Good Cop, Bad Cop by Simon Kernick

I'm excited to share my review of Good Cop, Bad Cop, The new one from Simon Kernick as part of the blog tour. Big thanks to Tracy Fenton on behalf of Random Things Tours for the invite and to the publisher for my review copy.

The Blurb

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.

Good Cop, Bad Cop was published in paperback on 23rd June 2022 by Headline.

 

My Review

Blimey, there's a lot going on here! I've read a few of Simon Kernick's previous books - you can read my review of 2020's Kill a Stranger here - so I expected this one to be fast paced and action packed. And I wasn't disappointed. I whizzed through Good Cop, Bad Cop in two days and it only took that long because I had to put it down to do some adulting, otherwise I reckon I'd have read it in one sitting. 

The story is told mainly in the first person from the point of view of the main character, retired undercover cop Chris Sketty. Sketty has been hailed a hero for his part in a major incident 15 years previously. But not everyone believes that... When we meet Chris he is reluctantly telling his story to Dr Ralph Teller. The reasons why he agrees to speak and why Dr Teller wants to hear it are revealed as the story begins. And then we're off and running! 

Chris Sketty is an interesting character. He comes across as a decent man, albeit a little haunted by personal tragedy, who  wants to do the right thing. He does have a bit of a temper though, when the red mist comes down. But, generally, a good  man. That's how he comes across, anyway, but is that who he really is? Or might be not be as straight up as he seems? After all, we only see  his version of events. These thoughts were running through my head as I read, right up until the denouement. Which is very tense, violent and shocking. 

The storyline follows an undercover operation which Sketty was involved in fifteen years earlier, but Chris's story starts before then so we learn how he came to be undercover and how he got close to and gained the trust of the subject of the operation. I really enjoyed seeing him settling into his role and getting to know the people he was working with. I loved his boss of the team Chris was put into undercover. Devon Andrews is a fair man, seems to be a good but those questions stayed in mind as I read on. 

As Sketty tells his story, in detail, and it's pretty action packed right from the beginning. And I was right there for it. I had so many questions about what was happening, what the truth was, who is good, who is bad. There is a lot going on here. A lot. The storyline is interesting enough to easily keep my attention and I'm sure it will hours too. Good Cop, Bad Cop is fast paced, action packed, tense  - super tense in places - and exciting, with an interesting protagonist at the centre of it all. It's everything I could ask for from a crime thriller and it's easy to see why Simon Kernick is as popular as he is. 

The Author

Simon Kernick is a number one bestseller and one of the UK's most popular thriller writers, with huge hits including Relentless, The Last 10 Seconds, Siege and the Bone Field series.