Blood Rival - by Jake Arnott (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Following the suspicious death of notorious underworld gangster, Lee Royle, his widow Jo and Eddie - the rival gangster Jo has been having an affair with - try to solve the murder.

"It happened at a place where three roads meet.
Junction 1A of the M25. There's a killer on the road."

Lee Royle, the notorious 'King of Kent', is dead, killed in a brutal act of road rage. But was this a random attack, or was it a premeditated move in a deadly game of betrayal and revenge?

Three lives are set on a collision course: Jo Royle, Lee's disillusioned and embittered wife, hiding secrets that could kill; Eddie Pierce, Jo's ambitious new lover, determined to move up the criminal ranks; and Commander Ray Spinks, a corrupt cop with his own claim on Lee's legacy -and no intention of letting it slip through his fingers.

Caught between lust and loyalty, ambition and guilt, each will risk everything to uncover or bury the explosive truth behind Lee's death. Because this wasn't just a murder. It was a reckoning.

Blood Rival is a modern retelling of an ancient story, where Greek tragedy meets neo-noir. A compulsive psychological thriller of forbidden desire, family secrets and fatal ambition.

Review Quotes

"Blood Rival is a hugely enjoyable, dialogue-heavy dive into the murky world of Kent crime. Its interrogation of neo-noir tropes and densely plotted reversals recall the sly brilliance of Jean-Patrick Manchette, while the grimy flash and swagger is pure, singular Jake Arnott."
- Joe Thomas author of Brazilian Psycho

"Only Jake Arnott could divine a course through the labyrinth of time and unsolved crime to the compulsive and revelatory Blood Rival - a riddle of a novel about power and morality, wrapped in the enigma of contemporary gangland and hidden in the vast psycho-geography of Britain's badlands. Crime and punishment never had a more stylish or astute oracle."
- Cathi Unsworth author of Bad Penny Blues

About the Author

Jake Arnott is an award-winning novelist whose bestselling debut The Long Firm was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year and was adapted as a BAFTA award-winning BBC TV drama series starring Mark Strong and Sir Derek Jacobi. His second novel, He Kills Coppers was made into a critically acclaimed ITV1 series, starring Rafe Spall and Kelly Reilly. Along with his third book, truecrime, this trilogy was awarded the Crime Writers Association Dagger in the Library. His subsequent novels include Johnny Come Home, The Devil's Paintbrush, The House of Rumour and The Fatal Tree.