Gang War - Softcover

Graham Johnson is an investigative reporter and crime writer. This is his first novel, following the true-crime titles The Devil, Football and Gangsters, and Powder Wars. He has been interviewed for Vice magazine's website about UK gangs.

This debut novel from journalist Johnson tells the story of a Liverpool street gang whose members are mostly teenagers. The book is violent and profane, with plenty of street slang (some of it based on Cockney rhymes), and its story is brutally realistic, while at the same time it contains elements that can only be called satire, e.g., the episode in which Dylan, Nogger, and the rest of the gang must retrieve the head of one of their fallen comrades. Comparisons to Irvine Welsh are pretty much obligatory, mainly for the tone and writing style, but the novel also has a serious Clockwork Orange feel throughout, from the young principals to the frank and explicit violence and sexuality to the dialogue (the gang members are speaking something that could fairly be called their own language). A fine combination of story and presentation. --David Pitt