Simon Kernick may be a new kid on the block but he certainly knows how to crank up the suspense and deliver a kick in the gut when it's needed. A Good Day To Die is a terrific novel. Put this one at the top of your list; it will keep you up well into the night

A Good Day To Die is everything we have come to expect from Kernick - one of the best young crime writers to have emerged in the past five years. It's a fast-paced yet deeply moral thriller with a thoughtful protagonist who never mistakes himself for a hero

Kernick is excellent at capturing the mean streets where crack deals go down and tourists don't linger

Kernick has produced a first-rate series of contemporary hard-bolied London thrillers, with ... a sympathetic character in Milne

Simon Kernick writes with his foot pressed hard on the pedal. Hang on tight!

Simon Kernick writes great plots, great characters, great action.

Simon Kernick uses every trick in the book to keep the action breakneck.

He belongs with those great demented realists ... whose writing pitilessly exposes the ridiculousness of the human condition

That he could channel this pain and misery into some of the greatest crime novels ever written is a testament to his skill as a writer and his spirit as a man. If this is the first Chester Himes novel you will read then, believe me, you are in for a treat.

An author of consistently engaging and clever bestsellers, Kennedy has ranged from Stateside dramas to noirish thrillers. The Moment pulls together both strains in his fiction, marrying romantic tragedy with Le Carre-style espionage. The novel's set pieces are robustly staged and Kennedy turns the plot on its axis several times. The sadness at the heart of the novel is what makes it more than just an evocative recreation of an interesting time and place.

5 stars