Hero of the underworld

After ten hard years inside, Hero is out. Released into a mystifying and dangerous world of small time crooks, bad jobs and sleazy accommodation, he slowly starts to fight back. Hero leads a gang of ex-mental health patients-Lockjaw, Bonecrusher and Sligo-in a stand against the might of the underworld. His outlandish plans to thwart his persecutors escalate from stealing a prize bull, to grand theft, and on to the most dangerous heist in town. By the end, Hero will either be free at last, or six feet under. Hero of the Underworld is a darkly humorous, uplifting tale of redemption. Jimmy Boyle was born in 1944 and raised in the Gorbals, a notorious project of Glasgow. He embarked on a life of crime, eventually being sentenced at the age of twenty-three for a murder he did not commit. In prison, he took up art and since his release in 1982 has become a sculptor of world repute. The Hard Man, a musical based on Jimmy Boyle's life will open on Broadway in spring 2001.