The villains in Long Time Dying are more real than you'd expect in thriller fiction. Especially the Somalis. Those boys are real, they are dangerous and cause the kind of havoc on show in the novel. The other villains are loosely based on real people too. It turns out the world is more sinister than it seems. But that's just the bad news. The good news is an amazing place just like 'The Refuge' exists in Southend, the town where protagonists Dan and Eva live and fight.. Just google ‘Storehouse Southend’ and you'll find it. This Refuge stands in the middle of the criminal no-man's land the book illustrates, and it is pretty hairy there, but the Refuge is an oasis helping people who are homeless, broke, addicted and even some villains when they are down on their luck. As those villains work all around, good people like Dan, Eva and Jess and the volunteers at the Refuge (Storehouse) are unwilling to let the heroic aspects of humanity fall under the evil which comes with addiction and crime. Now that's good news. The good will out, but not without a fight - as Eva and Dan know all too well.