Johnny Come Home

It's 1972 and as the dreams of the sixties give way to anger and political unrest, the charismatic anarchist Declan O'Connell commits suicide, leaving his boyfriend Pearson and fellow squatter Nina to try to make sense of what has happened.

Enter Sweet Thing, a streetwise rent boy, who has an uncanny hold over glam rock star Johnny Chrome; and in the wings lurks Detective Sergeant Walker of the newly formed Bomb Squad, who knows more about O'Connell than anyone ever suspected. The course of all their lives is about to change forever - for better and for worse.

In this taut, powerful novel, Jake Arnott portrays four people searching for a sense of identity, their emotional and sexual turmoil mirrored by the turbulence of the times. Bringing that era vividly to life, he captures the mood of Britain at a turning point in history.

“'Undoubtedly Arnott's best invention to date.'”

Rich in the forensic detail that's made Arnott the pop-culture laureate he is...breathless and compelling - Martin Horsfield, Time Out

Fascinating, compelling, pulpy all you d expect from a writer who just keeps getting better. - Arena

Bristling with contained energy and generating a white-hot unease. Best of all, the novel rescues the 1970s from the simple-minded dismissal of the entire decade as a kitsch-only zone as Arnott argues with urgent, spellbinding power, it was a decade aflame rather than just flaming - Patrick Ness, Guardian

Beautifully observed and brilliantly paced...a fascinating portrait of impotence and amorality by a writer unafraid to take risks - Michael Arditti, Independent

Once again he has skewered an age to the page...funny, sexy, touching, too, but it is the undertow of dread beneath the antics that makes it a serious achievement - Mark Sanderson, Evening Standard

- Henry Sutton, Daily Mirror

Compelling - Peter Burton, Daily Express

Jake Arnott was born in 1961, and lives in London. He worked as a labourer, a mortuary technician, a theatrical agent's assistant, an artist's life model and a sign language interpreter before his debut novel, THE LONG FIRM, was published by Sceptre in 1999 to huge public and critical acclaim. HE KILLS COPPERS and TRUECRIME followed to equal acclaim in 2001 and 2003, and in 2004 THE LONG FIRM was made into a widely-praised television series by the BBC.

It's 1972 and as the dreams of the sixties give way to anger and political unrest, the charismatic anarchist Declan O'Connell commits suicide, leaving his boyfriend Pearson and fellow squatter Nina to try to make sense of what has happened. Enter Sweet Thing, a streetwise rent boy, who has an uncanny hold over glam rock star Johnny Chrome; and in the wings lurks Detective Sergeant Walker of the newly formed Bomb Squad, who knows more about O'Connell than anyone ever suspected. The course of all their lives is about to change forever - for better and for worse. In this taut, powerful novel, Jake Arnott portrays four people searching for a sense of identity, their emotional and sexual turmoil mirrored by the turbulence of the times. Bringing that era vividly to life, he captures the mood of Britain at a turning point in history.

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