Nicky Snape was barely fifteen, but already has a rTsumT filled with misdemeanors and minor crimes. He has even stolen money from his own mother. Today is a typical day in the life of the young English hoodlum. Nicky makes the rounds and steals a purse from Hannah Campbell, later selling her credit cards. He breaks into the home of Eric and Doris Netherfield. Eric sees an intruder enter his bedroom and goes after the culprit with a piece of railing. He strikes the intruder, Nicky, on the shoulder, but eventually loses the bar. Nicky knocks Eric down, demanding money. As Eric holds his chest, Doris comes over to attend to her man. Nicky picks up the bar and splits open Doris' head.

The police arrest Nicky for murder. Two days later, the teenager hangs himself in his cell. To Inspector Charles Resnick, something is not quite right about the lad's death. He begins to investigate what happened at the juvenile detention home where Nicky allegedly hung himself. Charles looks into this case, while the English city rocks from other vicious crimes.

EASY MEAT is a British urban police procedural that is so gritty, it will make American readers reconsider the English cozy. Nicky, who could be any teenager, is a great character and the story line is painfully brilliant. However, it is Charles, surrounded by a growing tide of violence, who still finds love amidst this vicious sea of decadence, who makes John Harvey's novel one of the best police procedurals of the year.