''Skinheads'' is the seventh novel by British author John King. It was first published in 2008 by

Jonathan Cape Jonathan Cape is a London publishing firm founded in 1921 by Herbert Jonathan Cape, who was head of the firm until his death in 1960. Cape and his business partner Wren Howard set up the publishing house in 1921. They established a reputation ...

and subsequently by

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. Set in the same new-town and

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hinterland as two of King's previous books, '' Human Punk'' (2000) and ''

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'' (2001), it forms a loose trilogy, ''The Satellite Cycle''. The book has been translated and released in a number of countries, among them France, Italy, and Russia.

Plot

''Skinheads'' is based around three generations of the same family—Terry English, his nephew Ray (aka Nutty Ray), and Terry's fifteen-year-old son, Lol (named after the ska singer

Laurel Aitken Lorenzo "Laurel" Aitken (22 April 1927 – 17 July 2005) was an influential Caribbean singer and one of the pioneers of Jamaican ska music. He is often referred to as the "Godfather of Ska". Career Born in Cuba of mixed Cuban and Jamaican desc ...

). While the bulk of the book is set in the present day, it includes recurring sections from periods considered key to skinhead culture—1969 and the early 1980s—with events linking to the overriding story. Terry is the main character, an original skinhead approaching his fiftieth birthday and mourning the loss of his wife, while attempting to keep the volatile Ray out of trouble and being concerned that his son, Laurel, might be a closet hippy. Terry is also facing a life-or-death problem but finds strength in his long-term friendships, the responsibilities of running a minicab firm, a dream to reopen the boarded-up and recently rediscovered Union Jack Club, and his ongoing love of Jamaican ska and bluebeat. Ray, meanwhile, is angry and on edge, but doing his best to hold his life together. However, he does not like drug dealers and especially those trying to sell to his children. If Terry reflects the easygoing music of his youth, then Ray mirrors the aggression and street politics of

Oi! Oi! is a subgenre of punk rock that originated in the United Kingdom in the late 1970s. The music and its associated subculture had the goal of bringing together punks, skinheads, and other disaffected working-class youth. The movement was ...

punk, while facing the same smears levelled at the original movement. Lol is a much more relaxed character who plays less of a role in the main story, but with his musical interests, shows the fusion of ska, punk, and Oi! in bands like Rancid, as well as the political and cultural shifts of the previous decades.

Reception

Journalist and author Garry Bushell, who played a key role in Oi!'s development, has said of the novel: "John King is a master of modern fiction, and this book is a welcome and recognisable reappraisal of Britain's most down-to-earth youth cult. Skinhead culture is many things—dangerous, thrilling, uplifting, patriotic, creative, and often politically incorrect. No wonder it terrified the Establishment. But as King shows, with its roots in Cockney and West Indian culture, skinheads were never just the 'fick fascist fugs' of Middle England's fevered imaginings". Raquel Moran, in ''The New Review'', wrote that the central theme of ''Skinheads'' is that "family values, the love for your own country and the ethics of hard work are timeless sentiments which anyone and everyone, including members of the British skinhead culture, is allowed to praise and defend in their own way". ''Arena'' called ''Skinheads'' "A nuanced argument for skinhead culture", while ''The Sunday Telegraph'' called the author "An energetic and technically adroit writer".

References

{{Reflist

External links

''Creases Like Knives'' / Author interview

''3AM Magazine'' / Author interview

2008 British novels Novels by John King (author) Jonathan Cape books