The Atomics

Paul Maunder

You cannot run away from what haunts you

LONGLISTED: Caledonia Novel Award

Midsummer, 1968. When Frank Banner and his wife Gail move to the Suffolk coast to work at a newly built nuclear power station, they are hoping to leave violence and pain behind them.

Gail wants a baby but Frank is only concerned with spending time in the gleaming reactor core of the Seton One power station. Their new neighbours are also ‘Atomics’ – part of the power station community. But Frank takes a dislike to the boorish, predatory Maynard. And when the other man begins to pursue a young woman who works in the power station’s medical centre, Frank decides to intervene.  

As the sun beats relentlessly upon this bleak landscape, his demons return. A vicious and merciless voice tells him he has an obligation to protect the young woman and Frank knows just how to do it. Radiation will make him stronger, radiation will turn him into a hero...

The Atomics is a gothic story of madness, revenge and Uranium-235.

‘A dark, creepy, shocking book that reminds me of early Ian McEwan...really very affecting’ Jenn Ashworth

‘A terrifically compulsive slice of post-war domestic noir: a vivid psychological thriller that unfolds into a strange and powerful study of male violence’ Michael Hughes

‘A brilliantly dark and compelling debut novel. Completely drew me in and I suspect it’s going to haunt me for a while’ Susanna Jones

‘Very, very good’ Johnnie Wright, BBC Radio Suffolk

Paperback: 256pp

Published: Lightning (May 2021)

ISBN: 9781785632327