Hood Rat

Researched on the front line and told like a thriller, a unique and groundbreaking exploration of Britain's hidden ganglands

In Moss Side, Manchester, Anders Svensson is on the trail of drug baron Merlin and his lieutenant Flow, a man so dangerous his type is said to appear only once in a decade. Svensson himself is a renegade detective with a network of informants second to none - mainly the girlfriends of gang members, who come to him for protection. Among the housing estates of Glasgow, the city with the highest murder rate in Europe, Karen McCluskey is on a one-woman mission to reform the force. And in Hackney, 19-year-old Pilgrim has made himself one of the most feared gang-members in East London, wanted for attempted murder and seemingly condemned to a life of crime.

In Hood Rat these narratives interlock in a shocking expose of Britain's underworld that ranks with Roberto Saviano's bestselling Gomorrah. Gavin Knight was embedded with undercover police and has spent years with his contacts, absorbing their stories and telling them with sharp observation and empathy. The result is an unflinching look at modern Britain that asks urgent questions about our troubled society through the human stories at its heart.

Page-turning, compassionate, and politically-charged - this is a book that could not be more pressing.