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Product Description
Product Description
Newcastle, 1946. 19-year-old Jack Smeaton returns from the trenches, his hair turned white by the traumas of WWII. He seeks solace in socialism, falling under the spell of the young T Dan Smith, visionary future leader of the city council, architect of tower blocks and sculpted concrete. Meanwhile, the future of Monica Blacklock, victim of a childhood of abuse, seems unremittingly bleak. A chance encounter with a handsome young man on the banks of the river Tyne looks set to change her life for the better. But handsome, psychopathic Brian Mooney has plans for Monica. In fact, Brian has plans for lots of people ...A gripping tale of passion and violence, desire and revenge, spanning four tumultuous decades.
About the Author
Born and raised in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Martyn Waites worked as a professional actor before becoming a writer. A former Writer in Residence at Huntercombe Young Offenders' Institution and HMP Chelmsford, he currently runs arts-based workshops for socially excluded teenagers.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
Format:Paperback
The White Room is a tale of municipal corruption with its associated violent criminality. As a side dish it also serves up a story of how "child monsters" can be created.
Set in the three decades after the Second World war the book certainly captures an authentic atmosphere. You can sense the hope that people felt with the new building projects and the disappointment that followed when these failed. Changing social mores are also well portrayed. The authenticity is reinforced by passing references to real events. This does fail at one point when Jimi Hendrix plays "All Along the Watchtower" two years before it was written (but this only really matters to music anoraks like me).
Waites conjures up an interesting tale, but given the subject matter of the sub-plot and the extreme violence it is not one for the faint hearted. Suspects are more likely to be encased in concrete than they are to be gathered in the library.
Although it can be a bit hackneyed at times (in a "grim up North" sort of way), this is well worth a read if you like gritty drama linked to real life events.
Set in the three decades after the Second World war the book certainly captures an authentic atmosphere. You can sense the hope that people felt with the new building projects and the disappointment that followed when these failed. Changing social mores are also well portrayed. The authenticity is reinforced by passing references to real events. This does fail at one point when Jimi Hendrix plays "All Along the Watchtower" two years before it was written (but this only really matters to music anoraks like me).
Waites conjures up an interesting tale, but given the subject matter of the sub-plot and the extreme violence it is not one for the faint hearted. Suspects are more likely to be encased in concrete than they are to be gathered in the library.
Although it can be a bit hackneyed at times (in a "grim up North" sort of way), this is well worth a read if you like gritty drama linked to real life events.
Format:Paperback
09/06/2007
`The White Room' by Martyn Waites
Martyn Waites follows on from the highly successful `Born Under Punches' with a work of similar sonority that is written with his same infectious style. `The White Room' is a tale of raw, brutal lives in post-war Newcastle which seizes the mood of a city suffering from a lack of identity in the years following World War II. Although the synopsis is slightly mis-leading the novel is another book that has twists and turns at every corner and like his previous novel leads to a crescendo of crude, gripping sub-plots which leaves no taboo subject untouched. It reads like a cross between some of Elmore Leonard's early work (such as Swag) and has the same raw, untouched realism of the film `Get Carter'. It paints a picture of tough urban life in a hard city and Waite's' again hits home the harsh message of making the best of situations without hope. It focuses on half a dozen characters (which epitomise the people of a region struggling to cope in post-war North-East England) and quickly flits between their plights to result in an action filled finale which is as violent as it is compelling. All in all, a gripping read, and although not quite as punchy as his debut novel, it is still a thrilling piece of work.
6 out of 10, ****
By Andy Edgeworth
`The White Room' by Martyn Waites
Martyn Waites follows on from the highly successful `Born Under Punches' with a work of similar sonority that is written with his same infectious style. `The White Room' is a tale of raw, brutal lives in post-war Newcastle which seizes the mood of a city suffering from a lack of identity in the years following World War II. Although the synopsis is slightly mis-leading the novel is another book that has twists and turns at every corner and like his previous novel leads to a crescendo of crude, gripping sub-plots which leaves no taboo subject untouched. It reads like a cross between some of Elmore Leonard's early work (such as Swag) and has the same raw, untouched realism of the film `Get Carter'. It paints a picture of tough urban life in a hard city and Waite's' again hits home the harsh message of making the best of situations without hope. It focuses on half a dozen characters (which epitomise the people of a region struggling to cope in post-war North-East England) and quickly flits between their plights to result in an action filled finale which is as violent as it is compelling. All in all, a gripping read, and although not quite as punchy as his debut novel, it is still a thrilling piece of work.
6 out of 10, ****
By Andy Edgeworth
Format:Hardcover
This writer just keeps getting better. Imagine a novel where real life characters like disgraced Labour politician T Dan Smith and (thinly disguised) child killer Mary Bell come to life. Like James Ellroy does with LA in the fifties, Waites is doing it with Newcastle in the Sixties. Along with David Peace, he must now be Britain's best crime writer. Not for the faint-hearted, but a brilliant slab of noir. I loved it.
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