For over two decades now, David Peace has occupied a singular place in the literary world. The Yorkshire-born author has an unparalleled knack for using some of the most complex and tumultuous historical events as a platform for his fragmented, neo-noir storytelling. And his latest release Munichs is no different.

Peace zones his dark gaze on the seismic Munich air disaster of 6 February 1958, which occurred when the Manchester United football team were returning to the UK. Twenty-three people were killed in the crash, including eight United players and three club staff. The event is engraved into British and global sporting fabric: a heavyweight subject, which requires a heavyweight scribe to handle.

Via his usual short, clipped sentences and abrupt shifts in perspective that create a sense of disorientation and unease, the retelling of the actual crash and aftermath is moving and shocking. Flipping from the harrowing events in the snow at Munich, and the spread of the dreaded news back to Manchester, his inimitable way of looking at the events is moving and timely almost seven decades later. The subsequent pages dealing with how Manchester United buried their dead, fixed the terribly injured, and went on to rebuild – reaching that season’s FA Cup final – are an exercise in deft and gripping writing. 

Like his previous football-related smash hits The Damned United and Red Or Dead, an obsession with the beautiful game is not required to enjoy. It is a human story, and Peace pretty much details every human involved. As a result, the white-hot realism and repetition can become a little trying. For example, Munichs does lack the occasional slides into off-kilter occult ruminations and shadowy abstraction found in The Damned United, GB84, and his Red Riding quartet. This does however leave space for a sober and pacey reexamination of the disaster and why it remains so emotive. 

From recovery, redemption, loss and grief, to good old swashbuckling sporting heroism, Munichs is a welcome return of a truly great writer. It is also a reminder that from the Miners’ Strike to the Yorkshire Ripper, and post-war Tokyo, nobody makes the darkness shine quite like David Peace.