Wee Rockets by Gerard Brennan. Dec 2011. Blasted Heath. Epub £1.99. 268 pages (estimated).
This book is still messing with my head and I finished it two days ago. It is a superbly crafted, blacker-than-black, account of a gang of vicious 14-year-old thugs, running wild in the streets of Belfast and will leave a very nasty taste in your mouth by the time you’ve done with it. Perhaps in the light of the aftermath of last year’s riots and the increasing amount of unrest amongst the youth of today, this tale of urban decay is closer to the truth than we would like to admit.
The story starts with the gang, the Wee Rockets, mugging an elderly lady for her purse and leaving her badly injured. Members of the community are incensed by the violent nature of the attack and one man in particular, Stephen McVeigh, decides to take matters into his own hands. He has a pretty good idea of who is responsible and, as he gets closer to the truth, Joe, the gang leader, decides to break ranks and leave the gang to save his skin. He hands the reins over to someone else, who immediately ups the ante and the risks they take to “earn” money for fags and cider increase significantly – as does the price they must pay if things don’t go to plan.
Meanwhile, Joe has other fish to fry. First his mum has a new boyfriend; that strange, ginger, McVeigh, who he is sure is out to get him, and, second, his dad is back in town, looking to make amends and catch up for lost time. Joe’s dad’s motives for befriending him, however, are not as paternal as would first appear and Joe is soon involved in something far more dangerous than his teenage gang and smoking dope…..
What really screams at you from every page of this story is the lack of respect everyone has for everyone else and the horrific way that this has impacted onto the dysfunctional lives and attitudes of the kids in the gang. They show the finger to everyone in authority and, really, when you see the role models that their lives are based on, you can’t really blame them or be shocked at the way they have turned out. Living in the Easter Road area of Edinburgh, I am familiar with groups of drinking teenagers out on the streets in the evenings. I wonder how long it will be before these children turn to violence to have a bit more money and excitement in their lives.
Gerard Brennan is a gifted Northern Irish writer and the author of THE POINT (published by Pulp Press) as well as WEE ROCKETS. You can follow his blog here.. http://crimesceneni.blogspot.co.uk/. I am looking forward to reading more of his work in the future.
Very highly recommended
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