‘Playground’ by Samuel Bonner

Welcome to Hell. Jonah returns to London to visit his friends having been away for a year. His mother had made the decision to take her son away from the inner city ghetto of burned out cars and escalating crime and Jonah is enduring college, working his way to University and holding down a job in a bakery. He goes to stay with his old mates Dwayne and Billy for a week.

His initial elation on being reunited with his friends is short-lived however as the luxury of the cars, clothes, box-fresh trainers and bling reveal an underbelly of guns, knives, supply and abuse of illegal substances, theft, rape, animal cruelty and murder.

Although the prologue sets your expectation that there will not be a happy ending to this morality tale, the final action sequences are so fast-paced and vital, hope still shines at the end of a twisting, turning tunnel. Jonah is by no means a flawless protagonist – he’s an ingenue that goes along with the ride, even though his fears of retribution run deep. He is more concerned about the fate of a rabbit at the paws of a crazed dog than he is of the sexual abuse of the house-whore and coke addict, Genie, and his initial reaction to discovering his crush is a single mother is disappointing, if real.

This is a hefty slice of gritty reality from the wrong side of the tracks. It’s raw and visceral, violent and downright disturbing. It has elements of the supernatural and mystical pumped through it via the presence of Solomon – a character or a characteristic, the reader isn’t sure – the edges are blurred. It’s about growing up, growing apart and making choices in a world where we do not all start out equal.

It’s not a happy book and reading it reminded me of the 2004 Jonathan Llewellyn Rhys prize winner ‘Boy A’ by Jonathan Trigell, later made into a Channel 4 film and the 2002 Brazilian film ‘City of God’ and also William Golding’s ‘The Lord of the Flies’. So – not everyone’s cup of tea by any stretch of the imagination but it takes street tales and makes something meaningful out of them, something that made me sit up in my middle class armchair and reassess my lot.

The author has very kindly agreed to do an interview with me so keep an eye out for that being posted soon.