Gritty look at the criminal underworld in a northern town, revolving around Jack Carter returning home to look in to the suspicious circumstances surrounding his brothers death. Bleak and cool, grim and dangerous this is a true classic.
February 2010 Guest Editor Simon Kernick on TED LEWIS
The best British gangster novel of all time, filmed famously as ‘Get Carter’ starring Michael Caine. It’s the tale of a hitman who goes home to Doncaster to investigate his brother’s suspicious death, and it simply oozes with atmosphere and tension. The style is sparse and incisive, and extremely funny at times. It contains some of the best one liners I’ve ever read, many of which were made famous by the film.
Doncaster, and Jack Carter is home for a funeral - his brother's. Frank's car was found at the bottom of a cliff, with him inside. Jack thinks that Frank's death is suspicious, so he decides to talk to a few people.
Frank was a mild man and did as he was told, but Jack's not a bit like that.
Ted Lewis was born in Manchester in 1940, an only child, and died prematurely in 1982 having published seven novels and written several episodes for the television series Z Cars. His first novel, All the Way Home and All the Night Through was published in 1965, followed by Jack's Return Home, subsequently retitled Get Carter after the success of the film of the same name starring Michael Caine. This book created the noir school of British crime writing and pushed Lewis into the bestseller list.
