Dead Lucky

Hutchinson brings coffinfuls of black humour and foul-mouthed grisliness to his heartfelt portrait of working-class life in this comic debut novel . . . It's [the] vivid, painterly details that leap most memorably from the page . . . Poetic snapshots of street life manage to capture whole lives in single pieces of clothing. The evocation of gambling's sickening exhilaration is almost unbearably compulsive, and Hutchinson's ode to working-class life is serious and tender. His writing about Jamie's day job, too, is never less than rhapsodically funny.

Compelling

Summer holidays are a good time to try out new novels, and among the recommended fiction out this month is Connor Hutchinson's sharp debut, Dead Lucky. In it, Hutchinson tells the story of an embalmer at a funeral home who is drawn into the addictive world of gambling to pay his debts.

My kind of book. Utilising a narrative voice that hooks you in from the off, there's nothing remotely pretentious about this compellingly convincing portrayal of community, ambition, and the perils of addiction. It's real and raw with a refreshing but scarily accurate relatability; I bet lots of readers will be sucked in by this essential story of our times as much as I was

Mancunian to its core and infused with subtle northern poetry, this book feels startlingly real. Jamie Fletcher, an embalmer at a busy funeral home in Openshaw, understands better than most how fleeting life can be. So, when the chance to win big arises, why would he refuse?

Here is a gambling novel for our age of stagnant incomes and predatory apps: a boisterous, mordant parable from the backside of Manchester, where hope and delusion mingle inextricably among the boozers and betting shops. With vulgar wisdom and a crackling cant, Hutchinson lures his readers into the flashing heart of the most destructive addiction of them all.

Having grown up in working-class North Manchester, I can vouch for the remarkable accuracy of Dead Lucky. But Connor Hutchinson goes beyond surface naturalism to deliver a story that is both moving and shocking, and profoundly poetic.

A bold, biting exploration of masculinity, working-class struggle and self-destruction - infused with unexpected heart and wicked humour. A wildly original look at what we bury to survive.

It's dark comedy meets toxic masculinity

[A] wild ride - and a thunderingly exciting depiction of what it's like to join the crowds at Cheltenham Gold Cup . . . a story of booze, banter, lairy nights out with the lads and increasingly dangerous stakes.

A stunningly realistic portrayal of gambling addiction . . . Dead Lucky announces Hutchinson as a writer to listen to about the love and pain in our society