MEMOIRS OF A DIPPER

Nell Leyshon

Penguin, £8.99

A CAPTIVATING novel that pits nature against nurture, Memoirs Of A Dipper takes us through the life of Gary, a career criminal who knows one thing for sure: that “we’re all born naked to damaged people”. But, beyond that, how much of our fate is predetermined?

Having finally got himself sorted out, or so he claims, Gary is looking back from a comfortable distance at his youth. Born to a ground-down, drink-dependent mother and a feckless petty criminal, he was introduced to crime early, by his dad. Carrying out a good burglary was the only way he could get his father’s approval, and he showed early on that his skills far exceeded that of his old man. Not only was Gary a chip off the old block (“An apple never falls far from the tree,” he’s assured), he was incredibly intuitive, with a talent for getting inside people’s heads, and possessed what he assures us were superhuman senses. Putting himself in his victims’ place made it easy for Gary to burgle or cheat them.

Reaching his teens and gravitating towards the rich pickings of central London, he proves himself to be a quick and adaptable learner, graduating from a dodgy scaffolding scheme to the antiques racket with ease, then absorbing all he needs to know about pickpocketing. With supreme confidence and unforgettable eyes the colour of lapis lazuli, he puts up such a convincing front that he is literally able to steal clothes from a shop window display and get away with it.

Gary’s enhanced intuition and perceptiveness allow him to break into strangers’ homes and imagine what it would be like to be them, immersing himself in their lives. It’s a creative ability, but it never occurs to him to use it for anything other than becoming a better criminal. More than once, he reflects that people are born into a cage and have no real control over the course of their lives. Given his background, he believes, a life of crime is inescapable.

But, of course, it’s a career path that has to be trod carefully, and Gary could be better at that. He is taken on by mentors, then disappoints or betrays them without hesitation or regret. He accepts the presence of alcohol and hard drugs in his life, too, as part of the lifestyle. His bitter, unresolved family conflicts continue to reverberate through his life and into his troubled relationship with his drug-addicted girlfriend, Mandy. It all combines to drag him into a downward spiral which eventually forces him to question his core beliefs.

Direct and compelling, Leyshon’s fourth novel has the makings of a cult hit. Having worked in prisons, and based much of Gary’s character on the men she’s met in them, she has endowed him with a distinctive voice that’s rough-hewn and streetwise, but also thoughtful and self-aware. He’s someone whose survival has depended on his ability to constantly evaluate his surroundings and she enables us to briefly see through the eyes of this bright but deeply flawed man.

ALASTAIR MABBOTT