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Northern Monkeys
The gritty story of working-class lads in Bradford, at the heart of Northern Monkeys is The Ointment — a football firm built on pride and reputation. But behind the matchday clashes are deeper addiction, poverty, broken homes, love, revenge, and the fight to stay above water. As the firm rises, the police close in, determined to bring them down.
Some lads are just trying to escape their mundane lives. Others are chasing power and a reputation. And some just want a few beers, a laugh with their mates, and a bit of casual violence.
But what happens on the streets is only half the story.
Northern Monkeys goes beyond the terraces — deep into the lives, relationships and choices that shape these men when the crowds are gone, and the doors are shut.
A brutal, honest look at life on the edge, when the lines between good and bad start to blur — and then start to cross.
Some lads are just trying to escape their mundane lives. Others are chasing power and a reputation. And some just want a few beers, a laugh with their mates, and a bit of casual violence.
But what happens on the streets is only half the story.
Northern Monkeys goes beyond the terraces — deep into the lives, relationships and choices that shape these men when the crowds are gone, and the doors are shut.
A brutal, honest look at life on the edge, when the lines between good and bad start to blur — and then start to cross.
240 pages, Paperback
Published October 10, 2025
4 people are currently reading
6 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
November 23, 2025
NORTHERN MONKEYS BY DANIEL WRIGHT
Release date set for the 28th of November 2025.
5 ✨ ✨ ✨ ✨ ✨s.
Sex, drugs and football thugs.
I need more of this book and of this story.
Loved this gritty and brutally honest book. Based loosely on a true story.
Loved it.
It's raw and unapologetic and brutally honest.
Looking gor more books like this to read
Release date set for the 28th of November 2025.
5 ✨ ✨ ✨ ✨ ✨s.
Sex, drugs and football thugs.
I need more of this book and of this story.
Loved this gritty and brutally honest book. Based loosely on a true story.
Loved it.
It's raw and unapologetic and brutally honest.
Looking gor more books like this to read
December 8, 2025
Fast paced and very hard hitting (pun intended) This is a real rollercoaster of a journey which immersed me into a completely alien world of football violence, racism, drugs and more. The characters feel very real and not as straight forward as you’d possibly imagine. The shockingly ultra violent have their own backstories and loyalties including loving relationships with partners and young families making them part of some surreal double life and hard to despise. There are some definite edge of the seat moments and life or death situations and some really emotional scenes making you really think of the bigger picture and the far reaching ripples created by a few spur of the moment actions. Definitely thought provoking and compelling stuff, a great read and I was left wanting to know what might happen next. Recommend.
November 10, 2025
A well written gritty story. This book has you hating and loving each of these characters as you journey through this story. Seeing both side of these hooligans lives really created a great narrative and made this such an exciting read for me ! Throughly enjoyed this. Highly recommended
December 12, 2025
A brilliant debut novel from Daniel Wright.
I saw this after a friend posted a review of this book on Booktok. This book follows a group of characters who are passionate in their support of the football team Bradford FC. This passion however, is wrapped in violence and the football hooligan culture. But when looking deeper into this multiple point of view novel, there are more social themes bubbling away under the surface. Such as, poverty, addition, unemployment etc. but parallel to this there is friendship, camaraderie and family loyalty. We see the highs and lows of the characters. I loved the main characters of the football firm, and real dislike for the main police officer who pops up throughout.
This book is written really well and I really cared about what would happen in the characters lives. I was genuinely gutted when I turned the final page and realised I’d just finished the final page of the book. I need more from this author. I want to jump back into the world he created.
If you want to give a indie book a go either before then end of the year, or to pop on your January TBR, I highly recommend this book.
I saw this after a friend posted a review of this book on Booktok. This book follows a group of characters who are passionate in their support of the football team Bradford FC. This passion however, is wrapped in violence and the football hooligan culture. But when looking deeper into this multiple point of view novel, there are more social themes bubbling away under the surface. Such as, poverty, addition, unemployment etc. but parallel to this there is friendship, camaraderie and family loyalty. We see the highs and lows of the characters. I loved the main characters of the football firm, and real dislike for the main police officer who pops up throughout.
This book is written really well and I really cared about what would happen in the characters lives. I was genuinely gutted when I turned the final page and realised I’d just finished the final page of the book. I need more from this author. I want to jump back into the world he created.
If you want to give a indie book a go either before then end of the year, or to pop on your January TBR, I highly recommend this book.
January 13, 2026
As a Bradford City fan I was interested in reading this one. It seemed to be well written and whilst some of the characters were infuriating and hard to relate to, it was interesting to see what goes on in the backstreets during a match day. The ending was quite abrupt and I would have appreciated more information as to what happened but maybe there will be a follow up.
December 13, 2025
I found this quite a strange little book. It’s short and quick to read. There is plenty of action, gritty scenes and I didn’t mind the story at all. However there are too many characters to make this really engaging and we’re kind of left with a lot of unanswered plot holes by the end. I couldn’t really understand the overall relevance of including the arc about Dom and Frankie for example.
The ‘twists’ were obvious and the execution of what could have been a really gripping narrative about football hooliganism through the decades, fell way short.
The ‘twists’ were obvious and the execution of what could have been a really gripping narrative about football hooliganism through the decades, fell way short.
February 4, 2026
The idea of this book was very good but it could have been so much better.
It is a portrayal of present day football fan culture and hooliganism told in the form of a novel, featuring the real-life Bradford City Ointment hooligan firm and delving into the backgrounds of some of it's members.
However, at just shy of 230 pages it is a fairly short story with too many characters crammed in.
The story was very shallow and lightweight, always skimming the surface of each event and moving on to the next leaving everything just hanging.
The twist at the end was quite good but would have been better if the story had been more gripping and atmospheric.
Sorry, a little disappointed with this one.
It is a portrayal of present day football fan culture and hooliganism told in the form of a novel, featuring the real-life Bradford City Ointment hooligan firm and delving into the backgrounds of some of it's members.
However, at just shy of 230 pages it is a fairly short story with too many characters crammed in.
The story was very shallow and lightweight, always skimming the surface of each event and moving on to the next leaving everything just hanging.
The twist at the end was quite good but would have been better if the story had been more gripping and atmospheric.
Sorry, a little disappointed with this one.
January 27, 2026
What a book! Not the normal drivel you expected from anything that involves the dark underbelly of football. This is a fantastic blend of fact & fiction that examines the mundane day to day grit of surviving in a run down working class existence, that drives people to look for daily escapes and releases from the world in which they are trapped. Very much in the vein of the wonderful Awaydays by Kevin Sampson, you will struggle to put this book down, and the twist at the end is sublime!
December 19, 2025
An outstanding book once you start, you can’t put it down very good read good work Dan 👊🏻
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews