Here are 38 books that Rise of the Warrior Cop fans have personally recommended if you like Rise of the Warrior Cop. Book DNA is a community of 12,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.

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Book cover of Dark Ghettos: Injustice, Dissent, and Reform

Luke Hunt Author Of Police Deception and Dishonesty: The Logic of Lying

From my list on the cluster-f*ck we call policing.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’m an Associate Professor in the University of Alabama’s Department of Philosophy. I worked as an FBI Special Agent before making the natural transition to academic philosophy. Being a professor was always a close second to Quantico, but that scene in Point Break in which Keanu Reeves and Patrick Swayze fight Anthony Kiedis on the beach made it seem like the FBI would be more fun than academia. In my current position as a professor at the University of Alabama, I teach in my department’s Jurisprudence Specialization. My primary research interests are at the intersection of philosophy of law, political philosophy, and criminal justice. I’ve written three books on policing.

Luke's book list on the cluster-f*ck we call policing

Luke Hunt Why Luke loves this book

I love this book because it provides a broad, philosophical backdrop for questions about policing.

We often hear policy recommendations regarding how to improve the plight of the urban poor, but Shelby argues that the central problem is more about the state’s failure to adhere to basic principles of justice. Rampant criminality in impoverished communities can thus be construed as a response to systematic injustice.

This book is a fascinating study of the ways that injustice can limit the range of rational life choices.

By Tommie Shelby ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Dark Ghettos as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Winner of the Spitz Prize, Conference for the Study of Political Thought
Winner of the North American Society for Social Philosophy Book Award

Why do American ghettos persist? Scholars and commentators often identify some factor-such as single motherhood, joblessness, or violent street crime-as the key to solving the problem and recommend policies accordingly. But, Tommie Shelby argues, these attempts to "fix" ghettos or "help" their poor inhabitants ignore fundamental questions of justice and fail to see the urban poor as moral agents responding to injustice.

"Provocative...[Shelby] doesn't lay out a jobs program or a housing initiative. Indeed, as he freely…


If you love Rise of the Warrior Cop...

Book cover of The Rosewood Penny

The Rosewood Penny by J.S. Fields,

2023 Queer Indie Award Nominee!

The dragons of Yuro have been hunted to extinction.

On a small, isolated island, in a reclusive forest, lives bandit leader Marani and her brother Jacks. With their outlaw band they rob from the rich to feed themselves, raiding carriages and dodging the occasional vindictive…

Book cover of Street Stories: The World of Police Detectives

Luke Hunt Author Of Police Deception and Dishonesty: The Logic of Lying

From my list on the cluster-f*ck we call policing.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’m an Associate Professor in the University of Alabama’s Department of Philosophy. I worked as an FBI Special Agent before making the natural transition to academic philosophy. Being a professor was always a close second to Quantico, but that scene in Point Break in which Keanu Reeves and Patrick Swayze fight Anthony Kiedis on the beach made it seem like the FBI would be more fun than academia. In my current position as a professor at the University of Alabama, I teach in my department’s Jurisprudence Specialization. My primary research interests are at the intersection of philosophy of law, political philosophy, and criminal justice. I’ve written three books on policing.

Luke's book list on the cluster-f*ck we call policing

Luke Hunt Why Luke loves this book

How should theorizing about the police be reconciled with the practical reality of policing?

Jackall’s book illustrates the difficulty of answering this question by drawing on his years of fieldwork with New York City police detectives, illuminating the tension between theory and the rough-and-tumble world of police work.

It is one thing to ponder the justification of, say, deceptive practices from within the confines of the ivory tower and quite another to face that question in an interrogation room with someone suspected of a heinous crime.

The book is an engaging study of life on the street.

By Robert Jackall ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Street Stories as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Detectives work the streets - an arena of action, vice, lust, greed, aggression, and violence - to gather shards of information about who did what to whom. They also work the cumbersome machinery of the justice system - semi-military police hierarchies with their endless jockeying for prestige, procedure-driven district attorney offices, and backlogged courts - transforming hardwon street knowledge into public narratives of responsibility for crime. Street Stories, based on years of fieldwork with the New York City Police Department and the District Attorney of New York, examines the moral ambiguities of the detectives' world as they shuttle between the…


Book cover of Predict and Surveil: Data, Discretion, and the Future of Policing

Luke Hunt Author Of Police Deception and Dishonesty: The Logic of Lying

From my list on the cluster-f*ck we call policing.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’m an Associate Professor in the University of Alabama’s Department of Philosophy. I worked as an FBI Special Agent before making the natural transition to academic philosophy. Being a professor was always a close second to Quantico, but that scene in Point Break in which Keanu Reeves and Patrick Swayze fight Anthony Kiedis on the beach made it seem like the FBI would be more fun than academia. In my current position as a professor at the University of Alabama, I teach in my department’s Jurisprudence Specialization. My primary research interests are at the intersection of philosophy of law, political philosophy, and criminal justice. I’ve written three books on policing.

Luke's book list on the cluster-f*ck we call policing

Luke Hunt Why Luke loves this book

I love this book because it reminds us of the many ways that technology can affect justice.

It is tempting to think sophisticated tactics such as “predictive policing” can solve all problems relating to human bias. However, Brayne shows that data and algorithms do not eliminate bias and discretion. Instead, high-tech police tools simply make bias less overt and visible, which erodes the public’s ability to hold the police accountable.

I especially enjoyed how the book flips the script, considering diverse ways to use these tools to help the public. For example, how can municipalities use technology to analyze the underlying factors that contribute to policing problems in the first place?

By Sarah Brayne ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Predict and Surveil as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The scope of criminal justice surveillance, from the police to the prisons, has expanded rapidly in recent decades. At the same time, the use of big data has spread across a range of fields, including finance, politics, health, and marketing. While law enforcement's use of big data is hotly contested, very little is known about how the police actually use it in daily operations and with what consequences.

In Predict and Surveil, Sarah Brayne offers an unprecedented, inside look at how police use big data and new surveillance technologies, leveraging on-the-ground fieldwork with one of the most technologically advanced law…


If you love Radley Balko...

Book cover of Tangle of Time

Tangle of Time by Maureen Thorpe,

A spellbinding journey through time and cultures.

When Annie Thornton, midwife and apprentice witch, falls through time to a 15th-century Yorkshire village with her telepathic cat, Rosamund, she befriends Will and Jack, two soldiers returning from the French Wars. Mistress Meg, Annie’s ancestral aunt living in the 15th century, is…

Book cover of Tangled Up in Blue: Policing the American City

Luke Hunt Author Of Police Deception and Dishonesty: The Logic of Lying

From my list on the cluster-f*ck we call policing.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’m an Associate Professor in the University of Alabama’s Department of Philosophy. I worked as an FBI Special Agent before making the natural transition to academic philosophy. Being a professor was always a close second to Quantico, but that scene in Point Break in which Keanu Reeves and Patrick Swayze fight Anthony Kiedis on the beach made it seem like the FBI would be more fun than academia. In my current position as a professor at the University of Alabama, I teach in my department’s Jurisprudence Specialization. My primary research interests are at the intersection of philosophy of law, political philosophy, and criminal justice. I’ve written three books on policing.

Luke's book list on the cluster-f*ck we call policing

Luke Hunt Why Luke loves this book

This book is so unique because Brooks recounts her experience applying to be a sworn, armed reserve police officer with the Washington, DC, Metropolitan Police Department.

The book thus provides a window into the typically closed-off life within the police institution. It’s a compelling account—based on first-hand experience—of how we can better understand and improve the police institution. Also, the book is simply chock-full of good storytelling.

By Rosa Brooks ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Tangled Up in Blue as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Named one of the best nonfiction books of the year by The Washington Post

“Tangled Up in Blue is a wonderfully insightful book that provides a lens to critically analyze urban policing and a road map for how our most dispossessed citizens may better relate to those sworn to protect and serve.” —The Washington Post
 
“Remarkable . . . Brooks has produced an engaging page-turner that also outlines many broadly applicable lessons and sensible policy reforms.” —Foreign Affairs

Journalist and law professor Rosa Brooks goes beyond the "blue wall of silence" in this radical inside examination of American policing

In…


Book cover of The War on Cops

Craig McGuire Author Of Empire City Under Siege

From my list on appreciating different aspects of law enforcement.

Why am I passionate about this?

I selected the five works below, as each highlights different themes explored in my latest work. Taken together, this collection delivers a well-rounded, multi-dimensional view into a world that is often simplified in popular culture but far more complex, courageous, and human than most people realize. These books illuminate different facets of law enforcement—from the raw courage required in moments of crisis to the resourcefulness demanded in prolonged investigations. 

Above all, these works stand out for their honesty and realism, revealing both the triumphs and the tolls of a career committed to protecting others. Together, they provide readers with a deeper appreciation of the people, the pressures, and the evolving landscape of modern law enforcement.

Craig's book list on appreciating different aspects of law enforcement

Craig McGuire Why Craig loves this book

In my book, a teenage Anthony Nelson is inspired to pursue a career at the FBI by an advertisement presenting the bureau as the hardest job imaginable. Heather Mac Donald offers up a powerful, data-driven examination that dramatically underscores this premise. 

Drawing on meticulous research, dogged field reporting, and interviews with an amazing cross-section of officers across the country, Mac Donald dispels myths as she reveals context and far-too-often-unseen challenges police confront daily. 

Today’s members of law enforcement face dramatic rises in violence, harsh public scrutiny, and undulating politically driven pressures, coupled with severe emotional and physical demands.

Unfortunately, there is a steady undertone of the public maligning of law enforcement evident today that Mac Donald plumbs in depth. What Mac Donald does is inject into this conversation undeniable data and dramatic details to bridge that wide delta between on-the-ground realities and public misperceptions, which ultimately assault the psyche of…

By Heather Mac Donald ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The War on Cops as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Violent crime has been rising sharply in many American cities after two decades of decline. Homicides jumped nearly 17 percent in 2015 in the largest 50 cities, the biggest one-year increase since 1993. The reason is what Heather Mac Donald first identified nationally as the "Ferguson effect": Since the 2014 police shooting death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, officers have been backing off of proactive policing, and criminals are becoming emboldened. This book expands on Mac Donald's groundbreaking and controversial reporting on the Ferguson effect and the criminal-justice system. It deconstructs the central narrative of the Black Lives Matter…


Book cover of Policing Los Angeles: Race, Resistance, and the Rise of the LAPD

Clarence Taylor Author Of Fight the Power: African Americans and the Long History of Police Brutality in New York City

From my list on race and policing.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am Professor Emeritus of History at Baruch College and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York.  I grew up in Brooklyn, New York during the turbulent decades of the 1950s and 1960s where there were numerous social protest movements against the War in Vietnam, school segregation, and police brutality.  My books explore the men and women who battled institutional racism.

Clarence's book list on race and policing

Clarence Taylor Why Clarence loves this book

Between 1960 and the 1990s, the budget, size, and power of LAPD dramatically grew in spite of attempts to use regulatory powers of the government to control the police. “Racial targeting was central to the LAPD’s expansion despite twenty years of liberal leadership of the city. The problem in LA, similar to most urban centers, was a reliance on the police to manage social problems that were “rooted in Los Angeles’ history of segregation, inequality, and poverty.” But such an approach “led to disciplinary practices of surveillance, harassment, and arrest that criminalized and excluded black and Latino/a residents.”

Black Los Angeles citizens were seen by the police as threats to public safety and not deemed worthy of the protection of the law. In its battle against crime, social movements, and drug gangs, the Los Angeles Police Department was able to legitimate their authority to use coercive power to control the…

By Max Felker-Kantor ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Policing Los Angeles as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

When the Los Angeles neighborhood of Watts erupted in violent protest in August 1965, the uprising drew strength from decades of pent-up frustration with employment discrimination, residential segregation, and poverty. But the more immediate grievance was anger at the racist and abusive practices of the Los Angeles Police Department. Yet in the decades after Watts, the LAPD resisted all but the most limited demands for reform made by activists and residents of color, instead intensifying its power.

In Policing Los Angeles, Max Felker-Kantor narrates the dynamic history of policing, anti-police abuse movements, race, and politics in Los Angeles from the…


If you love Rise of the Warrior Cop...

Book cover of Chasing Light

Chasing Light by Traci Medford-Rosow,

Chasing Light is a lyrical meditation on grief, memory, and the fragile beauty of everyday life. At its core, it is a story of resilience, forgiveness, and the transformational power of human connection. It sheds light on the overlooked realities of homelessness and addiction, while emphasizing the importance of compassion…

Book cover of Heaven, My Home

Scott Montgomery Author Of Austin Noir

From my list on crime with a whole lot of Texas.

Why am I passionate about this?

I have spent over twenty years over (fifteen in Texas) recommending crime fiction as a bookseller in a couple of prominent stores. Texas and its writers have always fascinated me. Now that I get to call myself one, I am connected more to the genre literature of my adopted state and have an insider's view as both writer and resident.

Scott's book list on crime with a whole lot of Texas

Scott Montgomery Why Scott loves this book

The first in Locke’s Highway 59 series, featuring African American Texas ranger Darren Matthews involving two bodies one black, one white that wash up in a small East Texas town.

The story combines procedural, western, and Southern gothic to give an entertaining, human, yet unflinching look at race both past and present. This book enlightened me on how much African Americans contribute to what we call Texas culture.

By Attica Locke ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Heaven, My Home as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Waterstones' Thriller of the Month June 2020
Shortlisted for the Orwell Prize 2020
A Sunday Times Book of the Year
'Political crime fiction of the highest order' Sunday Times

Nine-year-old Levi King knew he should have left for home sooner; instead he found himself all alone, adrift on the vastness of Caddo Lake. A sudden noise - and all goes dark.
Ranger Darren Mathews is trying to emerge from another kind of darkness; his career and reputation lie in the hands of his mother, who's never exactly had his best interests at heart. Now she holds the key to his…


Book cover of Death of an Expert Witness

Desmond P. Ryan Author Of 10-33 Assist PC

From my list on police procedurals with a flawed protagonist.

Why am I passionate about this?

For almost thirty years, I worked as a cop in the back alleys, poorly lit laneways, and forgotten neighbourhoods in Toronto, the city where I grew up. Murder, mayhem, and sexual violations intended to demean, shame, and haunt the victims were all in a day’s work. Whether as a beat cop or a plainclothes detective, I dealt with good people who did bad things and bad people who followed their instincts. And now that I’m retired, I can take some of those experiences and turn them into crime fiction novels.

Desmond's book list on police procedurals with a flawed protagonist

Desmond P. Ryan Why Desmond loves this book

P.D. James’ Adam Dalgleish is a wonderful, complex character that lifted the stereotypical police investigator up from insensitive knuckle-dragger to poetic hero, in my opinion.

In this particular book (there are fourteen in total), Dalgleish is presented with way too many motives but no actual physical evidence, which is always fun as a reader (not so much fun for the detective). 

By P. D. James ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Death of an Expert Witness as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Now a major Channel 5 series

'The Queen of Crime.' New York Times

When a young girl is found murdered in a field, the scientific examination of the exhibits is just a routine job for the staff of Hoggatt's forensic science laboratory. But nothing could have prepared them for the brutal death of one of their own. When the senior biologist is found dead in his laboratory Commander Dalgliesh is called to the bleak fens of East Anglia, where the murderer is lying in wait to strike again . . .

'One of the most spine-chilling writers around.' Observer

'The…


Book cover of The Last Coyote

Aime Austin Author Of Judged

From my list on crime fiction that made me love the human race.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’m agnostic to book genre. If I see it, I will try it. I read all over the place. I just finished a book on online dating and race, the buzzy fiction of the moment, and a self-help book. There are two genre’s that are my absolute favorites, though, women’s fiction, and police procedurals. I’ve read Elizabeth George, Julia Spencer Fleming, Michael Connelly, and Tana French since they started publishing. While I enjoy the whodunit nature of the books, my favorite parts are those quiet moments of pure, unfettered relations between people who care for each other in an otherwise chaotic world. It’s what I write and what I read.

Aime's book list on crime fiction that made me love the human race

Aime Austin Why Aime loves this book

The Harry Bosch series has been long and often predictable.

Bosch has a strong belief that if everybody doesn’t count, nobody counts. He has to hold up his image of justice against an LAPD that plays politics, and a city populace easily swayed by the latest headlines.

What I love about The Last Coyote is that it’s a very personal novel where Bosch examines his relationship with his deceased mother Marjorie Phillips Lowe, a prostitute who was brutally murdered. While on psychiatric leave, Bosch takes on the case of his mother’s unsolved murder.

It’s a wonderfully nuanced exploration of the relationship between a mother and son, a cop and his own psyche, and a city and its most reviled citizens.

By Michael Connelly ,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked The Last Coyote as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

LAPD detective Harry Bosch is down on his luck - his house is condemned in the aftermath of the earthquake, his girlfriend has left him and he has been suspended for attacking his superior officer.

To occupy time, he examines the old case files covering a murder which took place on October 28, 1961. The victim was Marjorie Phillips Lowe - his mother . . .

The case forces Bosch to confront the demons of the past, and as he digs deeper into the case, he discovers a trail of cover-ups that lead to the high-ups in the Hollywood Hills…


If you love Radley Balko...

Book cover of Portrait of an Artist as a Young Woman

Portrait of an Artist as a Young Woman by Alexis Krasilovsky,

Kate from Jules et Jim meets I Love Dick.

A young woman filmmaker’s journey of self-discovery, set against a backdrop of the sexual liberation movement of the 1970s and 1980s. In Portrait of an Artist as a Young Woman, we follow Ana Fried as she faces the ultimate…

Book cover of Birdman

Simon Cluett Author Of Minotaur

From my list on thrillers with serial killers that get under your skin.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’ve been lucky enough to have a happy childhood and enjoy a fulfilling life. Nevertheless, I’ve always been drawn to the darkness… the macabre, the sinister, and the bizarre. My selection of books has, in one way or another, helped to shape me as a writer. I’m constantly fascinated by the process of creating truly disturbed, twisted, or hideous characters. I enjoy the process of working out what makes them tick; shedding my own moral compass and experiencing the world through their eyes… wherever that ends up taking me. 

Simon's book list on thrillers with serial killers that get under your skin

Simon Cluett Why Simon loves this book

This one is in my top ten books because of its “wow” factor, and its influence on me as a writer. It’s the first in the late, great Mo Hayder’s series featuring D.I. Jack Caffrey. He’s a character who is haunted by grief and guilt but driven to find out what happened to his brother, who went missing as a child, and to track down a present-day killer known as ‘Birdman’. How this maniac gets his nickname still makes my stomach churn.  

By Mo Hayder ,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Birdman as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

This dark and disturbingly compelling thriller from bestselling and prize-winning author Mo Hayder is not for the faint-hearted. Perfect for fans of Stephen King, Stuart MacBride and Karin Slaughter, it is one read you won't be able to forget easily...

'A first-class shocker . . . a frightening mix of forensics, thrills, analytical police work and poetic images.' -- Guardian
'Wickedly constructed . . . The detail, if you can stomach it, is fascinating.' -- Daily Telegraph
'Hayder's vibrant narrative and crunchy characterisation propel the book along to its denouement with fearsome velocity' -- The Times
'WOW! This is one…


Book cover of Dark Ghettos: Injustice, Dissent, and Reform
Book cover of Street Stories: The World of Police Detectives
Book cover of Predict and Surveil: Data, Discretion, and the Future of Policing

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