3 Cracking Brit Grit Novels From Ted Lewis!
Ted Lewis. Brit Grit. Crime Fiction. Recommended Read. Nick Triplow. No Exit Press
Ted Lewis’ JACK’S RETURN HOME was published in 1970 and is, somewhat oxymoronically, a very successful cult novel. The novel will probably always be overshadowed by the brilliant Michael Klinger/ Michael Caine/ Mike Hodges film GET CARTER. Which is a pity as JACK’S RETURN HOME is bloody marvellous - gritty, grim, violent, funny and yet despairing. Very highly recommended.
PLENDER is an off-kilter novel about an off-kilter man. And its all the better for it, too. Plender himself is a full-on sleazeball: a private detective, a blackmailer and more. Plender’s chance encounter with Knott, a childhood cohort, gives him the opportunity to corkscrew himself into Knott’s life, whether Knott likes it or not. PLENDER is as gripping as it is misanthropic, as humorous as it is violent. Ted Lewis proves himself yet again as one of the masters of dark, gritty, British fiction. He doesn’t so much as glare at the lowlife, as embrace it. There’s a tasty introduction from Nick Triplow in the version tha…
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