[3] The reviewer in Publishers Weekly wrote, "Kernick does a masterful job of making Milne sympathetic, despite his callous brutalities, by combining a captivating first-person narrative with emotionally complex characterization.

The portrayal of the harsh realism of the mean city streets is complemented by the revelations of the secret lives of the supporting characters with their masks of public respectability.

Powerful prose, tight plotting and a clever fair-play puzzle add up to a remarkable first effort.

"[4] The reviewer for the Library Journal wrote: "Told with clarity and wit, this is an unusual but effective approach to the British police procedural from a new voice.

Dennis Milne and his friend Danny are waiting at the Traveler's Rest Hotel car park to kill three unarmed men they think are drug dealers.

He finds out who killed the hooker and wraps him up in a chair and tortures him to talk before setting him on fire.