The Hard Shoulder by Chris Petit By Steve Rudd

Focusing on how a fresh-out-of-prison man copes and slowly re-adjusts to life on the outside, The Hard Shoulder is an exceptional novel - and primarily enthralling for being both a thriller and poignant drama. O'Grady is the man who has been released from prison after ten years of hard time, and on getting back out into the real world he soon finds that the fine art of making amends with his estranged wife and daughter isn't going to be easy. He realises that his marriage has no chance of being resolved, but O'Grady becomes obsessed with patching things up with his now beautiful daughter, Lily.

Yet he thinks that the quickest way to her heart will be with a wad of money. Problem is, O'Grady doesn't have any money. As the old 'once a con, always a con' adage again proves true, he just can't resist getting into more trouble to secure some cash. But is his love for Lily worth the risk?.. While the author Petit is great at depicting sharp and sudden scenes of violence (that are never too gory, merely 'effective'), the charm of his work lies in the fact that he's a keen observer of human nature and creates complex characters such as O'Grady that the reader has no choice but to care about. Far from being a stereotypical hard man, his O'Grady character teems with regrets, doubts, hopes and fears. He is a real man, struggling to survive in the real world, and a whole gamut of raw emotions are expertly exposed to stunning effect. As for the classic end, it's an ominous knockout. The clever way that the very last line of the novel has been written could mean one of two things: either that O'Grady gets away with his latest scam and drives merrily away into the distance, or that he gets no further than a tunnel approach. I guess it depends on how much the reader has come to love or loathe or O'Grady that is meant to determine the poor man's fate. Whatever, this is a fantastic story from Chris Petit, who is a keen filmmaker as well as novelist - and certainly a mighty writing talent to keep your eyes peeled, and your shins readily padded, for. ISBN 1-86207-529-8 (GRANTA; first published in 2001) www.granta.com

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