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.
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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.