Victim of compromise

by Luke Johnson

A killer at large – and for the victim there is no escape.

It is 1995 and southern England is sweltering in a heat wave. Before he can take up his post in the Serious Crime Squad as a newly promoted Detective Chief Inspector, Ray King is summoned to investigate a murder. The victim is a young woman who is a private detective and former police officer in a suburban town where the local dignitaries have something to hide. The body count rises and, when it appears the case has been resolved, the killings begin again.

The novel is a fast-moving account of crime and sexual entanglement that ensnares detectives and suspects in a web of deception.

360 pages, Paperback

First published April 19, 2010

Reviews

[Brett Wallach · Rating 5 out of 5]

I usually refrain from reading British crime fiction. To be honest, I find it often effete and too mannered. But not with Victim of Compromise. It's an exciting, hold-boiled, good old police/detective yarn replete with some good old sex and violence. The plot takes a myriad of twists and turns, and keeps the reader guessing. I am usually pretty critical of dialogue, this this novel featured some of the most crisp, realistic dialogue that I've read in crime fiction in quite a long time. I never felt like it was created by some writer in a room; it felt like I was in the midst of real police people, victims, good guys and bad guys with real motivations, both good and bad. I'd highly recommend this book to anyone who likes good, edgy, noir novels.