In 2007, Gordon Burn took the extraordinary news headlines from that year, and wove the strands together into an essential story for our time. The characters of these long-running reality soaps - the McCanns, Blair, Brown, Kate Middleton - are presented here in three dimensions, their stories told through revealing glimpses and startling insights.

In this controversial and seminal work of reportage, Gordon Burn reveals the strange inner dynamic of Fred and Rosemary West's relationship. Based on meticulous research, this dark history is told in a powerful, compelling narrative. With a new introduction by Benjamin Myers.

But as he reports on a series of brutal murders and sex crimes, he's forced to wonder whether he is just a witness - or part of some deeper pattern of cause and effect . . . 'Remarkable . . . Devastating . . . Required reading for anyone interested in what British fiction should be doing today.' Stephen Amidon, Esquire

In a forensic dissection of Britain's souring landscape Gordon Burn tells the tale of Ray Cruddas, a light entertainer effecting a semi-dignified retreat from a fading career, who returns to the unnamed northern town of his youth.