Sweet Gum

(Paperback)

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Description

Set in the dark underbelly of contemporary London, this is both an unputdownable crime thriller and a shockingly powerful, parabolic work of contemporary fiction. Eugene Burnside joined the Firm before he left school, running drugs. Clever and ambitious, he's now twenty-eight and going places- he's come to the attention of the Faron Brothers and, as everyone knows, the brothers are the Firm. Promotion couldn't come too soon for Eugene - it means he no longer has to deal with middleman Mal Shifter and his two old aunts. Or those dogs. The lot of them give him the creeps.But if Eugene's gangland career is going well, things are not so sweet on the domestic front. He still lives at home with his mum, Gladys, and his sister Simone, the star of SweetHearts lap-dancing club. He's devoted to them both but wished he felt the same about Simone's son, Nero. He's not a nice child - 'disturbed' isn't the half of it.Then a SweetHearts girl goes missing. Evil has come to haunt the alleys and archways of North London - a killer the press have dubbed 'the Meatman' begins his grisly work and Eugene's world is turned on its head...

Reviews

Jo-Ann Goodwin's Sweet Gum...combines a gripping contemporary crime story with literary symbolism. Hers is a fresh, sometimes comic and profoundly moral new voice. -- JENNI MURRAY * MAIL ON SUNDAY *
Brilliant, sparkling and unforgiveably nasty -- DEBORAH ORR
A writer who refuses to glamorise the violence of the underworld...underpinning the tension with a cracking dry wit...Her skill at characterisation is equal to Zadie Smith's...Like a good, old-fashioned storyteller she is also a mistress at pacing, mischievously lacing her novel with red herrings...a compelling, thoughtful read * SCOTLAND ON SUNDAY *
Terrifyingly intense and disturbing...her utter fearlessness as a writer gives this novel both its power and ultimately its glory -- SUSANNA MOORE
A modern parable...a nightmare vision...it's bloodcurdling stuff. * INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY *

Author Bio

Jo-Ann Goodwin grew up in Sheffield and studied English at Hull University. She followed this with an M.Phil on Dickens at York University. She works as a full-time journalist and is particularly known for her investigations into organized crime and miscarriages of justice. Jo-Ann is married and lives in north London. Her fist novel, Danny Boy, was widely acclaimed. Sweet Gum was shortlisted for the 2006 Ian Fleming Steel Dagger Award.