Running Hot [Paperback]

‘Lock, stock and a twenty-year-old mobile phone, at last I know my way round the North London gun belt!’

'Lock, stock and a twenty-year-old mobile phone,at last I know my way round the North London gun belt!'

A likeable social-protest-cum-crime-caper story . . . An impressive first book with a strong sense of place and community.

'Swaggeringly cool and incredibly funny . . . maintains a cracking pace through clever plotting with a brilliant ear for snappy, street-smart dialogue'

Intriguing, touching and colourful . . .Dreda Say Mitchell is a writer to watch

An exciting new voice in urban fiction . . . her prose has an individual, slangily poetic zip. . . .It certainly has fictional authenticity

Prestigious Crime Writers' Association prize for debut crime fiction

A cacophany of voices across the classes. Pacy, vivid, and at times extremely funny.

'What's the best thing about Hackney? The bus outta here!' And that's exactly where Elijah 'Schoolboy' Campbell needs to be in a week's time, heading out of London's underworld. He's taking a great offer to leave it all behind and start a new life, but the problem is he's got no spare cash. The possibility of lining his pockets becomes real when he stumbles across a mobile phone. But it's marked property, and the Street won't care that he found it by accident. The Street won't care that the phone's his last chance to change his life. And he can't give it back because the door to redemption is only open for 7 days. 7 days to exchange the mobile for cash. 7 days to cut the mobile's line rental to the Faces tracking his every move. 7 days to get out of a world where bling, ringtones and petty deaths are accessories of life. Schoolboy knows that when you're running hot all it takes is one call, one voicemail, one text to disconnect you from this life - permanently. And getting deeper into his old lifestyle may mean that he never catches that bus ...Dreda Say Mitchell perfectly captures the tough and brittle mood of inner London in this stark, moving and funny account of a largely hidden world. A highly original new novel and a striking debut from a writer of verve and distinction.

Dreda Say Mitchell perfectly captures the tough and brittle atmosphere of contemporary inner London, and brings otherwise marginalised voices to the centre stage. Schoolboy is a remarkable and unforgettable character. This highly original new novel is a striking debut from a writer of verve and distinction.

Dreda Say Mitchell was born into London's Grenadian community in the 1960s and lives in London's East End. She has a degree in African history from The School of Oriental and African Studies and an MA from the University of North London. She has worked as a teacher and education adviser throughout London. This is her first novel.