Book Review: The Last Big Job

Reviewed By: Luke Croll - RAM

The Last Big Job     Amazon UK HC
Nick Oldham
Class/Genre:   Mystery   Police Procedural
Headline; 1999; £6.99; 376pp

Classification: Adult fiction (police procedural)

This is the fourth of Nick Oldham's police procedurals set in the north of England. Three police cars explode in succession and it looks as though an IRA bombing campaign is taking place. However, there is also a building society heist and an attempt to rob the Royal Mint. Chaos reigns.

Oldham writes his novels with great authenticity. Having worked in the police force himself, he knows all the correct procedures and you know that when you read one of his novels, you will be seeing an accurate representation of police actions though the fact that the same characters keep getting into desperate situations may not be as true!

The plot is interesting and he continues to find ways to develop his main characters. Oldham throws in some twists at the end of the novel and they are a great surprise, shocking the reader. The pace is kept up throughout, and the author even moves his characters out of Blackburn and Blackpool for a time, transporting them to sunny Los Cristianos, Tenerife. If you want a good British police procedural, you could do a lot worse than to read 'The Last Big Job'.

Luke Croll - RAM

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Luke Croll - RAM

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