Welcome to the Game

From a brilliant new voice, Welcome to the Game is a gripping thriller that races through the Motor City at a heart-stopping pace as its protagonists swerve to avoid danger at every turn

Craig Henderson screeches onto the scene with this fast-paced debut starring ex-rally driver Spencer Burnham. Having moved his family from England to Detroit and opened a foreign car dealership, Spencer's life was derailed by the death of his beloved wife. Now disconnected from his young daughter and losing control of the cocktail of drugs and alcohol that gets him through the day, he only just keeps Child Protective Services at bay while his business teeters on the edge of bankruptcy.

Then he has a seemingly chance encounter with a charismatic but lethal gangster, Dominic McGrath. Feeling the squeeze from informants, the rise of tech surveillance, and a hotshot detective who's made busting him a personal crusade, McGrath's been planning a last heist that would allow a comfortable retirement, provided he can find a very special type of driver—one who's capable, trustworthy . . . and naïve.

Spencer quickly proves himself behind the wheel, with his innate senes of timing and precise, high-speed maneuvers. And McGrath even pays cash, lots of it. But it comes at a price; Spencer finds himself playing in an arena where rookies don't last long. Wising up to the ruthlessness behind McGrath's charming façade, he tries to break free, but McGrath has too much invested to allow him to leave.

As the city swelters in a heat wave, the two men apply their considerable talents to besting each other, while mistakenly assuming they have only each other to beat.

Craig Henderson is a British writer and a presenter of the BBC’s “Books That Made Britain” series. Scottish by birth, he gained an MA in Latin and Ancient History from the University of Edinburgh where he also won two scholarships. Welcome to the Game is his first novel.