In the second installment of Charlie Williams s violent and darkly comedic Mangel series, Royston Blake s gig as head doorman at Hoppers finds him yet again mired belly-deep in trouble. Blake has noticed a change in the behavior of Hoppers already dodgy clientele the norm of beery violence and lechery has given way to trance-like stares and nonsensical blatherings. And when Doug the shopkeeper offers him a bounty of four hundred cans of lager and four hundred smokes to bounce his teenage daughter s undesirable boyfriend an enigmatic outsider with a curious pull on the youth of Mangel Blake s solace looks to be in the bag for at least a couple of weeks. But nothing in Mangel ever went according to plan. So begins Blake s journey from pillar of the Mangel community to local pariah. He remembers all too well the last time he lost his reputation; earning it back nearly killed him. And Blake s not so sure he ll survive a second go Writing in a pitch-perfect voice, Charlie Williams has created a stunningly original noir world of his own. Jason Starr, author of Tough Luck"