Author(s): Simon Kernick

Crime and thriller

A dark, gritty, utterly page-turning third novel set in North London's meanest of mean streets; a sequel to THE MURDER EXCHANGE. When Operation Surgical Strike, a police sting designed to catch Colombian drug traffickers, goes tragically wrong, suspicion quickly falls on one of the undercover 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 shootout, he determines to go it alone. Enter DI John Gallan and his partner DS Tina Boyd, part of the Serious Crime Squad investigating the murder of ex-gangster-turned-informer Slim Robbie O'Brien. Slim Robbie had helped Gallan and Boyd set up Surgical Strike and is now dead too, shot in his home while the operation was taking place. Meanwhile Stegs is working to his own agenda, developing a plan he's been thinking about for a long time. Revenge, he decides, is a dish best served very, very cold. As Gallan, Boyd and DI Asif Malik Inch ever nearer to the man responsible for the shooting, they uncover a murderous conspiracy 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 riffle sights of the enemy...