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Max Iversson is an ex-mercenary who has partnered with an old buddy, Joe Riggs, to form a security firm called Tiger Solutions. When Max is offered £5,000 for a slam dunk security assignment by the owner of the Arcadia Nightclub, Ray Fowler, he can't turn it down. Max and a few of his operatives bring Fowler to a meet with some businessmen who are supposed to be buying his club, when things go horribly awry. The Arcadia Club seems to be in the center of the criminal universe. First of all, its doorman is murdered; and that brings the cops under the leadership of Detective Sergeant John Gallan into launching an investigation. There are indications that the club is really run by a mob group under the leadership of Stefan Holtz and his son, Krys, and that there are lots of drug deals going on under the shining lights. The club manager, Elaine Toms, is a tough woman who gives the cops a believable story but no meat. She and Iversson hook up together when he's at the height of desperation, and she lets him stay at her place to avoid being seen by the police. Kernick employs a very effective writing technique in which he tells the story from the first person point of view of Gallan alternated with the view of Iversson. Each is completely unaware of what the other is doing, and it's interesting to see the same information from two different perspectives. Obviously, at some point, their stories are going to intersect, and that is very well done. THE MURDER EXCHANGE is an excellent book, one that I thoroughly enjoyed. Iversson's life is supposed to be an uneventful one, but he progresses through ever more difficult and dangerous situations. In spite of his increasingly lawless behavior, he does have some redeeming character traits, such as loyalty to his friends and a compulsion to avenge dirty deeds. Meanwhile, Gallan is methodically putting the pieces together. He is a thoughtful and intelligent investigator, and Kernick does a great job of presenting the police approach with its wins and misses. There was only one part of the book that didn't work for me, and that was a chapter that was told from the point of view of Krys Holtz. Firstly, it interrupted the established pattern of alternating between the Gallan and Iversson viewpoints. Secondly, it was extremely graphic. While showing the extreme brutality of Holtz's nature, I felt that the information could have been presented more subtly instead of rubbing the reader's face in some very gross events. That being said, THE MURDER EXCHANGE is one of the best books that I've read recently. The delivery of the narration through two points of view leads to an interesting contrast and juxtaposition of the two lead characters and the events of the story, as well as a very suspenseful conclusion to the book. Fast paced, laced with dry humor -- THE MURDER EXCHANGE is a book that I highly recommend.
Reviewed by Maddy Van Hertbruggen, April 2004
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