Hard Wired

September 1996. Newcastle United have just bought Alan Shearer for a record-breaking £15 million from Blackburn Rovers and across the city regeneration and investment are reshaping the landscape. Charlie works in the local bail hostel where, exhausted and made cynical by the job, she expects the worst of everyone. When her friend’s son is found dead in the local park she is dragged into the hunt for the murderer. Darren was no angel but as she begins to dig into the crime she unwittingly sets in motion a series of threats against the hostel. Her attempts to uncover the truth find her probing failures in the justice system and searching for the men who have fallen between the cracks. As Charlie gets closer to the murderer she places her own family in danger. Meanwhile, her daughter is keeping her own secrets.

From the winner of the Northern Crime Competition