Synopsis
Stephen and Caroline Day are a normal young couple quietly getting on with their lives, then the neighbours from hell move in upstairs. After a couple of weeks of police inactivity, Stephen snaps and accidents start to happen.
From the Author
Killing me not so softlyNoise Abatement is the most autobiographical of my crime novels so far in that I really did have the neighbours from hell move in above me. Thereafter I hardly ever had a stress-free dayor more than four hours of sleep each night. Imagine if you can't choose when to set your alarm - because you'll be woken by the ndighbours' radio alarm clock at 6am. You can't watch TV or rent a video because the neighbours are making too much noise for you to hear anything. You can't go to bed early because you know from bitter experience that they're liable to come home at 3am and entertain their mates for a couple of hours. Like Caroline in the book I endured all of this and like Caroline I became increasingly ill. When the authorities couldn't improve the daily hell I started to dream of literally silencing the noisemakers forever. Stephen, Caroline's husband in Noise Abatement, sets out to do just that. Obviously I'd never recommend killing someone - but I can understand these real life neighbours who have been driven to despair by repetitive sound and who have forever silenced the uncaring culprits. Stephen initially succeeds in hurting his enemies but events spiral horrifyingly out of control...
Early reviews have described the book as `kinky, surreal and full of suspense' (Scotland on Sunday) and `all the more gripping because it could happen to anyone.' (Salisbury Journal.)