Saturday Review

A periodic look at stuff I’ve been consuming recently.

Book: The Last Days of Newgate by Andrew Pepper

It is a common complaint that society is going to the dogs. The newspapers churn out a constant screaming hysteria about paedophiles, asylum seekers and the yobs on our streets. The TV news subtly echo the shrieks given out by their grubby cousins in the print media, the newscasters’ sensationalism all the more potent for its sombre delivery and air of authority. And we consume it all. We worry about bird flu and antisocial behaviour. We worry about Polish people swamping our public services and the mentally ill killing us in our beds. We worry about what they tell us to worry about.

It’s true, the world is a scary and dangerous place. It’s true that there is a lot to worry about out there. But I honestly don’t believe that it’s any more scary or dangerous than it’s always been. There has never been a golden age, no matter what people tell you. People have always done bad things to each other, we are just constantly bombarded with it now, that’s all.

The last days of Newgate by Andrew Pepper is a historical novel set in 1829’s. It follows Pyke, a member of the Bow Street Runners (a prototypical police force) and his efforts to solve a grizzly murder and clear his own name. While I’m well aware it’s a work of fiction and as such can’t be taken as a true representation of reality, it certainly paints a bleak and bloody picture of regency Britain.

This is not the prim and proper England of Jane Austin’s Mr Darcy. This is a filthy, dangerous, poverty stricken slum of an England. A place where there is crime on every street and death round every corner. The fogs are grey and the morals even greyer. It is, in short, not a very nice place to live.

The plot races through the book so fast it almost falls out of your hands. Pyke is commissioned by a loathsome aristocrat to investigate robberies at his brother’s bank. Things quickly escalate out of all control, with murder, politics, and religious tensions all churning together into a complicated and intriguing brew. The majority of the action takes place on the grim back streets of London, but we also get a look at Belfast and a fascinating account of life inside Newgate prison. I can’t attest to the accuracy of the history it presents, but it certainly seems very authentic to me.

Pyke battles his way through the proceedings by exploiting his loved ones and brutally killing every second person he comes across. He is the very definition of anti-hero. Normally I am not attracted to amoral protagonists, preferring my heroes to be a little cleaner cut, but for some reason I really took to Pyke, and will certainly attempt to follow him on any subsequent adventures.

In fact the only negative thing I can find to say about the book is that the author unfortunately felt the need to include the obligatory love interest. Why can’t we ever have a good old rip-roaring story without getting soppy girls involved? To be fair though it doesn’t get in the way too much, and the subject of the subplot is an interesting character in her own right.

You can find The Last Days of Newgate by Andrew Pepper on Amazon for £3.49. Bargain.