Customer Reviews

Business of Dying

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Simon Kernick has written a fast-paced novel about a good man doing ambiguous things for the right reasons. Sgt. Milne is a detective with the Metropolitan Police, and he supplements his meager income carrying out hits on criminals (as requested and compensated by other criminals). His conscience isn't bothered, especially given some of the bums he's asked to eliminate. After a big hit described in the first chapter, however, our narrator discovers that the victims seem to be honest civil servants. Now, he has to watch his moves carefully as he works with the same police force that is investigating his crime.

All while this is going on, Sgt. Milne is investigating the brutal murder of a street walker--eventually, these two stories converge into a satisfying, action-packed conclusion. Kernick has a nice, wry, and fast-paced style that suits the storyline and the main character. There are even a few laughs! The plot is nicely devised, and a lot of bad people get what's coming to them--although Milne is enforcing a renegade justice, it's quite appealing to see the criminals in this novel pay for their injury to society. Give it a go--you won't be disappointed!

London DS Dennis Milne is assigned to look into the death of an eighteen year old prostitute, Miriam Fox. She was found near a canal with her throat slashed. As Milne investigates, he becomes romantically interested in Carla Graham, manager of the hostel where Miriam lived. However, Carla is much more than she superficially appears to be. Of major concern to him is the ongoing investigation into a purported mob hit against three men- two of whom were custom agents. What worries Milne is that he was the hit man on the three killings. He did it for money but was told the men were hardened criminals who got what they had coming.
Far from the typical British detective novel, Simon Kernick goes for true originality- a detective and a hit man. Kernick manages to pull it off admirably with superb characterizations that possess great depth and feelings. Kernick manages to achieve this by spending great care in the first half of the novel establishing these characters- especially Detective Milne, of course. The second half of the book is a violent tour de force where plot twists and surprises keep the pages turning as fast as possible. There is a great sense of control the author exhibits in plot progression and pacing. The writing style is slick. I cannot imagine he did not know exactly where the story was going. A superb debut.

Kernick's debut novel is the fourth novel of his I have read and can tell you it's just as good if not better than the other three. The first of his I ever read was Relentless which was a Harlan Coben independent storyline style (average everyday guy suddenly has life in danger by a sudden event, must flee and work out what is going on to survive type reads). The second was Kernick's novel Severed, which was more of a David Morrell type novel (fast paced albeit a little unrealistic action thriller, well trained ex army guy who rights a wrong type reads). Deadline was completely different again, was an action novel but more along the lines of through the eyes of a policeman solving a crime type novel. What we've got here with the Business of Dying is a combination of the styles of Deadline and Severed rolled into the one lead character.

In this novel Detective Sergeant Dennis Milne long ago lost his faith that police following the rules made a huge difference. Sure he's put many through traditional police methods behind bars but the justice system has also seen a lot walk free due to technicalities or tainted evidence. Therefore he has no problem delivering his own justice while making a bit of money on the side by being paid to be an assassin. He only kills those who deserve it, at least he did until he found out his latest triple hit happened to be two customs agents and an accountant. Complicating matter is a witness which makes his associates on the hit man side of things a bit jittery. He knows his name is most likely going to be on a list if he doesn't get on top of this and figure out what, exactly is going on. However he's still got his day to day detective job and with that the homicide case of a likely teenage prostitute.

This is a very fast paced novel, terrifically written, especially when you remember this was his debut novel. Not many authors can successfully write across genres but I can tell you from reading four of his novels, that Kernick has more than proven, that he can. By the way you can also get this novel in a release called Die Twice: Two Crime Novels in One The Business of Dying and The Murder Exchange which may be a cheaper option.

I have to say that I'm partial to British novelists, so I was eager to read THE BUSINESS OF DYING by Britain's "Hottest Young Crime Talent" Simon Kernick. The book did live up to the hype, sort of, and was entertaining. The previous reviewers have already said more about the main character and the plot than I can add, so I'll just give my reasons for the 4 star rating (actually, it should be 3.5 stars). While I liked the character of DS Dennis Milne a lot, a few things that popped up in the book didn't sit well with me. First off, I don't like characters who wake up in the middle of the night breathing heavily and sweating after experiencing a nightmare and then proceed to tell the reader, in great detail, about their frightening dream. Somehow the author is attempting to give the reader a hint that there was a deep psychological reason for the dream being planted in the character's head that will ratchet up the tension. Generally, the dreams are usually overly detailed and totally unlike any dreams I've ever had that made absolutely no sense to me when I woke up. Secondly, Kernick reveals the identity of the "Bad Guy" about half-way thru the book in a rather transparent way, no doubt hoping the reader won't remember how the victims were killed or who the real murderer was until the end of the story when the reader suddenly gets it and says, "Hey! So THAT'S who it was!!" Thirdly, DS Milne is a killer for hire so he shouldn't be squeamish when he sees some blood. For some reason he becomes queasy after helping another guy murder someone and almost throws up when the victim's blood pours out by the litre. OK...So maybe I wasn't as impressed with this "hot" debut novel as some others. It's just that maybe Mr. Kernick needs a better editor and should have spent a little more time revising his book. I will say it wasn't a bad book, just not as good as I hoped it would be. Perhaps the sequel, A GOOD DAY TO DIE, that I ordered from amazon.com will be better. I hope so.

In an unusual departure from most thrillers, protagonist DS Dennis Milne is a both a cop and a killer. The story starts with Milne assassinating two custom agents and an accountant, not the drug dealers that he was expecting. Years earlier, Milne started walking on the shady side of the law when he helped the brother of a girlfriend out of trouble. With his principles compromised, he starts dishing out his own brand of vigilante justice with a nice cash bonus for his efforts. His conscience does bother him about the three innocent deaths; he normally only kills the bad guys. Milne investigates the death of a young prostitute uncovering not only a web of serial killing and child pornography, but links to his own case.

THE BUSINESS OF DYING explores the darker side of human nature. In Milne, Kernick has created a complex human being; the line between good and bad is hard to define. He is a contradiction, an idealist who doesnt believe in the death penalty, but is a killer who dispenses his own brand of justice. The story is compelling in its gritty, realistic details of Londons underbelly of society. Solid debut novel from Simon Kernick.

This started out as a promising read, very British, very gritty, but in the end,my suspension of disbelief got the better of me. Policeman turned hit man turned psycho loony killer on the run and busting a criminal ring all at the same time. A love interest that turns into a baddy and then turns out to be innocent kind of, all stretched the credibility gap. Every second paragraph lighting a cigarette also became a bit wearing. Not sure if it was an attempted nod to noir, but it just got annoying.

I won't be reading the followups.

In England Detective Sergeant Dennis Milne is a tough, dedicated yet sordid and depraved cop who moonlights as a hit man. He takes out the dregs of society for a fee paid by other scum. On his latest non-police assignment, he and his partner kill three nasties and easily escape the scene.

The brass assigns Milne to investigate the triple homicide in which he was the trigger. To his shock he quickly learns that two of the victims were customs employees and the third deceased was an accountant. Realizing he killed the good guys, an angry Milne decides he needs real answers from his clients who apparently double-crossed him. He also is involved in inquiries into the vile murder of a teenage girl. As his criminal employers demand he cool it, his law enforcement associates begin to investigate Milne. He, on the other hand, simply thirsts for revenge against those who set him up, but to cleanse his soul he must find who viciously committed the teen atrocity.

Milne is a complex protagonist who learns that a conscience is a pain in the butt, as he does not mind killing society's lowest residue, but not those he considers decent. The last hit bothers him badly and though he cannot clean the slate he can try to eliminate those who caused this atrocity. THE BUSINESS OF DYING pairs a prime hard boiled detective theme parallel with a police procedure subplot that when they connect the antihero star is caught in the crosshairs.

Harriet Klausner