White Riot: The Sunday Times Thriller of the Month

In 1978, Detective Constable Patrick Noble is assigned to investigate racist attacks in Hackney and runs Spycops in both far-right and left-wing groups. In 1983, he is dispatched to Stoke Newington police station to investigate the death of a young black man in suspicious circumstances, exposing the dark heart of a nation at war with itself.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 400 pages
Publication date: 23 August 2023
Publisher: Quercus Publishing

Joe Thomas brilliantly recaptures an ugly episode in our recent past. Lest we forget, in 1978, the National Front was gaining ground in Hackney, and to counter their influence, anti-fascist groups launched the Carnival Against Racism in Victoria Park. Detective Constable Patrick Noble, charged with investigating racist attacks in the area and running Spycops in both far-right and left-wing groups, observed the event. As Noble's superiors were drawn further into political meddling, he was inveigled into a plot against the embattled Labour government as the Winter of Discontent began to bite.

In 1983, under a disciplinary cloud after a Spycops op ended in tragedy, Noble was offered a reprieve by an old mentor. He was dispatched in the early hours to Stoke Newington police station, where a young black man had died in suspicious circumstances. This was Thatcher's Britain now, a new world that Noble unwittingly helped to usher in, where racial tensions were weaponized by those in power. His investigation would expose the dark heart of a nation at war with itself.

Val McDermid's novel is a timely, powerful, and gorgeously readable novel that represents everything that is good and important about the crime fiction genre. The Irish Times praised it as "a timely, powerful, and gorgeously readable novel that represents everything that is good and important about the crime fiction genre." The Times called it "gripping," "enthralling," and "a propulsive crime novel." The Guardian praised it as "one of our very best contemporary crime writers." David Peace praised it as "one of our very best contemporary crime writers."

Weight: 278g
Dimension: 129 x 197 x 27 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781529423396