Stitch

by John B. Spencer

Spencer fields another sharp, slangy thriller set in his native London.... Nasty surprises are in store for all"" - Publishers Weekly. ""An engaging read.... The anomie is as thick as a London pea-soap fog, and that alone will surely please crime and noir fans"" - Booklist. Bobby-Boy was a career criminal and he's losing it, only he doesn't have a lot left to lose, just a wife and his self-respect. And he's not letting go of either without a fight. Unreconstructed psychopath Winston Capaldi has stitched Bobby-Boy on a sweet deal and he's prepared to take it all the way. Winston, meanwhile, is hunting down his mother who deserted him in the swinging 60s, and when he finds her, it's not a big hug he has in mind. Stitch is a filled with a dream cast of social misfits, dialogue that crackles like electricity, and a narrative energy that leaps off the page.

190 pages, Paperback

First published March 27, 2000

Reviews

[Catherine · Rating 1 out of 5]

Strange book, strange characters, not really any plot, and then the book ends. One of those books you keep reading figuring it will get better. Fortunately this one was only 180 pages or I wouldn't have finished it.

[Charly Fitzpatrick · Rating 5 out of 5]

I bought this book last Sunday - I knew I had read it but could not be sure if I still had it - I do so I now have two copies. For those of you who don't know, John B Spencer was one of the greatest song writers that this Country has produced. He made several brilliant albums (and really he should have made more) and he was also a really fine novelist. Sadly, he died a few years ago. "Stitch" was his seventh novel - so the blurb inside the book tells me - and was the third in his "West London" novels. John lived in Chiswick and that is where most of the action in this hard-as-nails story is set.In style John tended to reply on dialogue - there are descriptive passages but they are short and punchy. In that respect, John was not a million miles from Elmore Leonard but ultimately because he was writing about a specific part of London and different people he had his own stories to tell. And this one is extremely violent but its also very funny. Winston is as memorable nutter as Begbie and Bobby Boy, around who this story revolves is a terrific anti-hero - not unlike Harold Shand. But all the characters are tremendous and you know that some will have fairly grim fates but you have to keep reading. "Stitch" is only 190 pages long but like Winston, there is no fat.

"Stitch" came out in 1999 and there are a couple of references that still raise a smile. One is a conversation that starts with "A mate of mine had a dog called Winston..." I was not there but I know that John got that from when the wife of a mutual friend was talking about her dog and the bass player in John's band - Winston Blisset. The other one is when Bobby Boy hears two women talking about a Building Society - it has to be The Britannia. I was manager of the Putney branch of Britannia for awhile.

"Stitch" is not a nice book - it is genuinely shocking in places but it is quite brilliant. John was a friend but besides that he was touched by genius. Read this book, read the other ones, listen to his albums - I think that you might agree.