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Amazon.co.uk Review
In Human Punk, the coming-of-age tale of a Thames valley likely lad, John King yet again delivers an unflinching, frank insight into British male working-class culture. King's best-known previous novels, The Football Factory and England Away, centred on the brutal subject of soccer hooliganism--of the domestic and export variety.

The antihero of Human Punk is Joe Martin: poor white trash from the council estates of Slough. In the novel's first third, set at the "arse-end of the 70s", Joe is a teenage no-hoper into cheap booze and cheaper girls. He's also into the new punk music that has finally percolated down to the Middlesex hinterlands.

King captures Joe's humble yet never-to-be-forgotten adolescent excitements--"the tingle of the cider" and the "smell of Bev's perfume banging into me"--with such empathy and verve that, in its praise, you can't help sensing the autobiographer at work rather than the novelist.

Unfortunately, the following sections of the novel aren't as telling. First it flashes forward to the late 1980s, when Joe is a backpacker returning to Blighty, as the prodigal son, on the Trans-Siberian railway; then it moves on to glitzy New Labour London of the millennium, where Joe is a moneymaking DJ. Throughout it all Joe broods on a childhood incident when a friend was nearly drowned, and the solving of this "puzzle"--his pal's fate--is what provides the book with its denouement. However, these later sections fail to grip the reader as it is difficult to afford the older, harder Joe the same sympathy one gave his youthful incarnation, and without such identification the whole book lacks psychological Semtex.

Fans of King's bleak, staccato, first-person narratives will not be disappointed by his now familiar but explosive insights into the male psyche.--Sean Thomas --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Synopsis
For Joe, the summer of 1977 meant punk rock, fun and violence. Fast forward to 1988 and Joe is on the Trans-Siberian express coming to terms with his best mate's suicide back in 1977. In the present, Joe still has to come to terms with Smiles's death.

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16 Reviews 5 star:  (10) 4 star:  (3) 3 star:  (2) 2 star:    (0) 1 star:  (1)           Average Customer Review (16 customer reviews)		Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews   12 of 15 people found the following review helpful: Great start, good middle, poor end, 8 Aug 2002 By  Stephen Newton "www.stephennewton.com" (Manchester, England) - See all my reviews       It's a great shame that King allows this book to deteriorate so much in the last part, because the first two thirds are genuinely brilliant. The frustrated young teenagers on London's doorstep, desperate to take part in the late 1970s punk revolution are sketched to perfection. Skip forward to that trans-Siberian train journey and King starting to lag, although the Moscow sequence is superb. Skip forward to Britain in 2000 and King's completely lost his way. It doesn't matter that the main character and narrator, Joe, hasn't moved on or developed along some artificial character arc, but all the other characters have transformed into wood and speak with the same voice (Joe's). The pop culture references that placed the first part so firmly in the 1970s disappear, Joe is supposedly a DJ; he plays the Clash and Sex Pistols and 'some of the up-to-date stuff', whatever that may be.  Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? (Report this)   3 of 4 people found the following review helpful: Brought it all back, 5 Jun 2001 By A Customer This review is from: Human Punk (Paperback) I saw Human Punk in a local book shop, I usually browse around and wait for something to jump out at me. On this occassion this did. And am I glad that it did. I moved to London in 1977, from Birmingham, and was for a better description, a Punk. John Kings book brought back so many memories and feelings, I was spooked at times. Split into three parts, the first, end of school days and the scene in and around Slough, is by far the most powerful. It really sums up what was happening at that time. The music, the politics, the day-to-day rumblings and speeding of life. I found a lot of what the 'hero' of the story, Joe, was thinking and doing rang bells way back in my mind. The second part, his journey back from the Far East to Slough, is one long train ride. And that is how it feels. With not much to do and plenty of time, Joe is forced to look back over his life and evaluate where he is, where he has come from and where and why he is returning. Part three is smack bang up to date - year 2000. Back in Slough and more worldly wise, we pick up the pieces of the other two parts. And yet again it rings so true. The sub-culture, again the music and political reflections. I haven't finished it yet so can't comment on how it will all come together. But if you want a great read buy this book. Buy two, because if you lend it out you won't be getting it back.  Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? (Report this)   3 of 4 people found the following review helpful: Fourth book & the best yet!, 9 Oct 2000 By  "mu23mu" - See all my reviews This review is from: Human Punk (Paperback) Having read his football related trilogy it was with slight trepidation I approached this offering from John King. I took it with me on a one week trip to London so that even if it turned out to be very poor I would be forced to read it all. I need not have worried, this book was hugely better than any of his previous works. (Which I do like by the way). Human Punk made me laugh out loud on the tube, and on more than one occasion the odd sly tear fell. I cannot recommend this book highly enough. I loaned it to a friend at work. He is older than myself & was actually working in London at the time the book is set. He was so impressed that he went out & bought his own copy after reading mine! John Kings descriptive writing is a delight, & the use of music really evokes the period. I just can't stop singing songs in my head all the time now! I implore anyone, whether familiar with his previous work or not, to buy this book. I have never bothered to review a book before (and I read loads) but really feel strongly that YOU should read this one. Thanks for listening, Steve.  Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? (Report this) › See all 16 customer reviews...		Most Recent Customer Reviews