Mr. In-Between

Neil Cross, the award-winning creator of Luther, is at his best in this depiction of the Tattooed Man and his lewd, murky underworld

Jon Bennet is the perfect employee: systematic, productive, and utterly reliable. He is also completely detached from the world around him and seemingly feels nothing . . . for Jon's life is anything but common. On the tight leash of the Tattooed Man, Jon kills and maims on order. And he's good at it.

But Jon's days of favor are about to end. After bumping into old school friends, he slowly reenters the normal world, where the bonds of friendship, love, and kindness are expected, and he finds himself changing back into the person he once was.

But the Tattooed Man requires total servitude, and his wrath is more fearful than Jon could ever have expected.

“Neil Cross applies a sharp satirical gaze to inarticulate male working-class culture. . . . Cross’s portrayal of male friendship, the rituals of working-class life and the shock of bereavement is superbly done.” —The Observer

“The precision of thought, psychological scope and massive inner crises [Jon Bennet] goes through as his friend is dragged deeper down justifies the hype around this first novel.” —Esquire

“A tightly written thriller that starts out dirty-realist and violent and then modulates into something rather different and thought-provoking, philosophical . . . Bleak, dark, with a distinctly modern-gothic imagination, and certainly readable.” —The Literary Review

“Cross’s first novel displays a subtle mind grappling with a thrilling tale of perverse redemption.” —The Independent on Sunday