Hood Rat
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Review
`The complexities of dealing with Britain's gangs as investigated by Gavin Knight, who spent two years with anti-gang units in London, Manchester and Glasgow in order to write his gripping new book, Hood Rat' --Esquire
`Journalist Gavin Knight spent two years embedded with undercover police to tell these three very different stories of real-life street crime . . . fast-paced, gripping and visceral' --Metro
`A rollicking tale'
--Big Issue in the North
'Gavin Knight's Hood Rat is an unflinching account of life and death in the sink estates of Britain. It penetrates environments that most of us only glimpse in local news reports, and addresses the kind of people that we fear encountering on a dark night or, indeed, a bright afternoon.' --Observer
'In its approach and style, Gavin Knight's Hood Rat follows the New Journalism that revolutionised the form in the 1960s. . . This book is not only a disturbing, significant portrait of the present, but a snapshot of Britain's future if this trend continues to escalate . . . The pace of Hood Rat is spurred on by Knights economy of detail and staccato sentences, which thankfully avoid the slang and colloquialisms found on the lips of those he encounters. His experience crosses two worlds: he does no report simply on the gangs, but also on those entrusted with the powers for bring about justice and change.'
--Literary Review
`Journalist Gavin Knight spent two years embedded with undercover police to tell these three very different stories of real-life street crime . . . fast-paced, gripping and visceral' --Metro
`A rollicking tale'
--Big Issue in the North
'Gavin Knight's Hood Rat is an unflinching account of life and death in the sink estates of Britain. It penetrates environments that most of us only glimpse in local news reports, and addresses the kind of people that we fear encountering on a dark night or, indeed, a bright afternoon.' --Observer
'In its approach and style, Gavin Knight's Hood Rat follows the New Journalism that revolutionised the form in the 1960s. . . This book is not only a disturbing, significant portrait of the present, but a snapshot of Britain's future if this trend continues to escalate . . . The pace of Hood Rat is spurred on by Knights economy of detail and staccato sentences, which thankfully avoid the slang and colloquialisms found on the lips of those he encounters. His experience crosses two worlds: he does no report simply on the gangs, but also on those entrusted with the powers for bring about justice and change.'
--Literary Review
Product Description
Researched on the front line and told like a thriller, a unique and groundbreaking exploration of Britain’s hidden ganglands.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Scary and sobering.And a rattling good read.,
By Silver Moon Sailor "lizzie796" (Northumberland uk) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Hood Rat (Paperback)
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Programme (What's this?)
There are horrifying stories in this book. Pitiful ones too. The style of writing is clipped - monsyllables, short sentences. Individual social workers, police officers, gang members and their families are the dramatis personae. The jacket blurb explains that names have been changed, some characters conflated and bits left out or put in for dramatic effect. The author could as easily have not bothered. I would have preferred the words of the real people involved at the loss of some smoothness of the action. And there is a lot of action. Described dispassionately and unsensationally. Not a lot of sex and swearing for example. A good balance is kept between condoning and blaming for the destruction that gang member kids commit.This book does not glamorize drugs, gangs, guns or violence but it has a certain populist narrative style that threatens to do so at times.There are some shocking things described that are tempting to put down to dramatic licence eg kids in London under 15 shooting people dead for ridiculous reasons of "disrespect" or for tiny amounts of drugs or money, other kids even younger in Glasgow squaring up for an insane version of British Bulldog with Samurai swords and machetes. Then today's headline in the news is a 15 year old kid in London getting life for executing a hit on a woman for £200. This stuff really is true. At the end of it is a nice piece about a scheme in Glasgow that has helped to reduce gang damage a little. It is not the answer to all the problems but I was pleased to end the book on a note with some hope. It is up to all of us to change this crazy situation. These little kids could be all of our kids and are as much victims as perpetrators on the whole. Read the book and you will see what I mean.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Gripping Read,
By
This review is from: Hood Rat (Paperback)
Took me right in there with the street gang culture in the UK today. Some really tense scenes, such as the shootout coming out of the nightclub that I can't wait to see in the movie. Read it in about 3 days. Couldn't put it down.
8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
British version of The Wire?,
By
This review is from: Hood Rat (Paperback)
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Programme (What's this?)
A harsh look at crime in 21st century Britain, this is a disturbing but enthralling read. The events are true, but some names have been changed and the accounts have been dramatised, so that the book almost reads like a novel - an approach which pays dividends, as it really draws you in and prevents you looking at the various gang members and police as dispassionately as if you were reading a piece of non-fiction. It reads very like a British version of David Simon's incredible "Homicide", and that is some feat. A fantastic book, highly recommended - but it's not an easy read.
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