Barbara R. (Crop4Fun) reviewed on + 1217 more book reviews
Surprisingly genial London gangster comedy.
Set around the North London working-class district of Walthamstow, and its Asian-heavy community, we follow the misadventures of young ex-con Nicky Burkett, who tries to go straight after five years in jail but is stymied at every turn by a combo of bad luck and the efforts of others to reinvolve him. Within hours of hitting the streets, he gets caught up in a post office raid, propositioned by aging criminal Vernon Fitch to knock someone off, and lectured by cop George, who doesn't like Nicky's friendship with daughter Noreen.
Nicky's travails rapidly worsen as he's offered employment he doesn't want, first by up-and-coming gangster Mickey Cousins and then by the seriously disturbed, eye-patched Rameez, boyfriend of Nicky's streetwise sister Sharon. In addition, Kelly, mother of his precocious son, Danny, won't "give 'im slice" anymore as she's giving it to an unpleasant hardhead.
Despite his efforts, Nicky gets caught up in a turf war between Mickey and Rameez. In desperation to provide his son with a future, he finally accepts Vernon's lucrative contract -- with even more complicated results.
Set around the North London working-class district of Walthamstow, and its Asian-heavy community, we follow the misadventures of young ex-con Nicky Burkett, who tries to go straight after five years in jail but is stymied at every turn by a combo of bad luck and the efforts of others to reinvolve him. Within hours of hitting the streets, he gets caught up in a post office raid, propositioned by aging criminal Vernon Fitch to knock someone off, and lectured by cop George, who doesn't like Nicky's friendship with daughter Noreen.
Nicky's travails rapidly worsen as he's offered employment he doesn't want, first by up-and-coming gangster Mickey Cousins and then by the seriously disturbed, eye-patched Rameez, boyfriend of Nicky's streetwise sister Sharon. In addition, Kelly, mother of his precocious son, Danny, won't "give 'im slice" anymore as she's giving it to an unpleasant hardhead.
Despite his efforts, Nicky gets caught up in a turf war between Mickey and Rameez. In desperation to provide his son with a future, he finally accepts Vernon's lucrative contract -- with even more complicated results.
