Dead Straight Line

by Malcolm Duffy

Two unlikely worlds collide as prize-winning Malcolm Duffy explores the life-changing repercussions of a single action in a game gone wrong.

Sixteen-year-old Rory is a rule-breaker, a risk taker, a maverick. As a kick he comes up with a game called Dead Straight Line. The idea is simple – wherever you happen to be, you've got to get home in a dead straight line. Across the back gardens of strangers' houses, locked parks, trespassing on private property – whatever it takes.

One day, Rory pressures his friend Eliot into playing, resulting in a serious accident. Shunned by friends and facing pressure from his furious parents, Rory becomes even more angry and disruptive. When his school suggests helping out a care home, he's unimpressed. But paired up with Tanker, an eighty-year-old Geordie military veteran, who fought in the Falklands War, things slowly begin to change.

From seeking thrills to finding friends, choosing the right path in life is never a dead straight line. But there is always a way.

Audible Audio

Expected publication April 9, 2026

About the author

Malcolm Duffy was born in Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Having spent many years as a successful advertising copywriter he decided it was time to write something that didn't have a pack-shot and logo.

The idea for his debut novel came when he was working as Creative Director at Comic Relief. He visited a project that helped women and children who'd suffered as a result of domestic violence. The idea for Me Mam. Me Dad. Me was born. But the book doesn't just focus on the heavy issue of domestic abuse. The story is about a boy's love for his mam. A mam's love for her son. And a dad's love for his boy.