He Kills Coppers - Softcover

Arnott, Jake

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0340961015 ISBN 13: 9780340961018

Publisher: Sceptre, 2008

Synopsis

Rare Book

About this title

Review:

Jake Arnott's He Kills Coppers opens in August 1966 when the feel-good factor is running high as England enjoys World Cup victory and a seemingly endless summer. But the sunshine brings some nasty creatures out, and the brutal slaying of three policemen in a west London street sends shockwaves right to the heart of the nation. For three men, the killing is more than a front-page outrage. For Billy Porter, a war-time hero turned petty thief, it's a plan that went fatally wrong. For Frank Taylor, a Detective Sergeant trying to climb the Met's career ladder without resorting to corruption, it's a bereavement--the loss of a loyal comrade which must be avenged. For Tony Meehan, cub reporter on the Sunday Illustrated, it's nothing more than a fortuitous scoop that assures him his job. But reporting the crime awakens sinister urges that he's unable to resist and soon Meehan is creating his own news. Three men who've never met; three lives inextricably linked, in a chain of events that changed history.

Those who raved about Arnott's debut novel The Long Firm will not be disappointed by its successor, a tale combining the tension of a hard-boiled crime thriller with a Dickensian eye for detail. The sounds and the spirit of 60s London are evoked with almost filmic precision, while the plot advances in that swift, inexorable fashion of the very best myths. A few of its peripheral characters, such as Jeannie, the whore with the conscience ("I never want to rely on bad money again"), and Mooney the Masonic vice-cop ("Through the Mysteries of the Craft you can keep yourself clean"), might be slightly clichéd, but the principal trio of narrators is vivid and utterly convincing. For a story that combines morality, the authentic whiff of Soho sleaze and a plot that goes straight for the jugular, readers need look no further. --Matthew Baylis

Review:

Brilliant ... you won't be able to put it down. (Mark Sanderson, Sunday Telegraph Summer Reading)

Compelling ... Arnott is a writer of many shades and, as in his debut, THE LONG FIRM, shows his penchant for combining challenging storylines with strong storytelling. (Max Davidson, Sunday Telegraph )

Arnott is a craftsman at what he does, a real cabinetmaker of pulp fiction, with everything nicely dovetailed ( Sunday Times )

Intoxicating ( Scotland on Sunday )

Propels Arnott further into a league of his own ( Independent on Sunday )

Brilliant ( Literary Review )

Easily as good, if not better, than the superb LONG FIRM ... A stylish tour-de-force ( Big Issue )

About this edition

• Publisher: Sceptre
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 0340961015
• ISBN 13: 9780340961018
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 336