- Paperback: 336 pages
- Publisher: Mariner Books; 1 edition (Oct 14 2002)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0156026937
- ISBN-13: 978-0156026932
- Product Dimensions: 20.4 x 13.7 x 2 cm
- Shipping Weight: 331 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #1,865,906 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
Imagine a British version of James Ellroy's L.A. Confidential minus much of its imagination and blazing energy and you'll have some idea of this disappointing follow-up to Arnott's highly regarded 2001 debut thriller, The Long Firm (soon to be a BBC miniseries). Like Ellroy, Arnott chooses to tell his period story through multiple voices in this case, three young men whose lives and fates intertwine over the course of many years: Billy Porter, a soldier who becomes a criminal and winds up killing three police officers in 1966; Frank Taylor, an ambitious copper whose best friend and former partner was one of the victims; and Tony Meehan, a gay journalist with a psychotic streak. Using a real case (the killer's name was Harry Roberts, and British football hooligans and later Vietnam protestors used to sing, to the tune of "London Bridge Is Falling Down," "Harry Roberts is our friend,/ is our friend,/ is our friend./ Harry Roberts is our friend,/ He Kills Coppers!") and newsreel-like flashes from such actual events as the World Cup Final game between England and Germany and police raids on Soho vice dens, Arnott tries to paint a picture of a country crippled by moral decay, and usually succeeds in that department. Fans of the first book will recognize a few of the characters who make appearances here; the trouble is that none of the three protagonists is very interesting or original, and the words Arnott uses to bring their thoughts and feelings to life (Tony's "As I fought with my own personal Enemy Within I could content myself with voyeuristic pleasures in the slow surcease of my desperate longings" is fairly typical) fizzle rather than sizzle.
Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.Review
'Brilliant ... you won't be able to put it down.' -- Mark Sanderson, Sunday Telegraph Summer Reading 'Many thought that Jake Arnott's debut, THE LONG FIRM, was good but not quite as good as the hype tried to convince us it was. Frankly, Hemingway, Hammett and Greene together would have been hard pressed to come up with anything that good. His eagerly awaited follow-up, HE KILLS COPPERS, has arrived - and it's better.' -- Time Out
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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First Sentence
Billy's hand rested against the trunk of a tree. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
Billy's hand rested against the trunk of a tree. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
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Most helpful customer reviews
2.0 out of 5 stars
Muddled and, ultimately, disappointing,
By
This review is from: He Kills Coppers (Hardcover)
I loved The Long Firm; it was wonderful. So, naturally, I bought author Arnott's second book, He Kills Coppers. After the opening sequence, I started to wonder if I was having an extended senior moment (age often has nothing to do, I've discovered, with those senior moments. A tedious book can induce them; so can bad rap music.) I couldn't figure out which character was which, what was happening, or why.This is a book that could have used some serious definition, instead of simply placing asterisks between sections. Those asterisks, one learns after much confusion, indicate a shift to another character. And some of the characters are written in third person, some in the first. As well, the copy-editing leaves much to be desired. (Who's instead of whose was one of my favorite goofs.) References to both Beatniks and hippies in supposedly the same era distorts the time frame--Beatniks were of the 50s, hippies of the latter 60s and early 70s. So it's not only hard to jump from one character to the next, it's also tough figuring out the era. At moments, the book leaps to life and for twenty or thirty pages it becomes gripping. Then the grip eases and we're back in the muddle--reading of characters about whom it's hard to care; killers, cops, thugs of every stripe. And, finally, an ending that leaves one thinking, "So what?" A very disappointing effort.
4.0 out of 5 stars
A page-turner,
By
This review is from: He Kills Coppers (Hardcover)
The story of the murderer Billy Porter, as told by various people whose lives he affected.This entertaining crime novel is Arnott's follow-up to "The Long Firm" - although it's not strictly a sequel, it's similar in format, and several of the characters from the earlier novel reappear. I thought that it was a good read, though I imagine that it will not surprise or overly impress real crime fiction fans (I am a strict amateur!). The action takes place mostly in 1966, the strongest part of the book in my opinion, then shifts to 1971 and then again to 1985. Arnott paints a picture of an English underworld in which both criminals and corrupt police operate to their mutual advantage. Yet, this is not a self-contained substratum of society - the dividing lines between the criminal world and "respectable" society are very grey. Arnott's England is one which is increasingly at odds with itself: the tension of the "swinging" yet still repressed 1960s; prone to mindless violence (soccer riots of the 1970s); and riven by the bitter strife of the mid-1980s. The establishment has lost its way, become corrupt and lost the confidence and respect of the masses it purports to lead. I enjoyed this novel (as I did "The Long Firm"). Whether or not Arnott can go on to develop new themes in future novels remains to be seen.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Funny, violent and vintage Arnott,
By A Customer
This review is from: He Kills Coppers (Hardcover)
If you loved The Long Firm, you'll really love He Kills Coppers. Arnott is a master at crafting round characters and each of the 3 narrators here jump from the page. Its nice to know that British noir is alive and well in Jake Arnott's hands.
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