Layer Cake - Tapa blanda

'Like good drug fiction, you're given glamour and squalor, a voyeuristic thrill, and the bill.' Nick Hasted Uncut 'Layer Cake is a storming piece of work ... the novel has a grasp of street argot unparalleled since Kinky Friedman first sashayed out of his front door and nailed a checker straight out of the bat' D. J. Taylor

Layer Cake - a metaphor for the many murky levels of the criminal underworld - is set in modern day London and features a smooth talking, sophisticated but anonymous drug dealer. ['If you knew my name you'd be as clever as me']. His plan is to very, very quietly, with great stealth ['Lovely word, stealth, say it stealth'] bankroll enough discreetly laundered cash to retire young and extremely comfortable. Operating under the polished veneer of a legitimate businessman his mantra is to keep a low profile and run a tight ship until it's time to bail. ['Always work neat and tidy. Only very stupid people think the Police are stupid']. He sees his opportunity to make a final very lucrative score and ease his path out when old school crime boss, Jimmy Price, asks him to find the wayward daughter of his pal, Eddy Ryder. ['It's almost time to sing "My Way"']. He agrees to the seemingly innocuous gig as his chance to get out of the business while he's still way ahead. From the glitz of the London club scene to the grubby underbelly of its criminal world, a dark, twisted thriller ensues.