By J.J. Connolly
ISBN-10: 0802199720
ISBN-13: 9780802199720
Our narrator’s too shrewdpermanent to inform you his identify (“if I [did], you’d be as smart as me”), yet he’s no longer afraid to inform you every thing else concerning the “layer cake”—London’s intricately prepared constellation of underworld fiefdoms. The worst factor approximately drug dealing—according to our unnamed narrator—whether you're a sophisticated best broker buying and selling hundreds of thousands or a down-and-out highway pusher, is you should relate to lots of overall idiots - loudmouths and tough-guy wannabes who aren't afraid to "get nicked through outdated invoice and thrown within the boob" (arrested via police and jailed). Our narrator is a easily diplomatic 29-year-old cocaine broker who has earned a revered position between England's Mafia elite. talking in a language wealthy with drug jargon, vulgarities, British slang, and Cockneyisms, he manages high-level trafficking with a difficult outdated veteran accomplice, Mister Mortimer, a guy who gave the narrator his begin within the company, and who has visible his proportion of criminal (five and a part 12 months time period) and lethal fights (he owns a porn shop, and likes to arrange men trying to find baby porn by way of directing them back at a unique time, then beating the residing daylights out of them after they return). Our narrator’s objective is to retire at 30 and spend his final years faraway from the chance and double-dealing of London's crime gangs. yet like so much excessive rollers, he unearths it tough to stroll clear of "just one more" deal.
Morty earrings up our narrator one early Saturday morning with a call for participation to an particular individuals basically eating place far flung within the English geographical region. They’re off for “a spot of luncheon” with the Don, Jimmy rate. Jimmy is a legend, against the law boss who’s been within the company for years via hiring the easiest legal professionals and conserving a low-key profile. this can be a guy who's regularly will get what he wishes, and isn't used to humans refusing him favors. that's precisely the spot our narrator quickly unearths himself in while over lunch, Jimmy palms down a difficult task: locate Charlotte Ryder, the lacking wealthy princess daughter of Jimmy's outdated friend Edward, a strong building enterprise participant and gossip papers socialite. It’s a difficult deal to refuse, yet Jimmy can spot the sting on our narrator and makes him a deal – if you happen to locate Charlotte, you could go away the lifestyles for good.
Our narrator units out to discover Billy Bogus, a grifter with a present for mimicry and ingratiating himself into any region of society he desires. financial institution and bank card fraud is his exchange, with a fit dollop of hustling younger women out in their belief cash for solid degree. On his technique to meet Bogus, he runs right into a small time punk named Sid in a neighborhood nightclub who runs with a band of thugs referred to as “the Yahoos.” With him is a gorgeous girl, a “real love-a-player type” named Tammy. Sid tells our narrator a bloody tale a couple of good friend of his named “The Duke” who lately bought ambushed through a state-of-the-art team armed with laser sighted Uzis. Our narrator won’t determine the importance of this tale until eventually later as he’s too busy testing Tammy, who flirtatiously provides him her quantity whereas Sid is distracted.
Our narrator experiences to Jimmy’s correct hand guy, Gene, that he’s at the case, yet Gene has different enterprise. seems that the Yahoos have million pounds' worthy of Grade A ecstasy to promote, and Gene desires our narrator to deal with the deal. It’s an impossible to resist deal, simply the correct quantity of cash to stock up his retirement fund. He units up a gathering with him, Mort, and the Yahoos kingpins, great Frankie and JD whereas eventually catching up with Billy Bogus, who has the same opinion to aid locate our narrator Charlotte by way of monitoring down Charlotte’s boyfriend Kinky—for a cost, of course.
Big Frankie and JD hold quiet approximately the place they’ve gotten the pills, however the “gear” is top of the range, proven by means of none except Sir Alex (“chief chemical taster”). issues are taking a look up while Mort units up his gang to satisfy up with a group, headed via a guy named Trevor, up in Northern England who he thinks can be excellent to sell off the products on. There’s just one challenge – they don’t wish the products. This group informs our narrator that an Ecstasy manufacturing facility has been hijacked—most most likely by means of the Yahoos—and now a brutal neo-Nazi sect desires these tablets again. They’ve already hit up a home that belongs to “the Duke”, and this is the place Sid’s tale from the membership all makes sense.
Our narrator drives again to London with Mort in tow and will get a choice from Bogus, who tells him he’s discovered Kinky. useless. In a London housing venture. It appears like a customary drug overdose, yet a tender child drug broker who helped Bogus locate Kinky says he used to be murdered.
Meanwhile, our narrator units up a rendezvous with Tammy in a resort room. As he steps out of the bathe, toughs ambush him, who roll him up in a carpet, and abduct him in a protracted field. The toughs take him to a development web site to satisfy with their boss, Eddie Ryder, Charlotte’s father. Eddie tells our narrator that Jimmy fee has pulled a quick one on him – his daughter’s isn’t missinnnnnng. What’s worse, Jimmy’s made a care for a few renegade Chechens that experience swindled him to the track of 13 million kilos. to drag himself out of the opening, he arrange the narrator to discover Eddie’s daughter, then carry her for ransom. The double pass, notwithstanding, becomes a triple move whilst Eddie performs our narrator a tape that finds Jimmy fee is an informer for the police and has manage a sting for our narrator the place he plans to ship him to prison for very long time, and make off with the narrator’s retirement fund.
Finding himself undercut, double-crossed, frolicked to dry, and suffering to outlive, our narrator’s survival instincts kick in. he alters from a turn-the-other-cheek diplomat to a revenge-charged hit guy in a single day, beginning by means of killing Jimmy expense. subsequent, he has the same opinion to promote the ecstasy capsules to Ryder, who plans to dump them to the Yakuza in Japan, to be able to positioned a pleasant chew of swap in our narrator’s pocket. in advance of he leaves, our narrator mentions a little dust that Jimmy gave him in passing approximately Eddie, insuring that Eddie won’t kill our narrator—just in case he will get any humorous principles approximately doing so.
Suddenly, the entire narrator’s difficulties seemed solved. Jimmy’s lifeless, and people million tabs of ecstasy are headed to Japan. Then, Jimmy’s correct hand guy Gene asks for a gathering with Mort and our narrator. Gene accuses our narrator of killing Jimmy and threatens to kill him except he confesses. Our narrator performs the tape Ryder gave him for Gene and Morty, revealing Jimmy’s double-dealings with the police. Gene shall we our narrator move and consents by no means to debate the crime again.
All that is still is the little topic of 2 million tabs of ecstasy. In a flourish of double and triple crosses, our narrator’s deal to replace the tabs for money at Heathrow Airport falls aside, yet finally ends up with the tabs in Amsterdam. As he prepares to sprint off to Amsterdam to gather the loot, he makes a decision to provide Tammy a decision sooner than he leaves. regrettably, Tammy’s jealous boyfriend Sidney tailed her, and shot the narrator 3 times, together with two times within the head. The narrator lived, recovered within the health center, and is ordered into retirement and exile via the law enforcement officials. He jewelry Tammy to provide her yet another likelihood to fulfill, yet she tells him “girls like risky men yet you’re heavily fuckin’ existence threatening. what percentage women have you learnt turn out lined in blood, leader prosecution witness in an tried homicide trial on their first date?” She needs our narrator good, who has lots of time to mirror on his lifestyles as an ex-pat in Curacao, Brazil. He recognizes that, in existence, you by no means cease studying, yet you by no means cease forgetting both. He has lots of time now to ruminate on either, dwelling a lifestyles the place he can consider why he left the enterprise, yet always remember why he can’t let us know his identify.
