Hawthorn & Child

Keith Ridgway's "Hawthorn & Child" is a genre-bending odyssey that plunges into the murky depths of contemporary London, where a seemingly straightforward police investigation unravels into a fragmented, hallucinatory narrative. Detectives Hawthorn and Child are tasked with solving a mysterious shooting, but the case is quickly overshadowed by its own perplexing nature—a 'ghost car' allegedly committed the crime, and reliable clues are scarce. As Hawthorn grapples with exhaustion and vivid, unsettling dreams, the core investigation recedes, giving way to a kaleidoscopic array of intertwined lives across the city. Readers encounter a nimble young pickpocket on the run, an editor disturbed by a cryptic manuscript, a contemplative teenager frequenting the Tate Modern, and even a man bizarrely 'infected' by the spirit of Tony Blair. Weaving through these disparate tales is the elusive, almost mythical figure of Mishazzo, a shadowy crime magnate whose power permeates London's underbelly, yet whose very existence remains an tantalizing enigma. This is a literary adventure that boldly deconstructs storytelling, offering a profound, unsettling, and unforgettable portrait of a city and its hidden souls.