Senile Squad Review
Welcome to another week of book reviewing. Today’s book has me a little bit out of my comfort zone in that it is NOT Science Fiction or Fantasy, which is where I really feel most at home. But, it was kinda fun to get out and try something a little different for a few days (which made me then run to the biggest fantasy book I could find lol). So be warned, if you are someone who (1) loves cop shows, (2) is or has been in law enforcement, or (3) currently lives in the Omaha metro you will enjoy this book a lot more than someone who doesn’t.
A little out of the ordinary, but today I’m going to start by talking about the author. Chris LeGrow is a police officer, and has been for a couple decades. I know him a little (and his family a little better) from our days living outside Omaha. He did personal safety classes for the women/young women in our church every couple years, and is a really engaging speaker. In the back of the book, Chris lists all the different law enforcement jobs he’s had and it’s impressive. So I don’t doubt he knows exactly what he’s talking about when it comes to these types of things. 100% he is an expert in Cop Stuff.
Now to the book! Senile Squad is somewhere between thriller and comedy. I’ve done some reading in both, but in no way am I an expert in these genres. But here we go anyway 😊. Senile Squad is all about retired cops. They have lots of expertise in solving crime, but can’t do the computers etc. and they’re OLD. Not newly past retirement, but needing nursing care in most cases. The story begins when a rich guy in Omaha (it’s actually a city with a surprising number of millionaires/billionaires, not just Warren Buffett) gathering his rich friends together to develop a special nursing home for these retired cops. On the outside it’s all about community outreach to neighborhoods and such, but underneath is all about the old guys sneaking out and helping fight crime. Which they then report to the local crimestoppers anonymous tip line. And we follow how that works out for the first year or so of their operations.
For characters we basically have a few groups that aren’t directly related to the others until later in the story. First off of course is Sarge, who leads all the geezer cops in their ‘precinct’ that’s actually designed in the old style and is part of the nursing home where they all live. With Sarge we usually have Tiny and Smitty, Smitty’s daughter Brittany, along with several others with smaller parts. Then we have the Police Chief with his assistant and Jake, his communications specialist with a tragic backstory and a hot face. And then we have the bad guys, Clubba (who literally likes to take baseball bats to people who disappoint him), a child of Sudanese refugees who is working on being the king of the gangs. He spends a good portion of the year timeframe of the book in prison, where he meets Ernest (who’s in for life) and corresponds with his ‘soldiers’ through his cousin.
As the book goes along, the Senile Squad is able to gather a lot of intel and innocently tail all the bad guys while also solving several smaller crimes and stopping some domestic violence of course; there are a lot of these old guys! Because really, who notices a couple old guys sitting around the park? If you’re worried about someone following you, it’s going to generally be a young, able-bodied person, isn’t it? It’s a lot of fun to see the old guys out in their walkers and canes that shoot tasers or pepper spray. They’re also spitting out dentures all over too, which is great. Then there are the piss packs… The old guys are often wearing a catheter, and they hold on to those full bags. Sometimes for days. And then they throw them on bad guys. It’s actually pretty gross to me, but in the book the old guys love it. And honestly, I thought it was too over the top until I spent time with my grandpa over the 4th of July holiday and then it seemed pretty accurate. So you’ll have to decide for yourself I suppose.
My favorite part of the story was the romance (which is more up my alley than either thriller or comedy) between Brittany and Jake. Not sure it’s the most realistic ever, but it made me laugh and was a sweet spot in this otherwise overly-male story.
In the end, as with all good cop shows, the good guys come out on top. Not saying how, because y’all might be going straight to Amazon to pick up your copy. But this is not like a Christopher Nolan Batman movie where they win but it’s almost a loss anyway. The good guys win, the bad guys get what’s coming to them, and we are all set for a second book (which I hear is in the works). If you enjoy a good stakeout, a little potty humor, and some light romance on the side you’ll definitely get a kick out of this book.
