Neil Walker

Murder, mayhem and a few drugs…

MAL ROGERS speaks to Neil Walker whose controversial bestsellers are set in the drug-dealing underworld of Manchester, Sydney and Belfast in the early 2000s.

NEIL WALKER’S third novel, part three of the series, Drug Gang Takedown: Drug Gang Part III, was published at the end of January, and is already in the bestsellers’ list. The story of the trilogy, firmly in the hard crime fiction genre, is set in Manchester, Belfast and Sydney. The chief protagonist in the series is Belfast-born, morally malleable anti-hero John Kennedy who gets sucked into the murky underworld of the English city’s lucrative drug scene. From there it’s an edge-of-seat roller coaster ride through the dark domain of organised crime in three countries, played out over three novels.

Belfast-born Neil Walker is aware that the books are probably not to everyone’s taste, in that they deal with drugs and violence. It would also be fair to say with as high a body count as an average Game of Thrones wedding.

“I like to think of the books, the characters and the setting as Breaking Bad meets John Wick,” says Neil.

In case you’re unaware of the plot of these two thrillers: Breaking Bad focuses on a chemistry teacher who puts his science knowledge to a nefarious purpose with less than hilarious results; John Wick is a neo-noir action film. But productions contain many scenes of ultra-violence.

“So yeah, my books are a wee bit violent - and probably not for the faint-hearted. The books are set in Manchester, Belfast and Sydney - places where I’ve spent a lot of time, and spent a lot of time in the club scene. So I felt I could write with some realism. Going back to those days, back around the year 2000, it was easy to see criminality going on because drug use was rampant. So I felt I could write realistically about the whole thing.

The club scene in Belfast was a second home to me for a number of years in the late 1990s and early 2000s. I also got to be part of the club scene in Manchester at that time, as I had a number of friends living in the city in areas such as Rusholme and Moss Side and would go over and stay with them for long periods of time and do a lot of clubbing. They very much knew the ropes of that scene in Manchester and those experiences were useful in writing the novels. Even just living in the areas where my mates lived fed into the knowledge pool for the books, as some of the Manchester action takes place in and around houses in the likes of Moss Side and Rusholme, as well as nightclubs, avenues and alleyways.

In the middle of that time, I travelled around the world and lived in Australia for a year. While Down Under, I made a point of experiencing and understanding the club scene there and ended up being friends with a number of locals who certainly knew the score. One of them was actually involved with the biggest motorcycle gang in Australia, so there were absolutely no flies on him and he was happy to bring me up to speed. No doubt he is living that Sons of Anarchy life now…if he is still alive.”

Although Neil Walker has seen the underside of city life, his working life has also seen a conventional period. In Belfast he held down a job that might be described as quite conformist - for 12 years he was a civil servant, working in the benefits and pensions department.

“It was straightforward stuff, alright, but I had been working on the Drug Gang project for many years and when I had the opportunity to apply for Voluntary Exit, it was really ‘make your mind up’ time. This was about three years ago, and I felt I had to take the plunge. A lot of people probably thought I was mad - probably still do - but the three books are out there and doing well.”

Although Neil has left the civil service behind, he finds the work template is something he adheres to.

“I put in an eight-hour day, because, to be honest, you need to. There’s the creative writing side, but there’s also the research, and of course the editing. And re-editing. That’s a huge thing. Re-editing is the nub of writing. Your first draft is telling yourself the story. The second draft is beginning to make it fit to tell your readers.

I remember my first book, it was written in a notebook, scrawled on pieces of paper. I sorted it all out, and I remember writing in capital letters the end at the conclusion of the book, and thinking, well, that’s that done. In actual fact it wasn’t finished for another 15 years.”

Neil’s writing heroes include Don Winslow, Martina Cole and Stieg Larsson. He reckons he also enjoys some more formulaic novelists (although doesn’t name names). But his style is different from these fellow masters of the genre, fashioned out of a set of unique circumstances.

The main protagonist John Kennedy has been brought up in the middle, to late Troubles; this is one strand to his character; the other strand is that he has made the journey that so many Irish people have made before, the boat (or budget airline) to England, in his case via Australia. Belfast, of course, has been at peace now for almost two decades. But the blood-stained history of the city is a legacy that will take many more decades, perhaps longer, to finally eradicate.

In all, it makes Neil Walker’s books vivid and highly readable. With a background in Belfast, a life that has seen club life in England and Australia at close quarters, and a spot of work-discipline courtesy of the Department of Benefits and Pensions, Neil seems well-placed to continue his success in the crime thriller field.

From The Irish Post.