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The Murder Exchange
 
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The Murder Exchange (Hardcover)

by Simon Kernick (Author)
4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
Price: CDN$ 34.95 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over CDN$ 39. Details
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  • This item: The Murder Exchange by Simon Kernick

    Usually ships within 4 to 6 weeks.
    Ships from and sold by Amazon.ca.
    Eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over CDN$ 39. Details

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Product Description

From Publishers Weekly

If British author Kernick's second gritty crime novel doesn't quite measure up to his superb debut, The Business of Dying (2003), with which it shares a few secondary characters, it still has plenty of rewards, including two first-person narrators. The paths of Max Iversson, a former mercenary now working as a private security guard, and Det. Sgt. John Gallan, an honest and dedicated officer trying to regain his previous rank as an inspector, intersect after a routine bodyguard job goes disastrously wrong for Iversson, resulting in the murder of his client and the death of the two other hired guards. The body count continues to climb as various members of a vicious London gang with connections to the Balkans turn up dead while Gallan's pursuit of Iversson continues. Both narrators adopt a slightly arch comic tone, which makes the story less dark and less powerful than The Business of Dying, but the clever writing ("he delivered his lines with all the urgency of Roger Moore's James Bond, like he might fall asleep before the end of the sentence") and numerous plot twists will engage many readers. Kernick again manages to adhere to the best fair-play traditions of classic murder mysteries while spinning a highly untraditional tale. The mix of brutality and humor should appeal to Elmore Leonard fans.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.


Product Description

By the author of The Business of Dying -- a gritty, page-turner set in North London’s meanest of mean streets.

When Max Iversson, an ex-soldier and mercenary who is now co-director of a small firm of freelance bodyguards, is introduced to north London nightclub owner, Roy Fowler, he senses immediately that the guy is trouble. Fowler wants security for a meeting with some people who want to buy his nightclub. Five grand for a couple of hours’ work is too tempting a proposition to turn down, so Iversson -- against his better judgment -- takes on the job. However, when he and two colleagues accompany Fowler to the “meet” in a deserted north London industrial estate, it turns out to be not so much a double-cross as a bloodbath. With Fowler and both bodyguards dead, Iversson grabs the briefcase containing the deeds to the club, and vacates the scene rapidly.

But the suitcase is empty, which makes no sense at all. Three men have been shot, and Iversson wants to know why. So begins a hunt for answers that will take him into dangerous territory, and also into direct conflict with Detective Sergeant Gallan. Gallan is investigating the same people and sniffing around the same territory. But he’s like a dog with a bone -- he just keeps digging away, unearthing in the process a murderous conspiracy. Both men are playing with fire and unknown to each other are heading towards a final confrontation with forces as ruthless as they are determined, and from which neither man is likely to emerge in one piece.


From the Trade Paperback edition.
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4.0 out of 5 stars Clever, Original and Entertaining, Dec 9 2003
By Untouchable (Sydney, NSW Australia) - See all my reviews
This is a cleverly told thriller coming from a first person perspective, but it's a little bit different than usual because the perspective alternates between two characters. This is achieved by changing perspective from chapter to chapter with the title of the chapter given to the character doing the talking. It's also following a timeline that counts down to a zero hour scenario that gives the feeling of building to a tremendous crescendo. It's very effective.

The two men telling the story are Max Iversson and John Gallan. Max Iversson is a former soldier, first with the army and then as a mercenary who now works as a personal bodyguard. He finds himself wanted by the police when a protection job goes horribly wrong. He realises he had been set up and wasn't supposed to have survived and now is desperate to find out who set him up and why, while still avoiding apprehension by the law. John Gallan is that law, working as a Detective Sergeant in CID; he is trying to investigate an unrelated murder when Iversson's name and business begin popping up throughout the investigation.

Mixed into the story and the lives of the two protagonists is an organised rime family, the Holtz family, and as with most stories involving organised crime, drugs, prostitutes and violence make their appearance. Iversson is pretty sure that it was the Holtz family that was involved in the set up, so he's trying to find out why, as well as working out a way to get some sort of revenge. Gallan is pretty sure the Holtz family was somehow involved in the murder that he is working on and so he begins to tangle with them. The Holtz family is known to be ruthless towards anyone who crosses them no matter who they are, setting up a tremendous showdown as it becomes obvious that they're all going to meet somehow. The results are not going to be pretty.

I like my thrillers to come with a fast-paced storyline carrying plenty of action sequences, which usually equates to full on violence. This book certainly fills that bill. The bad guys are ruthless, so are some of the good guys providing a no-holds-barred battle to the death. It's a terrific follow-up to Kernick's first book, The Business of Dying, with a character or two making a return appearance here.

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