Truecrime

“Funny, fast, witty, and brutal.”—David Bowie

Jake Arnott’s brilliant trilogy of criminal life in England forms a kind of Godfather-like history of Britain’s gangland, spanning 40 years. The first, The Long Firm (1999), caught everyone by surprise and was adapted into a TV series broadcast in the United States on BBC America. The New York Times said it was “a great read from start to finish.” The sequel, He Kills Coppers (2001), was likewise lauded.

The third, truecrime, revisits his first triumph, bringing back Harry Stark, an underworld boss on the lam. Harry is rumored to be laying low on Cyprus, the law having given up its pursuit, but someone is looking who isn’t concerned with the niceties of extradition, somebody who has as much use for the rules as Harry.