The Butcher Boy

"I was thinking how right ma was -- Mrs. Nugent all smiles when she met us and how are you getting on Mrs and young Francis are you both well? . . .what she was really saying was: *Ah hello Mrs Pig how are you and look Philip do you see what's coming now -- The Pig Family!*"

This is a precisely crafted, often lyrical, portrait of the descent into madness of a young killer in small-town Ireland. "Imagine Huck Finn crossed with Charlie Starkweather," said *The Washington Post.* Short-listed for the Bram Stoker Award and the Man Booker Prize.