Review: Short, Sharp Slices Of Life
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 02 22, 2012
A Good DayDarren Sant introduces us to The Longcroft Estate  and the trials and tribulations of the people living there. The good, the bad, the ugly.Community SpiritRecently transplanted to The Longcroft Estate, Tracy is having a hard time. A single parent, whose son is being bullied at school, she's a stranger in an strange land who also happens to be in debt to a violent loan shark. Darren Sant's second Longcroft story is as hard as it is tender and is a wonderfully put together slice of urban noir.ROWAN'S FOLLY:Darren Sant's previous two Tales From The Longcroft Estate-A Good Day and Community Spirit - were cracking short, sharp slices of life on a typical northern council estate.With Rowan's Folly, however, he has upped the ante and given us a smart multi POV story that embraces burglary, drug dealing and various strata of The Longrcroft's criminal fraternity.Structurally, this is San't most ambitious story yet and he carries off the clever shifts of time and place with aplomb. It also has lots of the quirky details of life that we've enjoyed in his previous stories and is a clear signal that Darren Sant is a writer to keep a bleary eye on.A highly recommended, short, sharp five star collection.