
November 17, 2015
Novel received courtesy of Goodreads.com giveaway
I had a terrible time sticking with this book from the very beginning. There were so many grammatical mistakes, omitted words and wrong words used that I was very distracted. If I have to re-read a sentence two or three times to decide what word the author intended to use, it annoys me. If I have to re-read a sentence or a paragraph two or three times because the wrong character's name is used, it ticks me off!
The author has a good idea for a story. A cop shoots a man inside a church because he thinks the man is armed. The cop goes on trial for shooting the man because he is black. The legal battle and cops' reactions were interesting. However, the language used seemed forced and unbelievable at times. The language was unnecessarily vulgar when it didn't make sense for it to be used. The main character, Josh, writes a letter to his wife that seemed unbelievable eloquent.
All in all, the novel needs some work but is worth saving.
I had a terrible time sticking with this book from the very beginning. There were so many grammatical mistakes, omitted words and wrong words used that I was very distracted. If I have to re-read a sentence two or three times to decide what word the author intended to use, it annoys me. If I have to re-read a sentence or a paragraph two or three times because the wrong character's name is used, it ticks me off!
The author has a good idea for a story. A cop shoots a man inside a church because he thinks the man is armed. The cop goes on trial for shooting the man because he is black. The legal battle and cops' reactions were interesting. However, the language used seemed forced and unbelievable at times. The language was unnecessarily vulgar when it didn't make sense for it to be used. The main character, Josh, writes a letter to his wife that seemed unbelievable eloquent.
All in all, the novel needs some work but is worth saving.
November 1, 2015
The first in Broadmeadow’s Josh Williams series, Collision Course is not for those who wince at raw and graphic language. That being said, this debut legal thriller has very defined and strong characters, a solid story and leaves you with a desire to learn more about Josh and his friends. The message I took from reading this book is that there are self-serving crooked politicians at every level of government who will stop at nothing to further their personal ambitions. Of course, the good guys prevail here, but getting there was a challenge that kept me awake to the wee hours of the morning just so I could read the last page. I also admire the author’s ability to add a cop’s cynicism and rather dark humor. There were a couple of places that I laughed until the tears flowed. A great read for the guys on your shopping list.
~ Linda Thompson, host of TheAuthorsShow.com
~ Linda Thompson, host of TheAuthorsShow.com
November 22, 2019
It was interesting. I was expecting something different. The first half of the boom was lots of back story and was okay. The second half was the courtroom, that was really good and I enjoyed that. I might give this author another go with book 2.
May 3, 2015
Please find my review of this excellent book at http://onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-...
July 17, 2015
Too much bad language for my tast.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews