Among Thieves by Mez Packer
It's 1984 and two ex-campus drug dealers are locked in a feud of mysterious origin. Chilly Pads has the upper hand and the money, while Andy has the charisma and the girls. When Andy sets up a disastrous deal with IRA gangsters, he's paid in fake dollars - and needs Pads' help to finance a scam to make his money back. Pads sees an opportunity . . . Jez, a 2-tone loving Cov Lad from a racist family, is sent with Jamaican Bas to change the dollars in Spain. But Jez becomes convinced they're being followed and completely unravels. Is the beautiful, feisty Northern girl they meet in league with Pads or not? Either way, Becca impresses Andy and Pads a lot and they recruit her for the next big job: smuggling hash into the UK from India. Meanwhile, Mehmet is caught up in a violent revenge killing and flees Hoxha's prison-like Albania. When he reaches Spain his story intersects with the team, and fortunes change. Revenges ripen.
Reminiscent of Martin Amis-but better plottedMez Packer has triumphantly pulled off the trick of writing across the gender divide-each of her male characters is complex and convincing * Independent on Sunday *
A witty, fast-paced thriller . . . Packer has a gift for quirky conversational detail and social satire. A promising new novelist * Times Literary Supplement *
Comical, sometimes profound, this is a highly original debut * Guardian *
Rattles along wonderfully. Packer writes crisply about a world she clearly knows. Like any good thriller, it's all about voyage, not destination. This one's worth travelling on * The Word *
The headlong narrative of Among Thieves brilliantly evokes the drug-fuelled 2 Tone madness of 1980s Coventry * Nicholas Royle *
A witty, fast-paced thriller . . . Packer has a gift for quirky conversational detail and social satire. A promising new novelist * Times Literary Supplement *
Comical, sometimes profound, this is a highly original debut * Guardian *
Rattles along wonderfully. Packer writes crisply about a world she clearly knows. Like any good thriller, it's all about voyage, not destination. This one's worth travelling on * The Word *
The headlong narrative of Among Thieves brilliantly evokes the drug-fuelled 2 Tone madness of 1980s Coventry * Nicholas Royle *
Born in Essex, Mez Packer was a student at Warwick University in the 80s and travelled in Europe and Asia. She experimented in alternative lifestyles in the 90s and travelled to India, Nepal and Thailand. She lives with her partner (a veteran of Coventry 2 Tone days) and her two children in Leamington, Warwickshire.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9780955647628 |
| ISBN 10 | 0955647622 |
| Title | Among Thieves |
| Author | Mez Packer |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | Profile Books Ltd |
| Year published | 2009-03-01 |
| Number of pages | 288 |
| Prizes | Short-listed for Commonwealth Author's Prize 0, Short-listed for Author's Club Prize 0 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |