'Channels the hard-edged realism of Get Carter into a salutary thriller' - Racing Post
Welcome to an after-dark world of new money, hedonism and excess. A world of luxurious nightclubs where racketeers, gamblers and glamorous women mixed with entrepreneurs, bunny girls, politicians and policemen.
Bandit Country is a gripping, atmospheric true-crime noir. It is the story of Britain's 1960's gambling boom, as the country emerged from years of hardship to embrace exotic night-life and entertainment, all supplied by the Mafia.
It is an emotional, visceral story of brothers: the Luvaglios, who dreamed of an empire founded among the hard industrial skylines and bridges of Newcastle, built on good times and bright lights - dreams that, for a moment, were lived in technicolour; and the Kray twins, who looked up to this new kingdom from London and saw a slice of action they wanted for themselves.
And above all, it is a story of betrayal, murder and a shocking miscarriage of justice, as empires crumble, friends turn on friends, and the good times come screeching to a halt. Sure to be loved by fans of Peaky Blinders, this story - that inspired classic British gangster film Get Carter - isn't quite like anything you've read before. Turn the page and roll the dice. . . Jamie Reid is the author of the non-fiction books Doped, the true story of the 1960s racehorse doping gangs which won the 2013 William Hill Sports Book of the Year Award, Blown and Monsieur X - which was short listed for the 2018 Daily Telegraph Sports Biography of the year. He is also a journalist and has written for the Guardian, the Independent on Sunday, Private Eye, Money Observer and the Financial Times colour supplement How To Spend It, or HTSI, for whom he wrote the 'Smart Money' column from 2006 to 2016. A gripping, atmospheric true-crime epic, for fans of Peaky Blinders and Get Carter. . . A quite unique true crime with a fresh edge, and definite film potential. Fans of Peaky Blinders will enjoy. This story was a major inspiration behind the novel Jack's Return Home, which later became the classic Newcastle-set British gangster film, Get Carter, starring Michael Caine. Jamie Reid is a former winner of the William Hill Sports Book of the Year award and nominated for several other awards.
