Trashed

They say that one's man's trash is another man's treasure.

In Trashed, Norman Townsend's exciting and vibrant debut crime novel, we learn what happens when trash becomes a reason to kill.

Paul Stafford is ex-military. And unlike some former servicemen, Paul rather rapidly returns to life on Civvy Street.

He opens a small recycling outfit which ruffles feathers, causes some ripples and raisers a fair few hackles when he unexpectedly wins the contract to run five waste tips in the county of Hampshire.

However, he soon finds himself facing a gang of ruthless criminals. A gang which had used the waste tips as a cover for their various nefarious activities.

And they'll stop at nothing to ensure that Paul's company is pushed out of operating the tips, launching a campaign of intimidation and violence against Paul and his staff members and their nearest and dearest.

In fact, the gang are willing to go to any lengths to re-establish control of the tips to keep their multi-million pound crime enterprise in operation.

Bombs are exploded, murder committed and a maelstrom of mayhem is unleashed on Paul and his staffers. And to add to the problems an executive from the local council has vanished.

But it's likely that the gang have never come across someone as wily and as skilled an adversary as Paul Stafford. They think they have him cornered. Will the might of an internationally connected gang of criminals prevail against Paul Stafford? Or have they bitten off more than they can chew?

This is one hell of an exciting read. I think we have found, in Norman Townsend, a new and very important voice in crime thriller fiction writing.

The book is a remarkably modest £8.99 (388 pages) and is published by Matador.