This book has some great lines about prison. One has stayed in my mind ever since I read the book 25 years ago. Jimmy Smith: "Powell was a punk in the gym in Vacaville. They bent him over a workout bar and browned em."

The two cops didn't expect anything life-altering when they pulled over the car with the busted taillight in Hollywood that Saturday night in 1963. But that was what they got. Before the night was over, one officer was dead and the other would never be the same.

Joseph Wambaugh's 1973 true-crime account of the killing is perhaps his best-known and most celebrated work, made into a memorable movie and a kind of calling card for Wambaugh's critical yet sensitive way of writing about crime and police work. "The Onion Field" may be based on a true story, but it reads like a novel, much like Truman Capote's "In Cold Blood" would have had Capote been as interested in the crime itself as in the problem of capital punishment.

Like "In Cold Blood," you have one killer who is gay and unreasonably violent, another who is a hardened tag-along. Unlike "In Cold Blood," Wambaugh wastes little sympathy for either, especially as they and their attorneys work the system to preserve their lives while the surviving cop is left roasting on a spit, forced to relive the experience that night in the lonely onion field where his partner was killed as the rest of his life spirals out of control.

There are sections where "The Onion Field" is hard to put down and others where it lulls you to sleep. Wambaugh finds everything in this case too fascinating to keep to himself, whether it's a juror with a persecution complex or a defense attorney who objects to everything in hope of getting a mistrial. The first 50 pages may be the dullest in the book, as the "before" lives of several key participants are examined to great mundane length.

But once the two felons, Jimmy Lee Smith and Gregory Powell, find each other, Wambaugh is at his best tracing their brief partnership of crime. Powell styles himself a trenchcoat-wearing mastermind, but his idea of strategy is a getaway car with a burnt clutch so there is no chance of pulling away from a job too quickly. As the pair drive around aimlessly, Powell waving his gun around, Smith wondering when he might ditch his pal and steal the loot for himself, "The Onion Field" is on a par with Wambaugh's best comedy. Then they meet their destiny and the two lawmen, and the bad guys' stupidity is no longer funny.

The other element this book really nails is the story of the surviving detective. Already wrestling with huge survivor's guilt, he is forced to endure much departmental second-guessing about how he allowed the crooks to take him alive. In time, he becomes such a mess he starts to steal, as if willing his own disgrace. Naturally, this gets brought up in court by an opportunistic defense attorney, who labels him a sociopath.

"He doesn't know the meaning of guilt," the lawyer says, ironically enough given by this point of the story guilt's all the guy does know.

I've found other Wambaugh books more compelling, especially "The Blooding," which has many of the same themes (pathology, the strain of police work) but also a better story and sharper focus. "Onion Field" is a memorable book, though, something to shake the most jaded reader into thinking about how many different ways we can find ourselves on the wrong side of the law.

I read this book many years ago. Last week, while I was browsing through used books in a Goodwill Store, I came across a hardbound copy in pristine condition. It was selling for $2.00. Needless to say, without hesitation, I bought it. I found myself an absolute treasure. Without a doubt in my mind, this is easily the finest non-fiction story of crime and retribution I have ever read, gripping and haunting thoughout. Only one other non-fiction crime story comes close to it, and that is SWORDFISH by David McClintick. If this book can be purchased, do so without hesitation. Jay Wickramasinghe, Citrus Heights, California

This gripping narrative describes the 1963 kidnapping and murder of Los Angeles police officer Ian Campbell (1931-1963) and the crime's lengthy aftermath. Campbell and his partner Karl Hettinger were kidnapped at gunpoint one night by two hoods during a routine traffic stop, and then driven into the country where Campbell was shot dead in an Onion field. Hettinger managed to flee to safety, but was left with psychological trauma and a crushing sense of guilt over his partner's death. The author details the lives of the two killers, their lengthy trials and appeals, and the aftermath for the traumatized Hettinger, who was blamed by many for allowing the tragedy to occur. Readers learn not only about the crime and its lengthy aftermath, but also about the victimization of survivors, and about our imperfect system of justice.

Author Joseph Wambaugh modeled this book after IN COLD BLOOD, Truman Capote's superb look at the 1959 murder of a Kansas farm family. Wambaugh didn't quite match Capote, but THE ONION FIELD makes excellent reading (it also became a pretty good movie). Readers might also like Wambaugh's THE BLOODING (about the first use of DNA testing) and ECHOES IN THE DARKNESS.

It has been some years since this one hit the shelves, but it is non the worse for wear. Actually, I have to agree with another reviewer in that I too, feel this is one of Wambaugh's best. A true sory, brought to light in a very readable story like format. It is rather unforgetable. The author does a very good job of not only telling us a story (Wambaugh is, after all, first and formost a great story teller), but gives us great insight into the thoughts and motivations of the killers. He gives us a wonderful profile of the oung officer who survived this horrible crime. I cannot in all truth say it is as good as "In Cold Blood," but it comes pretty close to the mark. Recommend this one highly.

This is an eeerie real life account of what happened back in 1963. the details of the investigation both shock and frustrated me as I could not believe our justice system essentially allowed these two criminals so muck leeway. The surviving cop's life became a testament to why stricted laws needed to be put in place and why therapy is something that allows a cleansing of the soul for those who need it.