The Business of Dying -Simon Kernick

I don't really remember the last time I came across a character, whom you don't really know whether to like or hate. Except maybe for some of James Hadley Chase's protagonists, for whom you feel sad even though you know what they did was wrong. But as far as Deputy Sargent Dennis Milne goes, I kept swinging between love and hate almost till the end of the book. And I bet that all through the book, you feel a tiny bit smug, because, seriously, no matter how much our work or life sucks, it is not as bad as Milne's is.

Milne is a jaded and cynical London copper who is tired of having his hands tied by the law and being paid peanuts for doing one of the most thankless but necessary job of that of a copper. He sides with a shady businessman called Raymond Keene and does odd jobs for him here and there to earn some extra bucks on the side. When Keene sets him up to assassinate three people by telling Milne that they are nothing but drug dealers, Milne remorselessly kills them and even gets away with it -for the time being. 

But then, when Milne gets to know that the men he killed were not drug dealers but honest customs officers, and that the department is pulling all stops for finding the killer, Milne slowly starts feeling cornered. In the meantime, he continues his day job of a copper and gets involved in a murder case. A young teenage prostitute is murdered in London's Kings Cross. The case seems pretty much open and shut when a pimp is indicted for the murder, with all the evidence pointing at him. But Milne is convinced that there is more to this case then what meets the eye. He is compelled to get to the bottom of this murder and slowly understands that this is not a one off murder,

The author has done a fine job in running two parallel plots and through them, expressing different shades of Milne's character. Milne's guilt at killing innocent people keeps eating him alive, but his sense of self preservation makes him kill another one. And again, he feels bad about murdering that man. Reading this book makes you feel a bit scared -what is the kind of world that we are living in? Is it a amoral, valueless, drug addicted generation that is soon going to run the world? Is London and United kingdom slowly rotting around the edges? If so, then is this the case for the entire western civilization? And if the west crumbles, won't the Jihadists come knocking at our doorsteps pretty soon? Or have they already arrived? I know that I am getting carried away with my line of thoughts, but hey, that is the grim reality right?

Ok, getting back to the book, I would strongly recommend it for two reasons -One, for the very deep and realistic portrayal of the protagonist. He is no Robert Ludlum or Sidney Sheldon hero, who is all goody goody and strong and is in black and white. He is filled with so many shades of grey. Number two -the tight plot and the gripping narrative. The book is in first person narrative by Milne. His thoughts and feelings are written so vividly that sometimes you feel as if you are inside his head. A wonderful job by Simon Kernick, considering that this is his first book.

Go grab this book if you are tired of all the good cops and good people solving murder mysteries. And for me, I am pretty sure that Milne is going to become one of my favorites -along with Harry Bosch.