Larry is a teenager wrestling not only with his sexuality and the implications of a physical relationship with his younger brother, but with the very point of his existence. As the book opens, Larry has been paid $500 by a senior to kill a fellow pupil and retrieve the boy's notebook.

Larry is a teenager wrestling not only with his sexuality but with the very point of his existence. He is numb to almost all that surrounds him.

As the book opens, Larry has been paid $500 by a senior to kill a fellow pupil and retrieve the boy's notebook. It seems simple enough. However, once Larry delves into the notebook complications arise.

Inspired by and in a response to the American high school shootings of recent times, My Loose Thread is an immensely powerful work that explores teenage depression, moral vacuity and the confusion of love, all set to the backdrop of a culture where violence is often the only way one can be heard.

"America's most daring novelist." The Face

"It's almost more like music than reading, a prose that is not in any way poetic, but operates to a unique rhythm." Toby Litt, Independent on Sunday

"Terrifying and brutal but beautifully written and intriguing, the novel confirms Cooper's reputation as the eminent author of alienation." Gay Times

"My Loose Thread's storyline is so immediate, introspective, and messed up,you can't avert your eyes." Village Voice

Cover image by Joke Van Katwijk (c) The Special Photographers Company; designed by Charly Murray

The prose acts like small hammer blows against the skull. Buy its blood-soaked end, the book seems a miracle of empathy, leaving you slightly nauseous but very clear.