Essex, Drugs & Rock 'n' Roll - Jonathan Durden
23 July 2008
MARK Cohen appears to have everything - a successful job in advertising, money, a mansion in Woodford Green, a beautiful wife, three children, and a cocaine habit.
Returning home from a business trip, he finds his alcoholic wife seriously ill and his teenage daughter in hospital recovering from a suicide attempt.
That night, he finds himself alone and asking: "If I were to die this very night, what reason would I have to come back and haunt the world?" The need to find an answer sets him off on a one-way trip to face up to unfinished business, find redemption and make his mark on the world.
Mark's journey is a jet-black comedy that throws the reader head first into the world of advertising, porn, politics, drugs and bed hopping.
Essex, Drugs & Rock 'n' Roll (£7.99, Adelita) is the hugely enjoyable debut novel by 2007 Big Brother housemate Jonathan Durden, who grew up in Clayhall and lived in Woodford Green in his early 20s.
The title may make it sound very much like a lads' book, but it can be enjoyed just as much by women.
It's a story about redemption - an easy read and gripping enough to keep you addicted. I read all 300 pages in a weekend.
Durden has peopled his novel with colourful and well-drawn characters and it's easy to see his dream of making it into a film being fulfilled.
His hero also comes up with a great charitable idea which I would be surprised seeing turned into reality by Durden in a few years.
There are plenty of Redbridge locations - Newbury Park, Gants Hill and Valentines Park all get a mention - and Durden is clearly writing about a world he knows well.
If you only pack one book to take on holiday this summer, this is the one. And I look forward to the two new books, he is working on.
Romford Recorder
