‘Simply the best British novel I’ve read this century’ David Peace
‘Will stay in my head forever…a fantastic book’ The Tablet
‘A maverick project that defies comparison’ Metro
At a bus stop in south London, black teenager Eldine Matthews is murdered by a racist gang. Twenty years later, L Troop’s top boys – models of vice, deviance and violence – are far beyond justice. There are some people the law will not touch.
But Eldine’s murder is not forgotten. His story is once again on everyone’s lips and the streets of south London; a story of police corruption and the elimination of witnesses. A solicitor, a rent boy, a one-eyed comedian and his minder are raising ghosts; and Carl Hyatt, disgraced reporter, thinks he knows why.
There’s one man linking this crew of rambunctious dandies and enchanting thugs, and it’s the man Carl promised never to challenge again: Mulhall, kingpin of London’s rotten heart and defender of L Troop’s racist killers. Carl must face up to the morality of retribution and the reality of violence knowing that he is the weak link in the chain; and that he has placed everyone he loves within Mulhall’s reach.
The Treatment is steeped in London’s criminal past, its shadows of corruption and institutional racism. Like a seventeenth-century revenge tragedy, its characters reel from the streets, bars and brothels, hyperarticulate and propelled by wild justice.
‘Will stay in my head forever…a fantastic book’ The Tablet
‘A maverick project that defies comparison’ Metro
At a bus stop in south London, black teenager Eldine Matthews is murdered by a racist gang. Twenty years later, L Troop’s top boys – models of vice, deviance and violence – are far beyond justice. There are some people the law will not touch.
But Eldine’s murder is not forgotten. His story is once again on everyone’s lips and the streets of south London; a story of police corruption and the elimination of witnesses. A solicitor, a rent boy, a one-eyed comedian and his minder are raising ghosts; and Carl Hyatt, disgraced reporter, thinks he knows why.
There’s one man linking this crew of rambunctious dandies and enchanting thugs, and it’s the man Carl promised never to challenge again: Mulhall, kingpin of London’s rotten heart and defender of L Troop’s racist killers. Carl must face up to the morality of retribution and the reality of violence knowing that he is the weak link in the chain; and that he has placed everyone he loves within Mulhall’s reach.
The Treatment is steeped in London’s criminal past, its shadows of corruption and institutional racism. Like a seventeenth-century revenge tragedy, its characters reel from the streets, bars and brothels, hyperarticulate and propelled by wild justice.
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Reviews
Nath has a confidence and attitude that rocks you on every page - Daisy Goodwin on La Rochelle
Original, funny and absolutely spot-on - Nicholas Royle in The Independent on La Rochelle
The most marvelous crime novel, based around real events in London. It's very much a literary work, with really wonderful writing. A very strong book
This is the beauty of Nath's writing. He has brought to life a range of Brits who all bark and bite with equal ferocity, but love and dream as well. British Story is a novel for our time. Michael Nath knows how to write real literature, stuff with heart and character. He isn't afraid to look life in the eye, despite all of its jagged edges and contradictions, and he knows how to take this and turn it into a story. A British story at that.
THE TREATMENT is simply the best British novel I've read since I don't know when - this decade? This century? And why? Because it engages with and confronts the central, crucial subjects of our time: race and racism, individual and institutional, of the corruption and failure of the police, the media and the law itself, asking where that then leaves us as citizens of such society, where revenge is the only justice left to us. But its brilliance is also in the telling of this tale, urgent and moral, in the sheer exuberance of the language and its narrative, filled with both humour and tragedy, and which really does reaffirm the potential and power of the novel, and the British Novel, no less.
With its unique and ambitious form - there are over 108 characters - this is a fresh addition to the literary landscape
Michael Nath sends a timeless, unforgettable firm of avengers to confront racist thugs and corrupt cops. A performance of rare linguistic dexterity and lacerating wit, The Treatment sees the emergence of a unique British imagination
This ribald "secret history" draws on the murder of Stephen Lawrence before spinning off down its own dark alleyways. Both brilliant and highly imaginative; I loved it
A trenchant state of the nation novel based loosely on real life events about the murder of a black teenager by a racist gang. This timely novel takes a lacerating look at Britain's relationship with systemic racism, police violence and terrorism.
Imaginative, confident, erudite and original storytelling . . . It's scope is extraordinary as it draws on the racist murder of Stephen Lawrence that rocked the British establishment to its core. . . Nath's use of language is sublime, in a narrative that more often than not feels like a stream of consciousness, and his priceless depiction of London is vibrant, ribald, and colourful, peopled by a huge cast of terrific characters . . . Michael Nath deserves to win awards for this and I cannot recommend this highly enough!
With a cast list of lairy, scary characters populating the swirling narrative, interspersed with real-life news seen from a new angle, it's a full-on literary assault course, sprawling and immersive.
A London novel to join the greats (...) What really impresses is the way Nath navigates the twists and turns. It's told with (...) bookish savviness. You want to know more. To read more. To hear more
Allusive, powerful, eccentric, multi-layered with moving levels of narrative, historical vignettes and stream of consciousness ... With a gallery of Londoners from all walks of life and both sides of the law, THE TREATMENT soon transforms in a hypnotic, repetitive manner into a widescreen, black and white panorama of London's contemporary multiracial and divided society. Impressive and thought-provoking
A maverick project that defies comparison
An ambitious, darkly comic investigation into corruption and revenge... In his skilful and entertaining explorations of plurality and complexity, Nath wildly eschews the straight story, and celebrates the mixed
His writing is addictive, sometimes strange, often beautiful and, as The Treatment makes clear, deserves to be better known
Michael Nath is brilliant . . . The Treatment remains, for all its unflinching insight into the reality and psychology of the worst hate-crimes imaginable, potently uplifting
Vivid and raw in characterisation and narrative ... The Treatment is an uncorrupted account of our society and beautifully vulgar one at that
Will stay in my head forever...a fantastic book.