AFTER THE BRIDGE

Friday 22nd November 2024

Available for pre-order now

Can two lost souls rediscover their humanity before their luck runs out?

After the Bridge

Two suicidal strangers, failing actor Owen and traumatised Ukrainian refugee Becky, postpone death on a bridge to honey-trap men.

They make easy money. Until they reach Manchester.

A blackmailer dies on Becky in a hotel room. Owen steals the dead man’s identity to con a quarter of million quid from a brain-damaged hero’s trust fund. 

His impersonation is good, but doesn’t fool a cynical cop, or the deceased’s crazy self-harming granddaughter.

Putin’s pals are in the city too, demanding the blackmailer’s sex-pest list with menaces.

Can Owen and Becky rediscover their humanity before they drown in a sea of  corruption and criminality?

BEFORE

Wednesday 4th May 2022

The clock on the Audi dash said five thirty in the morning. Outside, patchy sea fret wafted across the estuary. One second foggy, the next clear. At eleven, a customer in Hull was going to be disappointed his new second hand car never arrived.

A short walk would take him to the middle of the Humber bridge. He had driven over many times, but never crossed on foot. This would be his first and last time, once he had completed his goodbye morning stroll.

A black leather jacket lay on the passenger seat. He would put it on when he left. Strolling around in black jeans, white tee and deck shoes before sunrise was a jumper red light. On the radio the UK cost of living crisis, the potential supreme court reversal of USA abortion rights and Russian war crimes in Ukraine mirrored his low mood.

He grimaced: life had left him a dried-out shell of the man he had wanted to be. A great idea for a song, but Springsteen had already written it. The Boss knew how to spin the misery coin. Not that he identified with Bruce’s liberal-bleeding-heart. His childhood hero … READ MORE

After the Bridge starts and ends on the Humber bridge and spends the rest of the time in Manchester!

Building bridges

Building bridges

A MESSAGE FROM ANDREW

After the Bridge will be published independently by Hit the North on Friday, 22nd November, 2024, the 61st anniversary of the Kennedy assassination. You’ll find out why if you read the book.

I am publishing Bridge via HTN because the usual online suspects specialising in ‘crime’ fiction turned it down when it was out for submission and you need to have a (London-centric) literary agent to get a sniff at the big 5 publishers. Boo hoo hoo. One lovely agent (thank you Stephanie) did say there was ‘much to admire’.

Not that I am whinging. Life’s far too short. Besides, a traditional publisher doesn’t guarantee anything beyond a giant hangover when you sign a contract and dream about waltzing down the big easy street (avoiding JKR coming the other way). It is up to us to create our own Bridge buzz.

Whether you are a crime writer, reviewer, blogger, book club organiser or a reader, sharing your feedback/reviews with your peers makes a huge to difference sales!

Apparently, Amazon only lists a book in its newsletters and other promotions if it has 50 reviews. Reviews can be short. ‘I LIKED/DISLIKED IT.’ Numbers rather than the quality of reviews count.

I’ll be reaching out to you from my windy corner of Northumberland, three miles from the border, an eight iron from the docks and an arm’s length from a bottle of Tom Oliver’s child cider pulled from the fridge.

Cheers.

Andrew  

Andrew J Field lives with Catherine by the sea in Berwick, next to the docks, close to the border. He previously lived, worked and played in Manchester.  His books include Without Rules and All Down The Line. A member of the Society of Authors and the Crime Writers Association, he has an MA in novel writing from the University of Manchester. He likes coffee, wine, noir and scoffing fish and chips overlooking the Tweed estuary.

Quote Unquote

  • ‘Engaging throughout.’

    Danuta Reah, author of ‘The Last Room’ and ‘Not Safe’.

  • ‘Dark, twisted and utterly compelling. Loved every moment.’

    Emma Haughton, author of 'The Dark’ and 'The Sanctuary’.

  • 'In a very noir world, Andrew Field offers us a very noir novel.'

    The Irresponsible Reader

  • 'After The Bridge is consistently entertaining with a lively wit and inventive energy sustained throughout. Particularly appealing is the portrayal of strong women and …. sympathetic characters despite their excesses and flaws.'

    Martin Fletcher, editor

  • 'Much to admire.'

    Stephanie Glencross, editor, literary agent

  • 'All Down the Line is a cleverly constructed tale, boasting an intricate interweave of plot strands and a cast of off-beat, unpredictable and jump-off-the-page realistic characters. Looming over it all is Manchester itself, and the setting is so well realised you can almost smell the dank canal-side air.'

    Sandra Mangan, Crime Fiction Lover

Pre-order After the Bridge

A short walk would take him to the middle of the Humber bridge. He had driven over many times, but never crossed on foot. This would be his first and last time, once he had completed his goodbye morning stroll.

FAQs

 

When will After the Bridge be published?

After the Bridge will be published independently by Hit the North on Friday, 22nd November, 2024, the 61st anniversary of the Kennedy assassination. You’ll discover the significance of the date if you read the book. You can pre-order direct from this site or visit Amazon. There will be digital and hard copies available. Read the launch press release here.

Why publish After the Bridge independently?

Simple answer. The usual online suspects specialising in ‘crime’ fiction turned it down when it was out for submission and you need to have a (London-centric) literary agent to get a sniff at the big 5 publishers. One agent did say there was ‘much to admire’. The cold reality is that even with a traditional publisher, writers still have to do all the PR/marketing to generate sales/interest. As the late great Keith Waterhouse once said, if you want to be published and sell shedloads of books, get famous at something else first!! 

I’d love to review After the Bridge. How do I get hold of an advanced reader copy?

To request an ARC email andrewfield3@me.com. Include any links to your most recent reviews/blogs and say why you want to review/read After the Bridge.

Does After the Bridge deal with adult themes?

Although the After the Bridge narrative revolves around suicide, sexual assault, attempted date-rape, self-harm, incest, war crimes in Ukraine and identify theft, we hope the adult themes aren’t gratuitous or salacious. We want to avoid glorifying or glamourising violence, abuse and aggression. The perpetrators are never heroes.       

Why is £1 on every After the Bridge sale being dominated to news outlets Kyiv Independent?

We’re living in a very scary post-truth world. Imagine Trump as leader of the ‘free’ world for a second time in November. A nightmare scenario. We have to call out the disinformation and lies. That’s why £1 from every After the Bridge sale will be donated to Kyiv Independent to help the online news site continue to tell Ukraine’s truth.

Help fund Kyiv Independent tell Ukraine’s real story to the world. Remember, these images could easily be our own backyards.

  • Dream it.Bucha, kyiv, Ukraine 04-06-2022 The streets of bucha in Ukraine are full of Russian tanks that were destroyed by the Ukrainian army during clashes earlier in the war.

  • People attend a rally demanding international leaders to organise a humanitarian corridor for evacuation of Ukrainian military and civilians from Mariupol in central Kyiv, Ukraine.

  • ROAD to IRPIN, BUCHA. Ukrainian civilian cars shot by the russian military.

  • IRPIN, UKRAINE - Mar. 05, 2022: War in Ukraine. Women, old people and children evacuated from Irpin town was transferd to Kyiv by Kyiv territorial defense battalion

  • Bucha, Kyiv region, Ukraine - April 2022: War between Russia and Ukraine. Mass grave of civilians shot by the troops of the Russian army, buried on the territory of the church.

  • Bucha, Kyiv region, Ukraine - February 18, 2022: City park of Bucha. View of Gostomel a few days before the start of the war. Now everything here is destroyed.

  • Iryna Gerashchenko, Ukrainian high jumper. Her fellow high jumper Yaroslava Mahuchikh says, 'in Ukraine it’s continual war. if we lose, all the world loses, not only Ukraine.’

  • Freedom can be costly. Both Ukraine and its journalists are paying a high price for their independence. Support independent journalism in its darkest hour.. Donate to the Kyiv Independent below.

Donate today to support the Kyiv Independent

Hit the North

Hit the North champions and celebrates hard-hitting classic and contemporary crime and noir in word, song and film. We define the north above the line drawn between Dublin, Liverpool, Manchester, Sheffield and Hull, although many in the North East, Northumberland and the Scottish Borders consider Manchester the south and Sheffield the midlands.

LAUNCHES LATE SEPTEMBER/EARLY OCTOBER 2024