Blood

Literary black comedy with lashings of thriller. Adult children take revenge on their brutal father, but the victim crawls back … “A wise and beautiful book about what it feels like to be alive” Zadie Smith“Fast-moving, energetic, constantly surprising” Hilary Mantel “Supremely artful” Lionel Shriver

Who attacked Dad? When corrupt, brutal dentist Albert Ludd is found battered and bloody after failing to attend a memorial party for his youngest son, a solider, suspicion falls on his other children, especially 37-year-old buxom bruiser Monica, who was heard “uttering threats” against her absent father. How come her car is found outside his house? Why did she buy a large axe? Yet, Monica’s a deputy head. Blood is a Gothic black comedy seen through the eyes of six-foot Monica, who speaks her secret thoughts aloud and who has been banned by the principal of her school, from using social media: “Parents are sensitive to abuse. Governors query `moron’ and `twat’.” Blood asks serious questions about modern life: what can we do with the brutal men who bully women and the weak? Can we wait for a world of order and justice? If we hit back, can the circle of violence ever be broken?