警察執勤中：正義的代價

Yen Yu’s novels are so good! It’s the fourth one I read, and I’ve loved them all.
Like the others, 警察執勤中：正義的代價 gives such a good and honest insights on police every day work, showing all the not so glorious parts of being a police officer. The other novels I read were told from the point of view of novices, but this time we follow a veteran: Wang Shuoyen. He is also such an interesting character, someone who is a master at slacking on the job and getting around cumbersome and inefficient procedures, while knowing the line between breaking the rules and breaking the law.
I find that the reader is always placed in an interesting spot, because as a reader, we can only sympathise with the characters, but as a citizen, it’s hard not to get mad at some of the practices described in the book.
But the novel is much more than a good social novel, it’s also a suspenseful political thriller and action thriller whose pace keeps on accelerating. 警察執勤中：正義的代價 tackles a nationwide corruption case that has the potential to completely shake Taiwan political world.
The way high rank officials would do anything to cover themselves and how low-ranked officials are easily sacrificed along the way is a recurrent theme in Yen Yu’s novels, but in 警察執勤中：正義的代價, I felt really mad so many times.
I think this novel is really excellent, it’s a harsh critic of the system of factions that corrupts all the governmental offices, but it’s also a really suspenseful thriller.

From my understanding, patrol boxes are wall-mounted metal boxes installed by police departments on police officers patrol route. The boxes contain a log, so the officer in duty open the box, and sign their name to prove they patrolled the area.
I also read that citizens can apply to have a patrol box placed near their house if they want the police to add their area in their patrol (to prevent burglary when they’re away for vacation)
Apparently, the paper log is now replaced with electronic devices.