Underdogs

Buckle up for Underdogs, an adrenaline-fueled action-thriller from the Sunday Times bestselling author of the Spider Shepherd series . Perfect for fans of Lee Child and James Patterson. ‘He has the uncanny knack of producing plots that are all too real’ – DAILY MAIL 'A writer at the top of his game' – SUNDAY EXPRESS 'Kickass action, high stakes and nail-biting excitement. Underdogs delivers on all with flying colors and then some' – BEST THRILLER BOOKS Underestimate this underdog at your peril . . . Once a fearless SAS hero, Andy 'Deadman' Bird now battles the harsh streets of London after a catastrophic mission stripped him of his hearing, career, home and marriage. His only solace is Tyson, his fiercely loyal and battle-tested dog. When fate thrusts them into the path of a chilling alleyway murder, Andy and Tyson become the next targets. Who are these relentless hunters, and what dangerous secrets are they willing to kill for? Desperate and cornered, Andy reaches out to his former brothers–in–arms – a team who owe him their very lives. But as they unravel a sinister web of organised crime and deadly political plots, who will be saving who this time? Praise for Stephen Leather ‘Grabs the reader by the throat’ – Daily Mail ‘Explosive’ – The Sun ‘Enthralling’ – Financial Times ‘A master of the thriller genre’ – Irish Times ' Leather’s battered hero and his loyal dog power through a gritty thriller about unfinished business' – The i Paper

Buckle up for Underdogs, an adrenaline-fueled action-thriller from the Sunday Times bestselling author of the Spider Shepherd series . Perfect for fans of Lee Child and James Patterson. ‘He has the uncanny knack of producing plots that are all too real’ – DAILY MAIL 'A writer at the top of his game' – SUNDAY EXPRESS 'Kickass action, high stakes and nail-biting excitement. Underdogs delivers on all with flying colors and then some' – BEST THRILLER BOOKS Underestimate this underdog at your peril . . . Once a fearless SAS hero, Andy 'Deadman' Bird now battles the harsh streets of London after a catastrophic mission stripped him of his hearing, career, home and marriage. His only solace is Tyson, his fiercely loyal and battle-tested dog. When fate thrusts them into the path of a chilling alleyway murder, Andy and Tyson become the next targets. Who are these relentless hunters, and what dangerous secrets are they willing to kill for? Desperate and cornered, Andy reaches out to his former brothers–in–arms – a team who owe him their very lives. But as they unravel a sinister web of organised crime and deadly political plots, who will be saving who this time? Praise for Stephen Leather ‘Grabs the reader by the throat’ – Daily Mail ‘Explosive’ – The Sun ‘Enthralling’ – Financial Times ‘A master of the thriller genre’ – Irish Times ' Leather’s battered hero and his loyal dog power through a gritty thriller about unfinished business' – The i Paper

'A powerful debut with plenty of northern soul . . . it's these untold stories that need to be on the page - now more than ever' BENJAMIN MYERS, Guardian 'A spirited and heartwarming portrait of a fast-dying community, and the dogs are wonderful' FT 'These hands,' he said, and spread the paira them out wide so we could see the callouses and the little lines of coal dust underneath his skin; ' these hands were made to pick out summat precious from somewhere that doesn't wanna give it up.' County Durham, 1998. The pits have closed and jobs are hard to come by, but charismatic ex-miner Bertie has a plan. He runs an underground gambling ring at the local dog track which offers down-on-their-luck blokes a way to turn their life around. Reg's ten-year-old son George knows his dad hasn't been the same since Mam died, and the letters with scary red type that keep coming through the door can't be good news. So when Bertie offers Reg and George the chance to race Goldie, a beautiful fawn greyhound, they jump at the opportunity. To succeed they'll need to learn how to navigate the larger-than-life world of the flapping track, all while dark secrets from Bertie's past threaten to unravel the operation. Do Reg and George have what it takes to pull off the gamble of a lifetime? 'A love letter to a disappearing community' Service95 'Beautiful, heartbreaking, uplifting, funny . . . At times my own heart was racing as if with the dogs . . . a story of love, of loss, of hope; of life and how to live it even when the chips are down' JENNY KNIGHT, author of Wild Moon Rising 'Told with a full-blooded voice that is as quick and alive as the hounds that fill its pages, Underdogs c aptures a forgotten way of life in a forgotten part of England with rare honesty and wit ' SCOTT PRESTON, author of The Borrowed Hills

'A powerful debut with plenty of northern soul . . . it's these untold stories that need to be on the page - now more than ever' BENJAMIN MYERS, Guardian 'A spirited and heartwarming portrait of a fast-dying community, and the dogs are wonderful' FT 'These hands,' he said, and spread the paira them out wide so we could see the callouses and the little lines of coal dust underneath his skin; ' these hands were made to pick out summat precious from somewhere that doesn't wanna give it up.' County Durham, 1998. The pits have closed and jobs are hard to come by, but charismatic ex-miner Bertie has a plan. He runs an underground gambling ring at the local dog track which offers down-on-their-luck blokes a way to turn their life around. Reg's ten-year-old son George knows his dad hasn't been the same since Mam died, and the letters with scary red type that keep coming through the door can't be good news. So when Bertie offers Reg and George the chance to race Goldie, a beautiful fawn greyhound, they jump at the opportunity. To succeed they'll need to learn how to navigate the larger-than-life world of the flapping track, all while dark secrets from Bertie's past threaten to unravel the operation. Do Reg and George have what it takes to pull off the gamble of a lifetime? 'A love letter to a disappearing community' Service95 'Beautiful, heartbreaking, uplifting, funny . . . At times my own heart was racing as if with the dogs . . . a story of love, of loss, of hope; of life and how to live it even when the chips are down' JENNY KNIGHT, author of Wild Moon Rising 'Told with a full-blooded voice that is as quick and alive as the hounds that fill its pages, Underdogs c aptures a forgotten way of life in a forgotten part of England with rare honesty and wit ' SCOTT PRESTON, author of The Borrowed Hills

A Financial Times Summer Read 2025 A BBC Radio 4 'Book of the Week' 'Essential reading' - Telegraph 'Not just well timed but admirably powerful' - The Guardian 'A calm, sensitive, soothingly sociological book' - The Sunday Times 'Will change how you see Britain' - Robert Ford, author of Brexitland ________ Underdogs is a surprising journey into the heart of the misunderstood white working class. And it might just change how you see Britain. While Brexit helped to turn the white working class into a social and political force, in its aftermath one-third of the population has been reduced to a caricature. Portrayed as angry and hostile to change, as xenophobic, even racist, it’s a tired narrative favoured by both politicians and the press. The truth is far more compelling. In Underdogs, Economist journalist Joel Budd takes us across the UK, from the shores of Teesside to the Isle of Wight, from the Valleys of South Wales to the fields of Lincolnshire, talking with a diverse group of people about their jobs, their families and neighbourhoods, their struggles and hopes. Offering an eye-opening corrective to the familiar stereotype, Budd discovers the white working class are not just grumbling about the transformation of Britain. With warmth and determination, they are pushing the country forward.

A Financial Times Summer Read 2025 A BBC Radio 4 'Book of the Week' 'Essential reading' - Telegraph 'Not just well timed but admirably powerful' - The Guardian 'A calm, sensitive, soothingly sociological book' - The Sunday Times 'Will change how you see Britain' - Robert Ford, author of Brexitland ________ Underdogs is a surprising journey into the heart of the misunderstood white working class. And it might just change how you see Britain. While Brexit helped to turn the white working class into a social and political force, in its aftermath one-third of the population has been reduced to a caricature. Portrayed as angry and hostile to change, as xenophobic, even racist, it’s a tired narrative favoured by both politicians and the press. The truth is far more compelling. In Underdogs, Economist journalist Joel Budd takes us across the UK, from the shores of Teesside to the Isle of Wight, from the Valleys of South Wales to the fields of Lincolnshire, talking with a diverse group of people about their jobs, their families and neighbourhoods, their struggles and hopes. Offering an eye-opening corrective to the familiar stereotype, Budd discovers the white working class are not just grumbling about the transformation of Britain. With warmth and determination, they are pushing the country forward.

The sociology of “social deviants” flourished in the United States at midcentury, studying the lives of outsiders such as homosexuals, Jews, disabled people, drug addicts, and political radicals. But in the next decades, many of these downcast figures would become the architects of new social movements, activists in revolt against institutions, the state, and social constraint. As queer theory gained prominence as a subfield of the humanities in the late 1980s, it seemed to inherit these radical, activist impulses—challenging not only gender and sexual norms, but the nature of society itself. With Underdogs, Heather Love shows that queer theorists inherited as much from sociologists as they did from activists. Through theoretical and archival work, Love traces the connection between midcentury studies of deviance and the anti-normative, anti-essentialist field of queer theory. While sociologists saw deviance as an inevitable fact of social life, queer theorists embraced it as a rallying cry. A robust interdisciplinary history of the field, Underdogs stages a reencounter with the practices and communities that underwrite radical queer thought.

The sociology of “social deviants” flourished in the United States at midcentury, studying the lives of outsiders such as homosexuals, Jews, disabled people, drug addicts, and political radicals. But in the next decades, many of these downcast figures would become the architects of new social movements, activists in revolt against institutions, the state, and social constraint. As queer theory gained prominence as a subfield of the humanities in the late 1980s, it seemed to inherit these radical, activist impulses—challenging not only gender and sexual norms, but the nature of society itself. With Underdogs, Heather Love shows that queer theorists inherited as much from sociologists as they did from activists. Through theoretical and archival work, Love traces the connection between midcentury studies of deviance and the anti-normative, anti-essentialist field of queer theory. While sociologists saw deviance as an inevitable fact of social life, queer theorists embraced it as a rallying cry. A robust interdisciplinary history of the field, Underdogs stages a reencounter with the practices and communities that underwrite radical queer thought.