Combining elements of football, time-travel, and video games, this debut children's novel offers a unique adventure that intertwines family dynamics with imaginative storytelling. It appeals to readers who enjoy thought-provoking narratives, reminiscent of works like The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time and Ready Player One. Patrick Neate's experience as an award-winning novelist and screenwriter adds depth to this engaging tale.
Meet Tommy Akhtar, cricket aficionado, devoted son, some time private investigator and some time idol to West London’s thug-lites. It’s multi-tasking, serious (Little Book of Tommy #38). He's just woken up with another hangover and combed a parting in the pelt on his tongue when his next case comes through the door. Exoticmelody is searching for her fellow hooker, sexyrussian.co.uk, last seen meeting a client in a Mayfair dive. It looks like a join the dots kind of job. But as the search for sexyrussian hots up, Tommy’s case takes a turn for the sinister. He’s drawn into a murder investigation and the dark side of both the establishment and those who plan to overthrow it. But Tommy reckons it’s the opportunists you’ve got to watch out for. Neate brilliantly explores the underbelly of the cultural mix that makes up London - The City of Tiny Lights - and questions just what it really means to be British right now.....
Spanning three continents and two centuries, Twelve Bar Blues is an epic tale of fate, family, friendship and jazz. At its heart is Lick Holden, a young jazz musician, who sets New Orleans on fire with his cornet at the beginning of the last century. But Lick's passion is to find his lost step-sister and that's a journey that leads him to a place he can call 'home'. Meanwhile, at the other end of the century, we find Sylvia, an English prostitute, and Jim, a young drifter. They're in search of Sylvia's past, lost somewhere in the mists of the Louisiana bayou. Patrick Neate has written a story that straddles time and space, love and friendship, roots and pilgrimage and everything between. Poignant and hilarious, it will hook you - like a favourite tune - till the end.
Covering five continents and cities as diverse as New York, Rio, Tokyo, and Johannesburg, the author explores hip-hop's international influence on and significance in popular music
A gang of London 20-somethings are facing up to the disappointment of adulthood - it's a tale of failure and embarrassment. Meanwhile, London's pigeons are at war. They're not sure what they're fighting about, but its definitely got something to do with a bloke called Murray.
Zambawi, a banana republic in sub-Saharan Africa, is on the verge of revolution. President Adini, dictator and eunuch, clings to power whilst his soldiers switch sides so often they don't know which uniform to wear. All in all, Zambawi is not the ideal location for student teacher Jim Tulloh to indulge in a spot of character building. Yet with the help of Musa, the local witchdoctor, some flatulent weed and headmaster, PK, Jim's days look set to be mellow in the extreme; until that is Jim is kidnapped from his bush school by the rebel Black Boot Gang. But it is when the Gangers invoke the spirit of Zambawi's Great Chief Tuloko that Jim's fate takes a really unexpected turn . . .