Reviewed by Chris Williams
We all know that the demand for low wage labour, and the supply of desperate refugees from the world's poorest countries, has created an underclass of super-exploited workers in the UK. And we know that the state, just like the bosses in the sweatshops of the service sector, is perfectly happy to see them exploited so long as it gets its cut. Ian Newton, AKA Ahmed Debani, (he grew up with mixed English/Yemeni heritage) knows this too.
He has written a fast-paced thriller in which the class struggle and what happens when we lose it is never very far away. The writer is one of the workers who broke the story of endemic corruption in Hull City Council ('dustbingate') a few years ago. In this debut novel he draws upon his experience working at the seamier end of the UK's fast food industry, telling a tale of betrayal and double-cross within a gang who run a country-wide protection racket. It is exciting, intriguing, heartbreaking, and sometimes very funny.
This book has prompted controversy from some quarters, including accusations of racism. There are a number of portrayals of corrupt Arab and Iranian businessmen in it. But there are also portrayals of corrupt British businessmen and officials. In fact, all the bosses are corrupt it's only a few of the workers who are even slightly honest. The energy of Newton/Debani's writing reminds me of Dashiel Hammet, another leftist who wove tales around the people at the bottom of the pile, and the criminals who prey on them .This is not a book that sacrifices its plot to deliver a heavy-handed political message. You won't read it because you want to find out more about the way that migrant workers are ripped off. You'll read it because you want to know how it ends.
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