When his estranged sister disappears without a trace, a small-time thief's search for answers drags old friends, an ex-cop stepfather, and a rising political star into a reckoning nobody will walk away from clean.
Larry is torn between two types of upbringing. The council estate that shaped him and the sprawling country mansion that swallowed him whole after his mother's lottery win. He's spent his adult life stealing from people who'll never miss it, staying two steps ahead of debt, and keeping everyone - his girlfriend, his oldest friends, his stepfather, his own sister - at arm's length. It's worked out fine, mostly.
Then a routine burglary goes wrong, a local gangster starts calling in favours that get bloodier by the week, and Larry realises his sister Sophie has vanished without a trace. Chasing her trail from Sheffield's gritty streets to a quiet garden town in the Midlands, he drags his oldest friends, and his oldest resentments, along for the ride.
Old wounds start splitting open: a fire from childhood that was never confessed, a woodland assault never spoken of, a stepfather's secrets, and a debt that only revenge will settle.
A gritty, propulsive story of family, betrayal, and the lies we tell to survive each other. Perfect for readers of British noirwho like their crime fiction dark, funny, and unflinching.
"Moorlands is a tight, atmospheric crime thriller with a strong sense of melancholy."
- Paul D. Brazill, author of Cold London Blues
"Electric."
- Ed James, author of the bestselling Scott Cullen series
"This book has some serious grip. It sinks its teeth into the reader fast and hangs on. Solid throughout, visceral."
- D.S. Atkinson
"If you want crime fiction you can really sink your teeth into, look no further than Jason Beech."
- Carmen Amato, author of Cliff Diver