Matt Cary Williams

Set in a future where base instincts rule and Brighton has hit some pretty serious skids, a group of reprobate ruffian renegades become victims of circumstance, the inevitable consequence of living in Sket City. The place has gone to the dogs, or more correctly the rats, scheming heavies and power crazed pumped up weirdos out to shape the city for their own ends, manipulate and destroy for fun, making the streets a confrontation zone, where keeping your head down means nothing, and any act driven by compassion or morality means to mark you out.

In the midst of a carnival of the excesses of those forced to face an unending existence ruled by fear and oblivion, with little hope for escape, a band of damaged souls seek to forge their own path through the city and claim a remembrance of hope, beaten and battered by the harshness of the world around them that has twisted and morphed to be reflected back at them from the inside, a sickness binding them to their histories and their chosen methods to make it through. These fractured people take strength from each other, the bad times faced creating a heavy bond, a bond which is enough to initiate a propulsion of restless will that soon becomes incendiary. Will they be able to contain the ramifications of their choice to take on the city or will the city enforce itself upon them and their attempts to find a better way, or at least a way out of the madness, blow up in their own hands?

Sket City is a story about people coming together against the odds and against themselves. When distractions like crazed violence, lascivious melodrama and seductive substances are the only recourse the search for the simplistic act of human connection seems like a naive dream. Nevertheless the strength of this need rises to the surface and permeates the sense of longing that pervades the length of the book. It is also filled with filth, urban decay and fairy lights. The ritualization of drug taking is oh too familiar to anyone who has been around somebody consumed in that way, and the repetition of that portrays how overwhelming immersion in this existence is.

The characters are incredibly well defined. I struggle at the best of times keeping trace of which character is who did what and when, but here each is drawn so distinctly from the other that I was soon along for the ride with this gang, and invested in their story, without much choice in the matter. The author states that a great deal of the creation of these characters has to do with real flesh and blood people and this is very much conveyed, as underneath the graphically realised hyper world are a collection of grounded characters, easy to recognise, their foibles, failures and successes leading to an increased sense of jeopardy as Sket City sends out its worst against them.

Rich in its depictions of depravity, sometimes hilarious and laugh out loud funny, and tinged with an affecting melancholy that is ultimately very moving, this novel is energetic, bold and fun. Thoroughly enjoyed and look forward to more from this author.… (meer)