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Good Cop Bad Cop: Hero or criminal mastermind? A gripping new thriller from the Sunday Times bestseller

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As Sketty works with Cleaver he gets involved in taking down estate gangs and drugs rings. It’s a long time before a particularly nasty assault on a young girl bonds him to Cleaver. Eventually he offers Sketty a way into a clandestine group dedicated to weeding out criminals by any means. Sketty thinks this might get him closer to Roman. SO15 are waiting patiently but they aren’t aware of all the things Sketty has been going through undercover. Teller has paid me the princely sum of a thousand pounds to come out to his mansion in the Oxfordshire countryside and talk to him, which is actually less than the going rate. Right now, everyone who’s anyone wants to interview me, and I’m a man in demand. I start to lift myself out of my armchair. My bad hip has become stiff from being sat down for the past ten minutes while we did the various small talk. Dr Teller doesn’t seem remotely perturbed, however. Instead, he’s actually smiling, the sly bastard, and there’s something predatory about it. ‘Before you go, Mr Sketty, you might want to see this.’ He reaches round in his wheelchair, moving slowly, and retrieves a plain cardboard folder from under the table, leaning forward to hand it to me. He is a good guy with a great reputation, a hero. He is also self-assured and determined to outwit the man who has invited him into his home under false pretences. The truth will out. Or will it be a version of the truth?

Good Cop Bad Cop by Simon Kernick | Headline Publishing Group

Look, I came here voluntarily to talk to you about the case. But I’m not prepared to be accused of being a liar.’ I put down my drink, thinking that agreeing to talk to this old man was always a bad idea. I don’t need the money and I certainly don’t need the grief. ‘Perhaps it’s best if I just leave.’ The story of a cop working cases and leading a dual life, spying on one of his colleagues is credibly written and involving. Sketty is well realised as an ordinary man battered by life and sinking into bad ways. It’s intriguing to wonder how we would act under the same pressure, isolated and alone. And yet as events lead up to the Villa Amalfi siege we are given more than one interpretation of events and so how compromised Sketty is remains a mystery. Chris Sketty spends a lot of time thinking about the before and after of events that have defined his life, his choices and the paths he decides to take along the way. It takes him a while to comprehend that many of those have been manipulated and mapped out for him. Knowing his predictable behaviour patterns have made it easier for others to do so - or do they?First thoughts:- OMG, this book is good. Second thoughts, upon reflection:- This book is really, really good! The bravest men are often the most reluctant to participate in the fray,’ he says sagely, taking a sip from his whisky, and I get the feeling that this is a phrase he’s just made up, and that he makes up a lot of phrases like this. You see, I’m certain that Dr Teller (the Dr bit comes from his PhD in anthrozoology, whatever the hell that is) is not only a pseudo-intellectual, but also a fraud, the type of guy who’s always got a hidden agenda, and the playfully cunning look in his eye as he observes me over the rim of the glass just reinforces my impression. This is an great thriller that keeps you on guessing all the way to the end, and even then you are not sure if you really believe that whether Sketty is innocent or guilty, good cop or bad cop. He certainly crossed a few blurred lines. What is the truth? However if you like a thrilling story with a dramatic and satisfying ending then this is the book for you.

Good Cop Bad Cop by Simon Kernick - Fantastic Fiction Good Cop Bad Cop by Simon Kernick - Fantastic Fiction

The characters were all extremely shallow and predictable, almost as if they were based entirely on stereotypes. The decisions made by the characters felt as if they were made only to move forward with the plot and prolong the book. It started strong, and I had high hopes, but once it started to fizzle out, it didn't stop fizzling out. Not one character was likeable (other than Trevor, the cat), and I know that doesn't always matter, but it felt like I was supposed to be sorry for Sketty, and I just felt nothing but annoyance towards him. Sketty's constant justification of his brutality and violence made it extremely difficult to feel anything positive towards him. I can promise you, Dr Teller,’ I tell him, ‘I would have preferred not to have been a hero. I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.’ The typical British police procedural can be a bit staid, perhaps a little too trusting of the inherent honesty of British policing, but there are no rose tinted spectacles here. This is riveting, raw and fresh. Apart from the hunt for Roman and Sketty’s story this novel has a strong feel of London and the gang culture in the city. A layered thriller that is genuinely chilling and gritty as hell. //London, corrupt, cops: Like Line of Duty? Luther The Calling Neil Cross, The Divinities Parker Bilal// So, over one night, Sketty will share his brutal tale of betrayal, ruthlessness and corruption, finishing with a revelation so terrifying and unexpected that it will change everything. Is Sketty a brave hero, crippled in the line of duty, or the most ruthless mass murderer the country has ever seen? I struggled to get through this book and almost left it unfinished multiple times, but it was gifted to me, so I struggled on. I wasn't going to leave a review, but this book currently averages 4.13 stars, and I feel like bringing it down a little out of spite.Just what did happen on that fateful day 14 years ago and what part did DC Chris Sketty have in it? Is he the hero everyone thinks he is or is he the ultimate betrayer? Chris Sketty has been transferred to a new unit, not entirely of his own choosing, and to make matters worse he is undercover. He would be considered a rat, if his colleagues discovered he was spying on one of their own. Sketty has been tasked with infiltrating a British terrorist organisation, that also includes members of the police, and he needs to befriend one of these and be invited into the organisation. He has to get close to DS Cleaver who is thought to be a member of the terrorist organisation. Where all stories start, Mr Sketty. At the beginning. However,’ he adds, his eyes glinting brightly and malevolently in the room’s dim light as he leans forward in the wheelchair, ‘I want the truth, not your embellished version of events.’ He takes another dainty sip of the whisky while I consider my options. But in truth I don’t really have any. The information in this folder is incendiary.

Good Cop Bad Cop | Simon Kernick | 9781472271006 | NetGalley Good Cop Bad Cop | Simon Kernick | 9781472271006 | NetGalley

Sketty injured in the line of duty and praised and created by the press as a hero but he has been slowly robbed of everything he held dear - his family, his career and now he faces yet another ... issue. Not everyone believes his hero status is as deserved as the public may have been led to believe, is he an hero, or was he a bad cop ! At the same time, as the car pulled away from the kerb and I realised I couldn't breathe, Cleaver said the words I'd thought I'd never hear on this assignment, because I'd been so careful. Dr Ralph Teller is in his 70s, MS has confined him to a wheelchair, but grief has driven him to investigate the night of his wife’s death. She was one of the victims of the siege. Teller has painstakingly collated information, interviewed witnesses and reconstructed the peripheral lives of those involved, finally arriving at a showdown with Sketty, the lynchpin of the whole affair. Faced with the evidence Sketty is forced to open up but how many layers of obfuscation, lying and self-justification will be admit to. Will he really come clean. Sketty isn’t the man everyone thinks he is but just how dirty is he? Like I say it started very strongly and was instantly into the novel. Good plot and an exciting finale made this a good read. Ex-DC Chris Sketty is meeting Dr Ralph Teller who whilst describing as a hero following the terrible events at Villa Amalfi, he is also regarding him with malevolence. However, the reason for the meeting predates this by fifteen years when Chris is sent undercover by SO15 (Counter Terrorism) to try to get information on a shadowy faceless figure known as Kalian Roman. He’s placed in DI Devon Andrews Gang Intelligence Unit, his target is DS Barry Cleaver - does he have a connection to Roman? Only time will tell. Chris tells most of his story with illuminating interjections by Teller, all we have to do is work out, is Chris a good cop or a bad cop??What follows is Sketty's true account of the events which led to that fateful night that changed everything. Or are they? Sketty isa brilliantly realised character, inhabiting the grey world between good and bad, but just how flawed, just how guilty is he? The story twists and turns, and every time we think we’ve nailed Sketty’s character we have to think again as the layers of the story peel away. The guessing game is incredibly tense; Sketty’s story is deeply intriguing and over all this is an exhilarating read.

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