Harry

Fifteen-year-old private schoolboy Harry Hughes has been exchanging messages on an internet chat-room site with someone he thinks is a boy of his own age, but is actually a middle-aged Arab, who is part of a gang operating out of a Middle-Eastern embassy in London. The police are aware of them, but they are operating with impunity because they have diplomatic immunity. Harry foils their plans and the police take the gang into custody. To bring about a successful prosecution, the police need to put Harry in the witness stand. Acknowledging that the abductions must be stopped, Harry's parents agree to this. But when the Arab's lawyers fail to get their clients released from custody, Eastern European thugs emerge from the woodwork and start to threaten and intimidate the family, leading to four people losing their lives. Harry, Malcolm Roscow's third novel, is a gritty tale full of suspense and intrigue. This is an expertly crafted thriller which is informed by the classics of the genre but has its own, singular personality.