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The Walking Wounded traces the lives of two boys whose childhood bond follows them into adulthood, where—now police officers—they find themselves working a murder investigation tied to the haunting disappearance of two missing children. What first drew you to this story—was it the investigation, the characters, or the themes of trauma?
This book started life as a stage musical way back in 1992/93. I stopped writing for a very long time. The basic story of trauma and its effects has always been there. The romance of our leading men was added in recent years, after consultation with a movie producer.
Phil and Li’s relationship unfolds slowly and carries a lot of history. Why did you choose that long-burn dynamic?
I was trying to drive home the concept of toxic masculinity and the fear that goes along with self-acceptance for LGBTIQ+ people. ‘I’m gay’ can still be very costly words.
The novel questions whether justice is ever “enough.” How do you define justice in this story, and how do institutional failures shape the narrative?
It was always about system failure. People need to take responsibility for their abusive actions. Current conditions prove that justice remains beyond reach.
Despite its darkness, the book leaves room for connection and care. Why was that important?
Many of the characters live with abuse. It affects them all in different ways. Phil hides it under a cover of denial, and Davina uses it to remain strong while she helps Levi and Noah through it. Ian/Iceman has been destroyed by his past and believes the world owes him a favour. His dark anger boils below the surface.
Four stories, four outcomes.
The fact that there can be healing is an important concept for any abuse survivor who may pick up my book. The fact that Noah makes it through the darkness to adulthood and fatherhood, despite the losses along the way, is important.
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The Walking Wounded is a gripping narrative that intricately weaves together the journeys of four characters, resulting in a deeply engaging reading experience. Immerse yourself in the gripping and dark tale of two seasoned detectives as they navigate the twisted maze of a child prostitution ring, entangled with the powerful and influential members of Newcastle society. The atmosphere is charged with tension as they step off into the mystery surrounding two separate homicides, apparently connected to two missing boys. Each step adds to the growing urgency, as the faint scent of desperation lingers in the air. Their determined hearts beat in sync as they manoeuvre through the complex maze of deceit, the pulsating rhythm propelling them forward. In their determined pursuit to locate the two missing boys, their hands quiver with a blend of eagerness and anxiety, their touch inadvertently tracing the sharp contours of their own haunting memories. With each body discovered, the truth shines brighter, piercing through the shadows like a beacon of hope.
The Walking Wounded
The Walking Wounded is a crime novel with strong police procedural and romantic drama threads, but what it is really about is damage, loyalty, and the long afterlife of abuse. It opens with Phil Dobson and Li Zhang meeting as children, then follows them into police work as they become central to a murder investigation tied to missing boys, institutional corruption, and child abuse, while the book also tracks Noah and Levi, two brothers caught in that system, and the deep bond between Phil and Li that keeps growing underneath everything else. By the end, the book is less about solving one case than about what it takes to survive, protect other people, and keep living with what cannot be neatly fixed.
The writing does not circle pain politely. It walks straight at it. Sometimes that bluntness works very well because it gives the book an unfiltered emotional charge, especially in scenes involving Noah and Levi, or in the way Phil’s buried trauma slowly rises back to the surface. I also liked that the book is willing to be messy. The dialogue can be rough, funny, tender, and awkward in the same breath, which made the characters feel more lived-in than polished. At the same time, I did feel the novel occasionally leans so hard into intensity that subtlety gets crowded out. There were moments where I wanted the story to trust its strongest scenes a little more and explain a little less. Still, I never had trouble understanding what the book cared about. It cares about wounded people. It cares about children who are failed by adults. It cares about the difference one loyal person can make.
I was especially interested in the author’s choice to braid genres together instead of staying in one lane. On one level, this is a police story with detectives, interviews, raids, corrupt figures, and an expanding case. On another, it is a queer love story that takes its time, almost to the point of frustration, with Phil and Li circling each other for years before finally moving toward honesty. And under both of those is a trauma novel, one that keeps asking whether justice is ever enough when the damage began in childhood. I found that mix compelling because the ambition is real. The book wants to expose systems, hold onto tenderness, and still leave room for recovery, new family, and love. That is a lot to carry, and not every part lands with the same force, but I respected how fully it committed to that emotional and moral scale.
I’d recommend The Walking Wounded most to readers who can handle dark material and who like fiction that mixes crime, trauma, and character-driven relationships without sanding off the rough edges. I would especially point it toward readers who enjoy police procedurals that are less about procedural neatness and more about the people carrying the case home with them, as well as readers who want a romance shaped by history, grief, and trust rather than easy chemistry alone.
Pages: 881 | ASIN : B0GJTVHHS4
