THE BUSINESS OF DYING
Simon
Kernick
Corgi Paperback
ISBN: 0-552-14970-5
2003
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The
Business Of Dying
by Simon Kernick
This writing lark must be a doddle if the standard of this, the debut
novel from Simon Kernick, is anything to go by. Just get an idea,
string a few sentences together and, hey-presto, a top selling book.
Of course, the reality is very different and it's a testament to Kernick's ability as a storyteller that the text flows so easily and credibly that might make anybody believe that being an author is easy money. Like any true artist, Simon Kernick makes his craft "look" easy.
Dennis Milne is a London DS with a sideline
that he wants keeping secret. When a particularly brutal murder is handed
to him, it becomes increasingly difficult to keep his professional and
private lives apart and so plunges his life - and that of those around
him - into a desperate fight for survival against London's toughest
members of society.
Packed with gritty realism, believable
characters and a plotline that packs a punch powerful enough to rock
Mike Tyson in his prime, The Business Of Dying has rightly
been acclaimed as "A killer first novel" that sweeps the reader
along, page after heart-racing page.
Kernick describes London's meaner
streets with well researched dexterity, that cannot fail to immerse
the reader in the soft underbelly of life in the Big City and so captures
the atmosphere of a world that we know exists, but would rather not
think of, so well and yet manages also to bring a deftly crafted humour
to the scene where necessary.
Milne is a character that the reader can love and loathe in equal measure,
but one we'd all like to know he is on our side.
“Chris
- great review of THE BUSINESS OF DYING. Really appreciated.. ”
Simon
Kernick 2005
Order this book online - Linghams
Booksellers
break the rules as I see fit.” - Chris High 2003.