I've followed Byker Books excellent Radgepacket series since the very first volume. The down to earth inner city settings have always appealed to me. You'll find no butlers or manor houses here. You'll find pubs, hard men, darts players, loan sharks, drug addicts, cannibals, prostitutes and gangsters. In fact this book is a whole packet choc full of radges, hence the term Radgepacket. They pull no punches and tackle subjects that some publishers wouldn’t dare to. It’s a testament to the publishers foresight that a lot of the writers who appeared in the early editions are now stalwarts of the Brit Grit crime writing scene and are enjoying critical acclaim far and wide. In this collection you have established names writing alongside talented newcomers and this blend works exceptionally well.
My personal favourite of the collection is The Greatest Sportsman In The World by Danny Hill. The only story I have ever read written in Potteries (Stoke-on-Trent) dialect. The story has an exceptionally strong voice, ready wit and bags of heart.
The diversity of the stories is such that you won’t like every tale but if you like your fiction near to the knuckle then I’d recommend this anthology to you.
Genre: Crime / Urban Noir
Publisher: Byker Books
Format: Paperback and Kindle Download
Rating: 5/5
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