Loose Units – Paul F. Verhoeven
Loose Units is “a high octane race through the grey areas of life as a cop” by Australian journalist/writer Paul F. Verhoeven (not to be confused with Dutch film director / writer Paul Verhoeven).
Part father-son story, part true crime, Loose Units is a race through the underbelly of policing as ex-cop John Verhoeven tells all to his son Paul about the crimes, the characters and the pitch-black humour.
The cover design for this pocket book seems to promise action, action and action. The title is made with two big blocks of Aachen, set in a way that suggests do-not-cross police lines. The authors’ names and the blurb look like they were scribbled at high speed. Laszczuk chose not to do the lettering of the cover himself, or to ask a lettering artist – or the father and son of this book (I am curious what that would’ve looked like!). Instead, he resorted to two readily available typefaces by U.K. based graphic designer Sam Parrett: Northwell (a typeface that emulates eroded handwriting) and Have Heart, which comes in two weights. One that resembles regular handwriting, and one all caps weight, which is used here.
