Although the publisher has touted this first novel as being in competition with Tony Parsons and Nick Hornby, perhaps a more accurate (but less marketing-friendly) comparison would be a 'Noughties' take on Alan Sillitoe. TMFTB focuses on two childhood friends growing up on Lancashire council estates: Kevin, the teenage rebel whose football career is cut short after a drunken brawl, and Adam, the more timid and conscientious of the pair, who wins a place at Cambridge. The strength of their friendship is put to the test, sometimes violently, as both struggle with their new situations. It could be a recipe for clumsy political point scoring set to the form of a novel and, while class differences are a hardy perennial of many British writers, Collins handles the subject deftly and with originality.
