Women Warriors: Stories from the Thin Blue Line

“Women Warriors, like the sisters in arms featured in these stories, delivers mightily.”

I don’t often get the opportunity to read nonfiction books that don’t directly pertain to a novel I am researching. But when this book was brought to my attention, I made an exception.

John Wills’ Women Warriors: Stories from the Thin Blue Line is a collection of stories told firsthand by female law enforcement officers.

Through a series of vignettes related by these authors as they handle cases both mundane and unique, Women Warriors takes the reader behind the scenes of what it is like for a woman to wear a badge and carry a gun.

But this book is not just about women in uniform. While Women Warriors thoroughly examines the issues that a woman faces while doing the job, in a more expansive sense, it also gives a unique behind-the-scenes glimpse of what it is like on a day-to-day basis to put on the uniform and work as a law-enforcement officer—regardless of gender.

Women Warriors explores what officers think, how they interact with offenders, how they defuse potentially hostile situations, and what can go wrong on even the most routine of shifts.

During my own writing career, I’ve been fortunate to have worked for 15 years with the senior female FBI profiler at the Behavioral Analysis Unit. This agent’s cooperation has afforded me tremendous insight into what it’s like, professionally and personally, for a woman to stand up to not only violent serial killers but sometimes also the men in her own unit. Her stories and experiences proved invaluable to me while writing my thrillers that revolve around a female FBI profiler.

Women Warriors provides the same type of insight into what it’s like for a woman to face off against criminals of all types, some of whom would so much as stick a knife between your ribs as give you directions to the local 7-Eleven.

One of the beauties of Women Warriors is the diversity of the stories. In some cases, they recount a specific case they worked and how it impacted their law-enforcement career.

In other cases, touching and tear-generating stories are related in a manner showcasing how a particular call changed their lives forever.

One such deeply affecting story is an officer’s description of her experiences on 9/11. It’s the poignancy, the personal voice, and the unique insight into what was going through this officer’s mind as she responded to her colleagues’ calls for help while the twin towers crumbled, that makes Women Warriors a special read, unlike most other books you will buy this year.

Women Warriors should be on your Nook, Kindle, or iPad—or on your night table—to be read, shared with your friends on Facebook, and Tweeted about.

John Wills’ 33 years in law enforcement has afforded him a unique perspective in assembling a collection of stories worthy of telling, behind the women who daily put their lives on the line.

Fittingly, it’s Mr. Wills’ words that best sum up Women Warriors: “I refer to them as Women Warriors because, as you will see, they fight tenaciously and savagely to uphold the oath they swore: To Serve and Protect.”