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{{infoboxinfobox1
|title=Even Flow
|author=Darragh McManus
|publisher=Roundfire
|date=September 2012
|website=http://darraghmcmanus.com
|summary=A pacey, jaw-breaking, door-busting thriller that packs as big a question as it does a punch: where do we draw the line between righteous retribution and criminal behaviour?
|cover=1780991312
|aznuk=1780991312
|aznus=1780991312
}}
Jonathon Bailey, Cathy Morrissey and Patrick Broder of Network 4 News sit in a viewing room unable to believe their eyes as the courier-delivered VT flickers in front of them. Wealthy banker's son and society playboy Cliff Hudson seems to be suspended from the top of a tall building by his ankles. He's tied to a friend identified as 'Steve', both terror stricken and whimpering an apology prompted by three men oddly dressed in tuxedos and balaclavas. As the city will soon come to realise, these men (pseudonyms Wilde, Whitman and Waters) are the 3W Gang, sworn to do society's dirty work for it as they isolate and punish bigots. Crusaders or criminals? Detective Danny Everard of the NYPD doesn't have the luxury of choosing, just the headache of trying to catch them.
Slowly the novel ceases to be funny and our allegiances become ambiguous as the plot darkens. The amusing emails change to thought provoking between-chapter comic strips. These three men have the best of motives; examples of well intentioned 'everyman' coming from our own law-abiding ranks, a point reinforced by a high school newspaper clipping slipped in before the nerve jangling finale.
Please don't assume this is a thinly-disguised psychology text though. If you just want to chill over a ripping read then ''Even Flow'' delivers as well as a [[:Category:Lee Child (Editor)|Lee Child]] or a [[:Category:Tom Grieves|Tom Grieves]]. It's just as action -packed and atmospherically tense. For instance the news room newsroom live interview scene: the uncertainty is palpable as anchor Jonathon speaks live on air whilst not knowing what the loose cannon at the other end of the line will come out with.
After this treat of a debut, what next for Mr M? ''The Polka Dot Girl'', his second 'paper' novel is due out in January 2013; enticingly described as ''mysterious, sexy, shadowy and suggestive and a little bit spooky''. Meanwhile , though, he's left us plenty to be getting on with - ''Even Flow'' isn't the sort of book you only read once.
A special thank you to Roundfire for sending us a copy of this book for review. We also have a review of McManus's [[Shiver the Whole Night Through by Darragh McManus|Shiver the Whole Night Through]].
If you've enjoyed this and want something as similarly 'grabbing', we suggest [[Sleepwalkers by Tom Grieves]].
