Joe Thomas

JOE THOMAS was born in Hackney in 1977. He is the author of seven critically acclaimed novels. His eighth, True Blue, is the final part of the United Kingdom trilogy, set in East London, following White Riot and Red Menace. Joe lives in London with his partner and two children, and teaches at City St Georges, University of London.

Praise for Joe Thomas

‘One of our very best contemporary crime writers’ David Peace

Red Menace

An Irish Times Best Book of 2024, Irish Times Best Crime Fiction of 2024, and Best New Fiction of the Month Mail on Sunday

‘A novel that expands our horizons of crime writing’ Dominic Nolan

‘A blistering exposé of the reality beneath the shiny surface of the 1980s, with Thomas employing a blend of terse, truncated prose and excerpts from official documents of the period to uncover the ugly truth of corrupt policing and racial profiling (and worse) that created the conditions for the so-called race riots of Broadwater and Brixton. Toss in some crack cocaine and realpolitik of breathtaking cynicism at the highest levels of British government, all of it told in a style leavened with gallows humour of the blackest variety, and you have a very early candidate for the crime novel of the year’ Irish Times

‘The second chapter in Thomas’s epic trilogy of policing and corruption in 1980s East London. Juggling storylines like a box-set drama rather than a conventional thriller, Thomas builds up an absorbing portrait of a time when everything was in the balance’ Mail on Sunday

White Riot

A Times/Sunday Times Book of the Year; Best Crime Fiction 2023, Irish Times; novel of the Year in The Week

‘Joe Thomas brilliantly recaptures an ugly episode in our recent past. Lest we forget’ Val McDermid

‘A timely, powerful and gorgeously readable novel that represents everything that is good and important about the crime fiction genre’ Irish Times

‘Enthralling and multilayered’ Sunday Times Thriller of the Month

‘Gripping . . . Deeply moving . . . A love letter to London, seething with outrage, that leads you keen to read its planned sequels’ The Times

‘A propulsive crime novel. Thomas ably captures local community anger, interracial tensions and especially the foreboding atmosphere . . . This ambitious work on a big canvas is an admirable attempt at portraying a fraught and fracturing nation’ Guardian

‘Captures the searing energy and polarised nature of the capital in the late 1970s and early 1980s . . . Thomas creates a potent drama from the counterculture of a period when Rock Against Racism and the Anti-Nazi League were battling prejudice. White Riot adroitly blends fact and fiction’ Independent

‘Police and thieves, punks and spycops, White Riot captures the raw energy of the times in spectacular fashion, evoking a visceral narrative of power and corruption’ Jake Arnott

‘White Riot is an electrifying novel of politics, the counterculture, and music as a powerful force. In Suzi Scialfa, Thomas has given us a pioneering character — a female journalist, forging her way in a man's world; you believe in her, root for her, want to hear more. I loved this book’ Laura Barton

‘Stylish and pacy, White Riot throbs with a restless, punky energy, bringing Hackney of the late 70s and early 80s compellingly and disturbingly to life. A full-throated, swaggering roar of a book’ Lucy Caldwell

‘Utterly superb. This book does not mess about. Punchy pithy prose page to page. Fizzy and frenetic, a face-first trip down memory lane for some, an unapologetic barge in the back through the old east London for inquisitive out-of-towners. Thrilling, entertaining, expertly crafted, this book is a winner in every way. Loved it’ Ashley Hickson-Lovence

‘I loved this book. A visceral gut punch of a novel’ John Niven

‘Daniel Rachel's Walls Come Tumbling Down meets David Peace's GB84 in a dark labyrinth of bent coppers, sleeping policemen, political polarity and the greatest sounds of the dirtiest decades’ Cathi Unsworth

Brazilian Psycho

Nominated for the CWA Gold Dagger, La sélection du Grand Prix de Littérature Policère, and a finalist in the Prix du Meilleur Polar 2025.

‘Complex and compelling, and shot through with moments of horror and beauty, it is a magnificent achievement’ Times

‘A riveting and explosive masterpiece of political crime fiction that deserves to share the shelf with American Tabloid, The Power of the Dog, and A Brief History of Seven Killings and confirms Joe Thomas as one of our very best contemporary crime writers’ David Peace

‘Fans of Don Winslow and James Ellroy will want to check this out’ Publishers Weekly

Bent

A Guardian Best Book of 2020, Irish Times Crime Fiction of the Year, a Times Book of the Month, Mail on Sunday Thriller of the Week, and Spectator Crime Fiction of the Month.

‘Superbly realised, vivid and atmospheric’ Guardian

‘Original’ Mail on Sunday

‘A stylish, atmospheric treat an inspired blend of David Peace and early Pinter’ Irish Times

‘Sparse, energetic, fragmented prose’ Spectator

‘Brilliant. Compellingly re-imagines a shocking true story of bravery and deception with all the manic energy and terrifying presence of its subject’ Jake Arnott

‘Wildly stylish and hugely entertaining’ Lucy Caldwell

‘Vivid, stylish, funny’ Mick Herron

‘From the cool spine of Italy to the burning heart of London, Bent merges war and peace as it shows how our traumatised heroes helped shape Britain in the decades following the Second World War. While the Sixties swing, one man’s need for order is undercut by a seething anger and some righteous violence. Written with love and respect, Bent is a snappy, thoughtful, moving novel’ John King

‘A vivid recreation of the events that forged and then destroyed Challenor’s reputation. Utterly brilliant’ Cathi Unsworth

‘Had James Ellroy and David Peace collaborated on a novel about a corrupt 1960s Soho copper, they’d have written something like this. Bent has left its Size 12 boot-prints across my memory’ Paul Willetts

Playboy

‘Brilliant’ The Times

‘Thomas’s fine series offers a wonderfully vivid introduction to a society in violent, vibrant flux’ Mail on Sunday

‘Stylish, sharp-witted and taut. A must for modern noir fans’ NB Magazine

Gringa

‘Brilliant’ The Times

‘Thomas’s fine series offers a wonderfully vivid introduction to a society in violent, vibrant flux’ Mail on Sunday

‘Vibrant, colourful, and complex’ Irish Independent

‘An exciting, dark and trenchant thriller. Fresh, gripping, and incredibly assured’ Stav Sherez

Paradise City

‘Brilliant’ The Times

‘Thomas’s fine series offers a wonderfully vivid introduction to a society in violent, vibrant flux’ Mail on Sunday

‘Sophisticated, dizzying’ GQ

‘Feverish energy’ Guardian

‘Gripping, fast-paced, and darkly atmospheric, Paradise City introduces Joe Thomas as a new and distinct voice in crime fiction of the city’ Susanna Jones