Standoff

Starred review from May 11, 2020
Journalist Thompson debuts with a spellbinding and meticulously researched account of the deadly attack on Dallas law enforcement officers at a July 2016 rally to protest the police shootings of Philando Castile, in Minnesota, and Alton Sterling, in Louisiana. Drawing on interviews and video and audio recordings, Thompson recreates the assault—which killed five police officers, wounded 11 people, and ended with the death of attacker Micah Xavier Johnson by robot-delivered bomb—from the perspectives of key players including Dallas police chief David Brown; SWAT team negotiator Larry Gordon; protester Shetamia Taylor, who was shot in the leg while shielding her son from Johnson’s bullets; and trauma surgeon Brian Williams, who operated on the wounded officers. Thompson laces her moment-by-moment rundown of the event with harrowing descriptions of the string of police killings that galvanized the Black Lives Matter movement, and illuminating historical tangents about the JFK assassination, the Attica prison uprising, and the disastrous 1985 police bombing of a black activist group’s headquarters in Philadelphia. Throughout, she spotlights the complexities of the racial dynamics involved, noting, for example, that Williams, “the only black doctor on a team of twelve trauma surgeons,” both sympathized with Johnson’s anger over police killings of black men and tried to save the lives of the white cops he targeted. This standout account is both a riveting page-turner and a nuanced portrait of one of contemporary America’s most divisive social issues.

September 1, 2020
On July 7, 2016, a gunman opened fire on police during a peaceful protest in Dallas to demand justice after a police officer killed Philando Castile during a traffic stop. After exchanging fire, the gunman fled to a nearby building where the SWAT team cornered him for a multi-hour standoff. Journalist Thompson, who won an award for her Dallas Morning News story of the event, chronicles that night moment by moment, depicting the perspectives of a protester, multiple Dallas police and SWAT team officers, a trauma surgeon, Dallas' mayor, and others. Told in evocative detail drawn from hours of body-camera footage and interviews, Standoff is a complex look at a traumatic, life-altering event. Most striking is the viewpoint of Senior Cpl. Larry Gordon, SWAT negotiator and one of two Black men on the team. Because most of the perspectives come from law enforcement, Standoff at times seems to argue for the continued militarization of police departments. This look at recent history adds to the ongoing conversation around police brutality and racism in the U.S.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)

February 1, 2020

An Edward R. Murrow Award-winning journalist, Thompson expands her Washington Post coverage of the 2016 Dallas shooting that killed five police officers and injured more at a protest over the killing of two black men by white police officers. With portraits of the shooter, the veteran black officer who (controversially) kept him occupied until SWAT officers could eliminate him, and others, Thompson considers what being safe in this country really means.

Copyright 2020 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from August 1, 2020

Tensions boiled over during the summer of 2016 as activists and others took to the streets nationwide to protest the police shooting deaths of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile. On July 7, Dallas-area activists planned to protest by marching through the downtown area of the city. By the end of day five, police officers lay dead with several wounded, shot while on duty by a gunman armed with a semiautomatic rifle. In her first book, Thompson, who covered this story for the Washington Post and the Dallas Morning News, takes readers inside the gun battle, which raged over Dallas streets and ended, hours later, with the death of the gunman inside a local community college from an improvised bomb fashioned by Dallas SWAT explosives experts. Thompson conducted in-depth interviews, and reviewed numerous documents and hundreds of hours of camera footage to assemble this detailed account of the tragic events. She explores the thoughts and feelings of the SWAT team members, giving their perspectives greater depth and clarity, while placing the events in their proper context. VERDICT Readers interested in issues of police violence, race relations, and true crime will find this work illuminating.--Chad E. Statler, Westlake Porter P.L., Westlake, OH

Copyright 2020 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from May 1, 2020
An absorbing account of a 2016 ambush that left five Dallas police officers dead. Based on hundreds of hours of interviews, Texas journalist Thompson chronicles the events before, during, and after July 7, 2016, when a disaffected man acting alone murdered five Dallas police officers and terrorized an entire city before being stopped. The author, who covered the shooting for the Washington Post and, later, the Dallas Morning News, avoids discussing the murderer until more than 200 pages into the narrative. Instead, she focuses on law enforcement and civilians who entered the line of fire, explaining why and how they converged on downtown Dallas on that fatal night. Large crowds had gathered to protest against police in various cities killing civilians without cause, especially black men. The death of Philando Castile in Minnesota had especially angered the protesters. Of all the major characters, Senior Cpl. Larry Gordon is the most memorable. A black officer and negotiator on the Dallas SWAT team, his specialty is to talk to holed-up criminals, citizens contemplating suicide, and any others within his jurisdiction who could be persuaded with words. Gordon seems ideal for his specific task due in large part to his empathy and his understanding of the complex racial undercurrents involved in police work, both of which are on full display throughout the text. As Thompson also makes clear, Gordon does not automatically cover for his brethren; he is unafraid to call out injustice when he sees it. Throughout the book, the author deftly weaves Gordon's opinions and experiences with those of her other significant characters, including Mayor Mike Rawlings, Chief David Brown, trauma surgeon Brian Williams, public transit police officer Misty McBride, and protester Shetamia Taylor, who was shot in the leg by the perpetrator. Thompson's storytelling gift allows her to maintain suspense despite the outcome being known in advance. A nail-biting and nuanced true-life police procedural. (photo insert)

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