If I had to sum up this title in one nugget of thought, it would be as Donnie Brasco with a Warren Ellis trademark over-the-top approach. Ellis tackles the undercover cop drama with a Western bent, in that ethical issues are resolved with blazing barrels. It's completely gratuitous and extreme, but it's solidly entertaining and well executed. Ellis has crafted a strong, sexy heroine whose anger and righteousness dictate her actions. Harris's distinctive style shines here as well, but it's clear he's adapted his artwork somewhat to fit with the exaggerated tone of the character concepts and violence.
Deanna Ransome wants to buy drugs. A lot of drugs. She wants them for trafficking purposes, and she's willing to deal with just about anyone to get them. Ransome is an undercover cop who's willing to be and capable of being as bad as those she's tasked to infiltrate and bring down, but there are lines she won't cross. Slaughtering scumbags isn't one of those lines, though, as she's all too willing to demonstrate when she comes face to face with another woman's nightmare. Ransome is in trouble with her superiors as a result, but one boss offers her a way to make amends, and it involves the only other undercover narcotics officer better at the job than she is.
Harris offers a slightly more twisted vision of the corrupt characters than we sometimes see from him, and it's in keeping with the exaggerated tone of the plotting and violence. The shootouts and bloodletting is so over the top that it's almost cartoony, and the bad guys -- druggies who value nothing but their next high -- are depicted as being a bit cartoony themselves, but nevertheless corrupt and disgusting. I like how Harris maintains a badass look for the protagonist but he never sacrifices her femininity either. She exudes strength, but she never has to look like a guy to do it.
Harris also helps Ellis sell the almost inexplicable eruption of violence in the first half of the book. The tears and desperation on a victim's face makes it easy to buy into Ransome's sacrifice of her assignment. It's surprisingly easy to cheer on the primal nature of the ethical code she adopts... so easy that it's actually a bit disturbing personally. But that's just strong storytelling, evoking an emotional response and awareness in the reader.
That first half of the book really just serves to establish the main character, to demonstrate that there's nothing she won't do in the name of what she believes to be right. Given the nature of the plot that emerges by the issue's end, that's important. I like that this isn't an undercover story about how a slippery slope ends up compromising the hero, who he or she ends up doing things s/he would never have otherwise considered. Ransome is already there, in many respects. 8/10
