Knife Edge

Investigative reporter Joe Verdi has never given much thought to how supermarkets operate. Then a murder inquiry takes him undercover into the heart of Britain's agri-business and he discovers the true cost of our cut-price food.

This topical, chillingly believable thriller lifts the lid on the secretive links between people smuggling, illegal agricultural labour and Britain's supermarkets. Crime reporter Joe Verdi investigates the murder of a Kurdish immigrant by Turkish people-traffickers in London. The dead man’s wife Irena, the key witness to the killing, flees to East Anglia where she disappears into the murky underworld of gangmasters and exploited foreign workers. The police are unable to trace Irena so Joe goes undercover as a migrant labourer to try to find her. But he’s not the only one looking for her – the Turks are also on her trail. Meanwhile, Joe’s colleague Ellie Mason is following up an outbreak of typhoid. The only link between the victims seems to be the supermarket chain where they bought their food. As the two reporters’ investigations come together in a heart-stopping climax, the shocking truth about our industrialised system of food production is uncovered. There is a price to pay for cheap food – and sometimes that price is people’s lives.