Review
"A gripping, terrifying exposure of a much-discussed - but never explained - part of Britain. A must-read for anyone who wants to understand our deeply fractured society." --Owen Jones, author of CHAVS
`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
`The British Wire' --BBC Radio 5 Live
`In focusing on three cities, Knight tries to highlight major issues
in teen criminality: drug addicted, absent or ineffectual parenting,
gun culture, the profit motive and gangster chic. His research
is impressive. He spent two years embedded with the police in
these cities, and uncovers the sort of stories that never make
the news. A Somalian child soldier who relives the civil war on
the streets of London, Glaswegian gang fights in Easterhouse,
and homeless Sikh heroin addicts living in bin sheds . . . Hood Rat
does raise some deeply troubling and interesting questions.' --Scotsman
`Gavin Knight spent two years with anti-gang units in London,
Manchester and Glasgow in order to write his gripping new
book'
--Esquire
`The book is a step forward for British true-crime.' --3AM
`An excellent and unputdownable true-crime book . . . Names may
be changed but everything else here is true. And in much the
same way Wire creator David Simon and Roberto "Gomorrah"
Saviano lifted the lid on Baltimore and Naples, so Knight (embedded
with undercover police and underworld contacts for years)
employs a series of interlocking, novelistic narratives to present
an immediate and immersive study of brutalised youth from
London to Glasgow "who'll live and die in a square mile", doomed
by peer-pressure - or their own treacherous postcode. Though
remaining profoundly political, there are no pat solutions or
easy analyses on offer - just shocking stories and statistics . . . and
perhaps a shard of hope too.'
--Word Magazine
`A rollicking tale' --Big Issue in the North
`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 Knight's 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 not report simply on the gangs, but also on those entrusted with the powers to bring about
justice and change.' --Literary Review
`Its pace is thrillerish and there are passages of undeniable
tension.' --Sunday Times
`A challenging read . . . The author vividly shows a world where
drugs hook young boys into gangs, where posturing and "respect"
is all, so one gang murder escalates into revenge killings on both
sides.' --We Love This Book
`If more non-fiction books were like this I'd be reading more
of them but for now I'll just eagerly await Gavin Knight's next
project.'
--Ric's Reviews
`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
`The British Wire' --BBC Radio 5 Live
`In focusing on three cities, Knight tries to highlight major issues
in teen criminality: drug addicted, absent or ineffectual parenting,
gun culture, the profit motive and gangster chic. His research
is impressive. He spent two years embedded with the police in
these cities, and uncovers the sort of stories that never make
the news. A Somalian child soldier who relives the civil war on
the streets of London, Glaswegian gang fights in Easterhouse,
and homeless Sikh heroin addicts living in bin sheds . . . Hood Rat
does raise some deeply troubling and interesting questions.' --Scotsman
`Gavin Knight spent two years with anti-gang units in London,
Manchester and Glasgow in order to write his gripping new
book'
--Esquire
`The book is a step forward for British true-crime.' --3AM
`An excellent and unputdownable true-crime book . . . Names may
be changed but everything else here is true. And in much the
same way Wire creator David Simon and Roberto "Gomorrah"
Saviano lifted the lid on Baltimore and Naples, so Knight (embedded
with undercover police and underworld contacts for years)
employs a series of interlocking, novelistic narratives to present
an immediate and immersive study of brutalised youth from
London to Glasgow "who'll live and die in a square mile", doomed
by peer-pressure - or their own treacherous postcode. Though
remaining profoundly political, there are no pat solutions or
easy analyses on offer - just shocking stories and statistics . . . and
perhaps a shard of hope too.'
--Word Magazine
`A rollicking tale' --Big Issue in the North
`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 Knight's 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 not report simply on the gangs, but also on those entrusted with the powers to bring about
justice and change.' --Literary Review
`Its pace is thrillerish and there are passages of undeniable
tension.' --Sunday Times
`A challenging read . . . The author vividly shows a world where
drugs hook young boys into gangs, where posturing and "respect"
is all, so one gang murder escalates into revenge killings on both
sides.' --We Love This Book
`If more non-fiction books were like this I'd be reading more
of them but for now I'll just eagerly await Gavin Knight's next
project.'
--Ric's Reviews
Product Description
In Moss Side, Manchester, Anders Svensson is on the trail of drug baron Merlin and his lieutenant Flow, a man so dangerous his type is said to appear only once in a decade. Svensson himself is a renegade detective with a network of informants second to none – mainly the girlfriends of gang members, who come to him for protection. Among the housing estates of Glasgow, the city with the highest murder rate in Europe, Karen McCluskey is on a one-woman mission to reform the force. And in Hackney, 19-year-old Pilgrim has made himself one of the most feared gang-members in East London, wanted for attempted murder and seemingly condemned to a life of crime.
In Hood Rat these narratives interlock in a shocking exposé of Britain's underworld that ranks with Roberto Saviano's bestselling Gomorrah. Gavin Knight was embedded with undercover police and has spent years with his contacts, absorbing their stories and telling them with sharp observation and empathy. The result is an unflinching look at modern Britain that asks urgent questions about our troubled society through the human stories at its heart. Page-turning, compassionate, and politically-charged – this is a book that could not be more pressing.
In Hood Rat these narratives interlock in a shocking exposé of Britain's underworld that ranks with Roberto Saviano's bestselling Gomorrah. Gavin Knight was embedded with undercover police and has spent years with his contacts, absorbing their stories and telling them with sharp observation and empathy. The result is an unflinching look at modern Britain that asks urgent questions about our troubled society through the human stories at its heart. Page-turning, compassionate, and politically-charged – this is a book that could not be more pressing.
