Good Cop Bad Cop – Simon Kernick

BRAVE HERO OR CRIMINAL MASTERMIND?

TONIGHT WE FIND OUT.

Undercover cop Chris Sketty became a hero when he almost died trying to stop the most brutal terror attack in UK history. With the suspects either dead or missing, the real motive remains a mystery.

But someone is convinced Sketty is a liar.
A criminal mastermind.
A murderer.

Blackmailed into revealing the truth, Sketty will share a twisting tale of betrayal, deception and murder…with a revelation so shocking that nothing will be the same again.

 

My thanks to the publisher for my review copy and to Anne Cater at Random Things Blog Tours for the opportunity to join the Good Cop Bad Cop blog tour.

 

I’ve always enjoyed the Simon Kernick books I have read in the past, his name on a book is an early guarantee of a cracking read. I finished Good Cop Bad Cop last night and it has immediately become my favourite of all the Simon Kernick novels. What a rush this book was!

Chris Sketty is a cop. When his story begins in Good Cop Bad Cop he is recently single after splitting with his wife following the death of their young daughter. Sketty has his work and not much more so he throws himself into his job. But Sketty is young and headstrong and he also struggles to control his temper and exercise caution when the red mist descends.

This lack of control is evidenced when he uses excessive force to bring down and subdue a suspect in a domestic abuse incident. Sketty’s prospects look bleak as the investigation into his use of force looks likely to rule he over-reacted which would mean expulsion from the force.

Then comes a chance at salvation. Sketty is invited to go undercover as there is suspicion an officer in another division is part of a secretive criminal gang with wide ranging influence and a remorseless, ruthless destruction agenda. Sketty is to try and get close to the suspect and bring down the network. To Sketty it seems the perfect opportunity to redeem himself but it turns out to be one of the biggest mistakes of his life. Or does it?

Good Cop Bad Cop sees Sketty recounting where his life went wrong. This discussion takes place years after he was asked to go undercover and he is speaking with the widower of a murdered woman who died during a terror incident during which Sketty was himself injured but emerged as a hero for killing some of the instigators.

There is a suspicion Sketty is not the hero he is made out to be and that he got too deep in his undercover role and turned criminal – responsible for countless deaths and horrific violence. Truth will out but who can you trust?

I inhaled Good Cop Bad Cop. Simon Kernick does a magnificent job of blurring the lines around Sketty’s actions and I struggled to convince myself if Sketty was an evil operator or just desperately unlucky and cursed with making poor choices.

This is a book laden with excitement, thrills and tension. By the end you have lived Sketty’s life with him and you will have decided if he is indeed a Good Cop or perhaps a Bad Cop. But I don’t think we will all reach the same conclusion.

This is a must read book for any thriller fan.

 

Good Cop Bad Cop will be published by Headline on 11 November and will be available in Hardback, Digital and Audiobook format. You can order a copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B08P6VVFTZ/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i1