Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #40906 in Books
• Published on: 2002-02-21
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 336 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
Jake Arnott's He Kills Coppers opens in August 1966 when the feel-good factor is running high as England enjoys World Cup victory and a seemingly endless summer. But the sunshine brings some nasty creatures out, and the brutal slaying of three policemen in a west London street sends shockwaves right to the heart of the nation. For three men, the killing is more than a front-page outrage. For Billy Porter, a war-time hero turned petty thief, it's a plan that went fatally wrong. For Frank Taylor, a Detective Sergeant trying to climb the Met's career ladder without resorting to corruption, it's a bereavement--the loss of a loyal comrade which must be avenged. For Tony Meehan, cub reporter on the Sunday Illustrated, it's nothing more than a fortuitous scoop that assures him his job. But reporting the crime awakens sinister urges that he's unable to resist and soon Meehan is creating his own news. Three men who've never met; three lives inextricably linked, in a chain of events that changed history.

Those who raved about Arnott's debut novel The Long Firm will not be disappointed by its successor, a tale combining the tension of a hard-boiled crime thriller with a Dickensian eye for detail. The sounds and the spirit of 60s London are evoked with almost filmic precision, while the plot advances in that swift, inexorable fashion of the very best myths. A few of its peripheral characters, such as Jeannie, the whore with the conscience ("I never want to rely on bad money again"), and Mooney the Masonic vice-cop ("Through the Mysteries of the Craft you can keep yourself clean"), might be slightly clichéd, but the principal trio of narrators is vivid and utterly convincing. For a story that combines morality, the authentic whiff of Soho sleaze and a plot that goes straight for the jugular, readers need look no further. --Matthew Baylis

Sunday Times
'Arnott is a craftsman at what he does, a real cabinetmaker of pulp fiction, with everything nicely dovetailed’

Review
'Brilliant ... you won't be able to put it down.' (Mark Sanderson, Sunday Telegraph Summer Reading )

'Many thought that Jake Arnott's debut, 'The Long Firm', was good but not quite as good as the hype tried to convince us it was. Frankly, Hemingway, Hammett and Greene together would have been hard pressed to come up with anything that good. His eagerly awaited follow-up, 'He Kills Coppers', has arrived - and it's better.' (Time Out )

'Compelling ... Arnott is a writer of many shades and, as in his debut, The Long Firm, shows his penchant for combining challenging storylines with strong storytelling.' (Max Davidson, Sunday Telegraph )

'Arnott is a craftsman at what he does, a real cabinetmaker of pulp fiction, with everything nicely dovetailed’ (Sunday Times )

'Intoxicating' (Scotland on Sunday )

'Propels Arnott further into a league of his own' (Independent on Sunday )

'Brilliant' (Literary Review )

'Easily as good, if not better, than the superb Long Firm ... A stylish tour-de-force' (Big Issue )

Customer Reviews

My dog ate the book
l had settled down to read this book, got 50 pages into it, and
had to go out. On My return, there was one of my Great Danes
wagging his tale, he had chewed the lot up.
To me it says something, if you are prepared to go out, and
buy it again.
I did. I lived the book. It's certainly gritty, but the
characters come to life. The chase in the story has you
at nerves end.
Jake Arnott, is a superb writer, and a master of the tense.
My only criticism of him, like a few other Authors, we have
to wait ages for a new book. He gives a presence in the
book, and a natural ability to be living the book, and
sometimes knows a little to much.
There is no order in Jakes books,but l would also
recommend The Long Firm.

The Loss of Innocence
In the followup to his acclaimed debut (The Long Firm), Arnott uses the real case of cop-killer Harry Roberts as the basis for a three-voiced narrative which touches upon British social changes from 1966-1985. Using multiple voices worked fairly well in that first book, and here Arnott uses those of Billy Porter, a young army veteran turned small time thief, Frank Taylor, an ambitious policeman, and Tony Meehan, a young newspaper reporter and closet homosexual. The book starts in London's summer of 1966-the city throbs with World Cup fever and is starting to show signs of being the swinging place of legend. However, in Arnott's world, it's less the place of late-'60s Carnaby St. Austin Powers fun than it is of sleazy Soho, with clip joints run by Maltese pimps. When Billy-who probably has post-traumatic stress disorder from his service in anti-Communist jungle patrols in Malaya-teams up with two losers to rob a bank, things go awry and three policemen are shot dead. Frank and Tony quickly arrive on the scene in their respective capacities, and the trio are momentarily linked before Arnott releases them to drift for nineteen years until they are brought together once again.

After the killings, Billy's story becomes one of survival. As public enemy number one, he manages to evade capture for many years, living on the fringes of society, only to be drawn back to London. The sequences showing Billy's life at fairgrounds, then with travelers, and then later with Class War activists put Arnott's skill on full display, and are possibly the most compelling parts of the book. Meanwhile, Frank makes his way up the ranks, and through a loveless marriage, with Billy Porter as his great white whale. Over the years, through his eyes, we are given a panoramic view of the modernization of British policing. This starts in '66 with police corruption, the influence of Masons on the force, then later, the increased militarization of police, their use as
auxiliaries to crush the mining strikes in the north, riot control techniques of the early '80s,the so called "Battle of the Beanfield" in which they literally ran amok in attacking mostly peaceful and unresisting protesters. Tony's story is less compelling than the other two, as it mostly involves him trying become a legitimate journalist, and his relationship with a gossipy peer. Perhaps to compensate, Arnott bestows a manner of psychopathy upon Tony which doesn't ever seem justified, nor does it work particularly well in the context of the story.

Arnott's doing several things at once, which may not be to everyone's tastes. He's painting sympathetic psychological portraits of three disturbed men, he's telling crime story based loosely on a true story, and he's giving a broad view of part of Britain's social history. In this scheme, the cop-killing becomes the point at which post-WWII giddiness and innocence is lost, and the dirty business of modern Britain (especially Thatcherism) starts. It's obviously an oversimplification, but those who like their crime stories to have something more behind them may well enjoy it. Although his thematic strokes are rather broad, Arnott once again shows his mastery of subcultural details in scenes showing pinball playing mods popping purple hearts, "Liquidator" booming over the tannoy at Chelsea's ground and the subsequent terrace battles, the insular world of the fairground lifers, the empty rebellion of Class War types, and so on. Obviously, one's enjoyment of all this depends greatly on how immersed on is in British popular culture and recent history, but those who are will find plenty to like.

Jake Arnott, the 21st Century Dickens
No, I'm not being condescending. Reading Jake's novel in the year 2002 is like reading Dickens in 1950 - only much more exciting! "He Kills Cops"- once again, based on events which actually happened in the 60's- is yet another equally wonderful original novel, told - as in the case of "The Long Firm" - from the points of view of various different characters (a bent policeman with a conscience; a journalist with some "very strange tastes"; and finally, the murderer himself (who isn't the only killer in the book - but that would be telling!))
The research in this book is absolutely amazing. Among other things, we are treated to such linguistic delights as Polari (the archaic Gay/theatrical slang of the early 60's) and British Romany. Once again, I am absolutely amazed how someone so young is able to capture so accurately the atmosphere of the seedier side of 60's London.
I recently read that the author plans a third book in this series, making it a trilogy. All I can say is, Keep up the great work, Jake!.