Always the Sun

A new town; a new school; a new nightmare

Jamie is thirteen years old, an only child. His mother has recently died. He and his father Sam have moved to Sam’s home town. A fresh start. A new job for Sam, a new school for Jamie. But one day Jamie comes from bearing scars of every parent’s nightmare. Something must be done.

So it begins.

Longlisted for the 2004 Man Booker Prize

‘Brilliantly and sympathetically written, it will strike a cold fear into the heart of every parent’
Daily Mail

Longlisted for the 2004 Man Booker Prize

‘Brilliantly and sympathetically written, it will strike a cold fear into the heart of every parent’
Daily Mail

‘Cross’s grimly readable novel settles into a parent’s nightmares and ties apprehensive knots in the reader’s stomach’
Guardian

‘This is a harrowing book about aggression, fear, the painful strength of parental love and the agony of being unable to shield your child from hurt. Brilliantly and sympathetically written, it will strike cold fear into the heart of every parent.’
Daily Mail

‘Set to be his most successful yet . . . harrowing but gripping’
Time Out

‘A meaty, tautly drawn tale that is both making and darkly powerful’
Glasgow Herald

‘The stripped-down prose of Neil Cross is at once masterly, authoritative and tender throughout this superb and difficult novel. Outstanding’
Big Issue

‘Magnificent’
Tibor Fischer

‘The novel is reminiscent of Peckinpah’s Straw Dogs. But rather than sexual inadequacy, it is feelings of parental inadequacy, compounded by grief, isolation and the loneliness which must be felt by every parent whose only child has just become an uncommunicative teenager, which provoke an intelligent man to commit senseless violence.’
Independent on Sunday

‘Gripping, even in the last 50 pages, where what starts out as a recognizable, everyday situation finally goes over the top…"
Guardian

‘A gripping journey to the limits of paternal emotions.
Mail on Sunday

NZ Listener: interview

Luther - Series 1

...the actors' skill - and Cross' admirable ability to explore his characters' boundaries without either calcifying or forsaking them - allows "Luther" to be superhuman in both the ordinary and extraordinary sense.

Los Angeles Times

Luther - Series 2

“Gritty, brooding, emotionally raw . . . whatever you call it, Luther is powerful TV.”

San Francisco Chronicle

Luther - Series 3

It gets darker, scarier and more captivating with each episode as Luther matches wits with killers and cops alike . . . the outstanding Elba broods like no other actor, and adds nuance to the series beyond the excellent writing of series creator Neil Cross and his team

Sunday Mirror