The Crime Trade: A Novel

by Simon Kernick

Overview

When Operation Surgical Strike, a police sting designed to catch Colombian drug traffickers in the act of selling a large consignment of cocaine to undercover police officers, goes horribly wrong, suspicion quickly falls on one of the police officers involved: "Stegs" Jenner. Stegs is no ordinary cop. Something of a maverick, he has in the past played the role of a criminal just a little too well. Now suspended from duty, and with his close friend killed in the shoot-out, he determines to go at it alone.

DI John Gallan and his partner Tina Boyd are part of the subsequent investigation that will take them to the heart of one of London's most notorious criminal gangs. What they cannot know is that they've also embarked on a journey that will lead one of them straight into the rifle sights of the enemy.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781466826243
Publisher:	St. Martin's Publishing Group
Publication date:	03/26/2024
Series:	John Gallan , #2
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	396
Sales rank:	257,377
File size:	592 KB

About the Author

SIMON KERNICK lives near London with his wife and young daughter. Both The Business of Dying and The Murder Exchange have won him popular and critical acclaim.

Editorial Reviews

The third from Kernick (The Murder Exchange, 2004, etc.) adds him to the company of the English police procedural elite. When Operation Surgical Strike turns out a fiasco, Scotland Yard smells a homegrown rat. It's a bitter time for the Serious Crime Group. The drug bust, meticulously planned, was supposed to net a toothsome catch of big-fish Colombian dealers. Instead, the yield is blood in buckets, a veteran officer dead and days of police-bashing by the media. Worst of all is the sour, unavoidable conclusion that some copper is bent. Now it's the job of DI John Gallan and his colleagues to nail the enemy within. Early in the investigation a likely suspect emerges, a man many regard as a perfect fit for the collar. Abrasive, cocky independent DC "Stegs" Jenner is endlessly irritating to senior officers like DCS Noel Flanagan, who take the privileges of rank seriously. But Jenner is also very good at his job, and Gallan likes him for that. A crack undercover operative, he's made a career out of treading where others fear to. Evidence mounts, and Jenner does little to counter its formidable weight. But if it quacks like a duck, does that invariably mean it is a duck?Nothing fancy here, but the cast is strong, the plot solid and clearly Kernick knows that the angels and devils are both in the details.

Kirkus Reviews