PAYBACK

James's first US publication—the expertly seedy tale of Floyd Carter's return to Deptford for his low-life brother Albie's funeral—is dominated by two triangles. When he and his slow-witted brother Ludo are beaten up by thugs claiming that Albie owed them ú10,000, Floyd tracks down Albie's unsavory connections to rival drug wholesalers Huey Carmichael (black, cocaine) and Tod Richardson (white, heroin)—snuggling up alternately to each of them in order to bring down both operations Ö la Yojimbo. In between beatings, Floyd's also snuggling up to his old friend Suzie Peters, a nurse who goes the extra mile, and fighting off her nubile half-caste daughter Tamsin, who sings in Carmichael's club with a band called Pepys Dairy Crunch. James's style is so flat and edgy it sings. Guaranteed fun for those who like them nasty, brutish, and short.