Pack Men

With his trademark honesty, inventiveness and deep-fried banter, Alan Bissett examines what happens when friendships turn tribal

What would make you want to go back? Friendship? Family? Football? What if going back meant you found yourself among a hundred and fifty thousand Scotsmen who've invaded Manchester, there to follow the mighty Glasgow Rangers in the UEFA Cup final? What if it meant actually enjoying being one of the lads again, on a bus rocking with familiar songs? Having to deal with old tensions simmering among you all? Or finding yourself trapped in a pitched battle between fans and police? And somehow, at some point, you have to tell your best mates the truth about how you've really changed since you left...With this novel Alan has created another scuffed comedy: chirpy, fast and sometimes dark, about a group of boys stuck together in a powder-keg situation.