by G. F. Newman
First published 1972
Detective Sergeant Terry Sneed works the streets of London where the line between law and lawlessness blurs daily. He faces pressure from above to look the other way when certain crimes cross his desk. Fellow officers take their cut from local criminals while Sneed wrestles with his own moral compass. The system rewards those who play along and punishes those who ask too many questions. Sneed must choose between career advancement and personal integrity as cases pile up around him. His decisions affect not only his future on the force but his relationships with colleagues who have already made their peace with compromise. The job demands one kind of person while his conscience calls for another. Sneed discovers that being decent in an indecent world carries its own heavy price.
Genres: fiction, mystery, crime, detective
Vibes: dark, emotional, fast-paced, thought-provoking
Tropes: moral-ambiguity, unreliable-narrator
Setting: London
Period: 20th-century, 21st-century
348 pages · Hardcover · New English Library Ltd