How the Wired Weep by Ian Patrick #HowTheWiredWeep @IPatrick_Author @damppebbles #damppebblesblogtours

The Wire crosses the pond.

Book blurb

Ed is a detective who handles informants. He recruits Ben, a young man, who is treading a dangerous path into the criminal underworld.

Ben’s unsure of where his loyalties lie. They have to find a way to work together despite their differences.

Both men are drawn into the world of Troy, a ruthless and brutal leader of an Organised Criminal Network.

Ben is torn between two worlds as he tries to walk the impossible line between criminality and helping Ed combat crime.

He lives in fear of discovery.

When your life is thrown upside down who do you turn to in order to survive?

Set against the backdrop of the 2012 Olympic Games, How the Wired Weep is a fast paced urban thriller where time is against both men as they attempt to serve their own agendas.

My thoughts

The book is taken from two points of view. One is Ed he’s a DS in covert operations. The other is Ben he’s been recruited by Ed as an informant. Each tells the story from their own perspective. The chapter headings are clear telling you who is speaking.

Ben has recently returned home after being in prison. He lives in a Y (YMCA Hostel) where he at least has his own room and it’s a decent place. He’s been on the take most of his life. He was taken into care when he was young. His family have a history of criminality. Not that he’s necessarily the best, nowhere near but he’s streetwise and earns not only from being an informant but also with his motorcycle gang which includes his best mate Ghost, they grab and run, steal motorbikes and the like. He’s always been close to the gang that runs his area. It’s run by the up and coming Troy now – not someone you want to mess with. Ben needs to be close to be able to supply Ed with the necessary information that will bring in the cash. Especially now with the news he’s just had from his girlfriend.

Ed has been in covert ops for a while now. He’s just got a new DI and he partners with Smiles who came onto the team after him. He’s married and he and his wife, Lucy, are trying to have children. It’s been difficult and they are trying yet another round of IVF. He wants a child because Lucy does and he wants her to be happy. Still his work is pretty much everything to him. It’s draining with lot’s of hours – which he needs for the overtime with all this IVF treatment – it’s a difficult balance. He wants to get his informants out of their old lifestyles, he cares but he wants the guns, the knives and the criminals of the streets and locked up too. It’s personal as well as professional. Still running informants can be a tricky business and their are rules they have to work by and laws they have to get their informants to understand they cannot break. He’s worried about Ben he sails close to the wind maybe too close. One day he may end up back in prison, or worse, if he doesn’t watch out.

This is the sort of story that creeps up on you and draws you in. Into a world few of us may know and yet one which all to many get pulled into. It’s a sad, bad and dark world where life is nothing until you get that next fix and to get it you have to earn and the easiest (really?) and quickest (ha!) way is by stealing, robbing, running drugs and more. You’re pulled into gangs, criminal actions and then it’s too late to go straight and sort your life out – or is it?

This story being played out in the pages of How the Wired Weep draws you in just like Ben got drawn into his life and it holds you there until the last page. Through the ups and downs reeling you in until – yes, you’re hooked.

Ben gets more angry, more frustrated at being used, more greedy. He wants more, he wants what he believes should be his, what he’s earned. He’s not the nicest of characters but nor is he the worst. He’s just living what he knows. Just as he begins thinking a little clearer, yep, some of his actions catch up with him – will he survive this time?

Ed sees Ben spiralling out of control. He works hard to keep him straight but he has a temper which doesn’t always help. Ed is pretty OK a character who could go either way but is basically a good guy doing a difficult job. Can he get Ben to see beyond the criminal – or has he lost him?

Ian Patrick weaves a tragic story which has realism running through it like rock has Blackpool through it’s core. It is gritty and feels very true to life – no doubt Patrick’s experience as a police officer has ensured that is the case. Certainly as the story draws to it’s conclusion the pace, the tension and the action winds up to an unbearable crescendo playing out an excruciating and inevitable standoff.

What happens in the end will make you feel that life sometimes hands out the strangest second opportunities to folk and you may even shed a little tear. Nah, that’s just a bit of dust in your eye.

This is a darn good book from a darn good writer and well worth reading.

Thanks

Many thanks to Emma at #damppebblesblogtours for the invite to the #HowtheWiredWeep BlogTour and to the author, Ian Patrick, for an eCopy of the book.

BlogTour

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Information

Independently published (30 Jun. 2020)

Buy: Amazon UK | Amazon US | AmazonSmileUK |

Author

Ian spent twenty-seven years in the Metropolitan police the majority as a Detective Sergeant within the Specialist Operations Command. He specialised in Child Protection and was part of a Major Investigation Team that targeted abusers and investigated the murder of children.

His last seven years were spent in the Covert Policing Command where he managed a specialist covert unit dedicated to the detection and disruption of organised criminal networks across London and the UK.

He’s appeared at Bloody Scotland in 2018 as a spotlight author on the opening night with Val McDermid and Denise Mina.

Ian’s undertaken a mentorship with Write4Film Scotland and is developing a script for a short film. He’s also an ambassador for Muscular Dystrophy Scotland. He lives in Scotland where he divides his time between family, writing, reading and photography.

You can follow Ian on his website https://www.ianpatrick.co.uk where you can subscribe to his newsletter and get updates on blogs, events and books.

Twitter: @IPatrick_Author | Facebook: IPatrickAuthor/ | Instagram: ian_patrick_author

Books

How the Wired Weep is a standalone novel.

Rubicon, Stoned Love, and Fools Gold are published by Fahrenheit Press.

Rubicon is in development with the BBC for a six part TV series.