Kernick Trades Sense for Excitement - Rated 
It is modern day London and the gangsters on the streets have guns. When an undercover operation goes wrong several men die, including a cop. DI Gallen and DS Boyd are part of the team set up to discover exactly what went wrong. Was the gun battle due to rivalries amongst the numerous gangs or was there a dirty cop leaking dangerous information? Gallen and Boyd soon find themselves in an investigation that has more than its fair share of bodies.
This is the first novel that I have read by Kernick and it will not be the last as he has a very exciting and informed style of writing. He is able to make British police work seem like the most exciting of US novels. I really enjoyed the action elements in the book and the fact that it was a dark look at British policing. However, the writing style switched from 1st to 3rd person throughout and this combined with a complex plot left me confused. I enjoyed the book but can honestly not say that I understood it all. Perhaps the other books he has written are better structured.
Par for the course for Kernick fans - Rated 
This is my third reading of a Simon Kernick novel, following The Business of Dying and A Good Day to Die. The other two focus on leading man Dennis Milne but in The Crime Trade he only gets a passing mention because this tale is told from two perspectives: in the first-person narrative of DI John Gallan, and in the third-person narrative mainly involving undercover cop Stegs Jenner. It's not unusual to mix first- and third-person perspectives, but I'm not an enthusiast of the method, preferring a writer to stick to one or the other. The limitations of each are well documented, and the reasons for mixing it up easy to understand, but in this case I feel that the main justification was a lack of confidence (on the part of the author) in the leadership qualities of John Gallan. Could he carry a story on his own, all told from his perspective, such that he would have to appear from every page? No, he couldn't, and in the end I don't know why Kernick bothered with this mix, as he might just as well have told the entire story in the third person.
Having got that off my chest, I enjoyed the story, the first half more than the second although the shoot-out at the end was very skilfully crafted. Having previously read an enjoyable but dark and complex thriller by John Connolly, I quickly found myself turning the pages of The Crime Trade with ease, with a reluctance to turn out the light for some much-needed sleep. The `love interest' was not very interesting at all and felt like just another piece of token romance between cops found in many crime thrillers. Personally I think if this kind of strand is to be woven into a story then it should really be central to the plot and of strong relevance to the character development, but in this case if it had been removed it would have made no difference at all to the point of the story. As far as police procedural work is concerned, this is covered in excellent detail but is possibly too realistic for its own good; in the course of criminal investigations very little of the donkey-work is glamourous or exciting, so if this aspect of police work holds little interest to you, you might find yourself skipping pages. And while the life of maverick cop Stegs Jenner is clearly the one examined in the greatest detail here, it's often difficult to know if we should be rooting for him or not. Is he a hero or a villain? I cannot say here, but the absence of any clear-cut good guys or bad guys among the central characters did slightly neutralise the emotions.
Not quite as enjoyable for me as the Dennis Milne tales then, but it hasn't put me off buying more from this author in the future. I will also add the prequel The Murder Exchange (also involving DI Gallan) at the earliest opportunity.
Kernick's long awaited third book does not disappoint. - Rated 
This is Kernick's third book, and he is back on familar territory. The dark and murky (more on that later) side of the London crime scene. Having read his first two books, I had been looking forward to the publication of The Crime Trade perhaps a little too much. Despite the anticipation, I have to say, that Kernick has come up with another winner.
Stegs Jenner's wife gives him a hard time. His superiors in the Police do as well, but he takes these knocks and comes back fighting. Of course he needs a bit of help from the odd drink, and occasional recreational narcotic, but this all adds to the realism. Sherlock Holmes is a long time dead !
In one section, I was laughing out loud on the Tube, before 7am, at the poor sod's predicament, such is Kernick's ability with dark humour and characterisation.
Some of Kernick's others characters are superb. The aptly named 'grass' Trevor Murk, will sicken you. The menacing "Strangleman" Grant, will make you look behind you even more on a dark night. These and more add to what is a highly recommmended dip ino the dark side of London's crime trade. With some excellent twists, and a carefully constructed story, this is one of the best books I have read this year. Highly recommended.
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