On a storm-scoured Northumbrian beach in 1987, Arnold Prestwick wakes with a pounding head, a gun in his pocket, and the horrifying certainty that he has witnessed a murder he cannot explain. By nightfall, he is a wanted man – framed for a killing, hunted by the police, and drawn into a brutal struggle between violent extremist groups at the height of the Cold War.
Driven by grief for his wife, killed at a peace protest, Arnold is pulled towards Holy Island, a place of childhood refuge and ancient faith, now overshadowed by nuclear weapons and political rage. There, past and present collide as he is forced to confront enemies old and new – and the darkest impulses within himself.
Set against the haunted landscapes of the North East, Hobthrush is a tense, morally charged novel about revenge, belief, and the cost of choosing violence in the name of justice. In a world sliding towards extremism, how far can one man go before he becomes what he hates?
