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J is a successful burglar, with a house full of ‘well-selected antique furnishins’, a wife with an ‘enhanced front’, and a talent for acquiring hooky gear. But when a break-in goes badly wrong he finds himself betrayed and deserted by the people he trusted the most. Emerging from prison, J is torn between good intentions and the desire for revenge, but as the strands of his life continue to unravel before him, he becomes an unlikely, and ultimately tragic, hero.
This is an engaging novel, by a writer with a really strong voice. Read the first two pages and you will be hooked.
‘This is a fine literary novel with an ambition to be greater than a gangster-police thriller. Barlay has achieved his goal and more.’ Telegraph
This is an engaging novel, by a writer with a really strong voice. Read the first two pages and you will be hooked.
‘This is a fine literary novel with an ambition to be greater than a gangster-police thriller. Barlay has achieved his goal and more.’ Telegraph
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Reviews
'Barlay's evocation of the grimy end of Notting Hill, west London, is wonderfully written, with a convincing cast of characters, from the villainous to the inane. Dominated by the brooding figure of the absent sibling, this is a low-key treat'
The Times
Rarely does one read writing so inventive, yet so tensed against habituation; so exuberant, but so obsessed with the business of conveying depression, hopelessness and failure. What elevates Barlay from the crowds of undistinguished caper-writers is an extraordinary facility for creating and sustaining individual voices - this is a brilliantly literary novel.
A disturbing peek into London's real underworld . A brilliant, haunting snapshot of a subculture which is really quite sumfink.
'A nicely judged balance of insightful descriptions and world-weary sarcasm. It's full of colourful characters and the dialogue is fantastically rich ... Barlay's ear for slang and talent for getting it on the page is, like, the wickedest. Y'na mean?''
Independent on Sunday
'An extremely well written and provocative novel which makes Nick Barlay the Zola of North West London'
Kilburn Times
Barlay recreates the inner city's cold, closed world of deprivation, crime, drugs and violence with an expertise which recalls Chandler's expeditions to the seedier side of Hollywood. There's black humour on every page. Highly recommended.
'It was very nice to pick this up and find a writer who is not only in command of his technique but seems to be have his finger on the city's pulse'
Guardian
Funny, poignant, oozing attitude and character, this is the final part of Barlay's urban trilogy. Hits the spot
Barlay's controlled and energetic demotic fixes you to the page - and it is not just the language that sets this above all other 'Geezer Chic' writing; it is the superbly bitter-sweet desperation of J. This is a fine literary novel with an ambition to be greater than a gangster-police thriller. Barlay has achieved his goal and more.
Barlay is fast developing a reputation as the new Elmore Leonard. Unlike lesser urban chroniclers, Barlay refuses to romanticise the thug life. Instead his probing and flowing prose digs under the skin of nervy paranoia, self-loathing and misguided heroism. Deceptively intelligent, tragic but never sentimental, [Hooky Gear] is a welcome alternative to Guy Ritchie's slumming habits
Brilliant ... one of the Dons of British urban writing
With stampeding pace, theatrical slanging matches and a murky landscape of docks and backstreets, 'Hooky Gear' injects fresh venom into the London crime thriller.