When Damiano emailed to see if I would like a copy of his debut novel the premise sounded to good to miss and I wasn’t disappointed.

Bastard introduces us to a narrator who is basically a bastard. A rich, bored, people watcher who is also a vigilante, his aim in life is to clear the world of other bastards. The abusive, the violent and the racist, he is going to rid the world of the bad. However when you play with fire there is a high chance you’ll get burnt. So one mistake and he is suddenly thrown into a world he doesn’t know, where everyone is lying and he’s no longer the king of his own castle. He’s now not just acting out of boredom, he is fighting for survival.

Bastard was a real surprise of a book that I absolutely loved. It was a crime story at it’s heart but it was also a brilliant tale of how sometimes people get caught up in such a web of lies they can’t actually get out of it. The writing felt really polished and the quick short chapters give it a sense of pace and urgency that ramps up the menace within the story. 

The narrator is not particularly a person that you like, but by the end I was absolutely rooting for him. There is a large cast of characters from gangland bosses to pub landlords and everyone in between that all really bring the story to life and add a comedic element to lighten things up.

The twists and turns and double crossings in this book just keep coming and it was a brilliant whirlwind of a ride from start to finish. The language and violence are not for the faint hearted but that’s part of what makes the story something that feels quite unique. 

This was a really good and fun read, that I’d highly recommend. This was the first novel from Damiano but I hope there is more to come.