Get Carter is one of the greatest British films of all time and undoubtedly the best film of Michael Caine's career- and this accomplished and pain stakingly pieced together biography of Ted Lewis, the original writer of the novel that inspired the film, does not disagree with that summation. But it does ask the question how has this brilliant writer been overlooked? When I told someone recently I was reading this book, they said, "It's a bit niche isn't it?" And I think that shows how forgotten Ted Lewis has become and that his ground breaking novels like the savagely fierce Jack's Return Home, is not only a forerunner for future British noir thrillers, but its seminal anti-hero character, Jack Carter, a template for many crime thrillers. Nick Triplow has gone to get depths to 'unearth' this lost writer, through interviews, letters and uncovering his work as an artist; in so doing he has also called to life the England of the nineteen fifties, sixties and seventies, in all its drab greys and tobacco stained browns, but he has also captured that rather English quality of rebellious perserverance (more than braggadocio) that produced not only Ted Lewis, but also the uniquely English voices of Hines, Bleasdale, Loach and Leigh. This was an era when men spent their lunchtime down the pub, beer and whiskey intoxicating more than inspiring and destroying the lives of too many- Ted Lewis one of them. To understand how Ted Lewis got forgotten I recommend you read the excellent book by Simon Matthews, Looking For a New England, who points out how the arts in the seventies and eighties was under funded and under appreciated, often run by a cabal of Oxbridge graduates, unfamiliar and wary of anything north of London- as AA Gill pithily called them, 'the Tristrams'. How come all the major writing festivals are based in the south of England and the film and television industry is still centred around London? Credit must go to Oldcastle/No Exit Press for publishing thought provoking and well written works like Triplow's Getting Carter and Simon Matthews' Looking For A New England, as well as re-issuing some of Ted Lewis' novels (Plender, GBH)- especially in an ever commercialised industry with the worrying trend towards celebrity writers. Lewis was undoubtedly self destructive and drinking undermined not only his talent but also his fragile mental health. In a life sadly cut short after falling into obscurity and addiction, he still managed to produce several great works that more than stand the test of time and he deserves to be remembered, rediscovered and more importantly, read.

Getting Carter; Ted Lewis and the Birth of Brit Noir It must be said that if Ted Lewis were American he would be one of the most revered writers of all time. But because he is British he is forgotten, not even registering on most people’s conscience. It is easy to argue that the British readership is rather conservative in their crime reading tastes, but he is also ignored by the literary set amongst others. Anyone who has seen the film Get Carter, will know it is a British classic and was based on a book called Jack’s Return Home. Many critics and commentators all agree that it was this book that helped rewrite the British crime novel. What comes through is a brilliantly researched, nuanced and well written biography of a man, whose star may not have burnt brightly for too long, and is now long forgotten. Ted Lewis was a deeply complex person, who loved to see his books in print and on the shelves, but because of the lazy British reader and their love of formulaic thrillers, his work has slid into obscurity. Triplow, describes how Lewis’ life was a cycle of obscurity with a brief touch of glamour until his early death at the age of 42. Even though he did write nine books his life seemed to fall apart, along with his marriage. When the glamour came to end he headed home to Humberside where he headed for his early death. This is an informative book, one that any lover of crime fiction should read, and now I am going hunting for Lewis’s books to find what I have missed and learn from them. Triplow’s writing is an engaging style what makes this book a pleasure and an education to read this book.