"I can hear the politically correct mustering for duty, sharpening their swords and measuring lengths of rope for Charlie Williams's cheeky neck. They may have a point, for his hero Royston Blake is a psychotic whirlwind whose reason is as fragile and chaotic as his body is strong - but, hell, this is gloriously funny stuff and so original that other writers must be gnashing their teeth in jealousy. Blakey, released on licence from Parpham Mental Hospital, complete with cranial scars from (failed) psycho-surgical interventions, returns to his English market town stamping ground (and when we say "stamping ground" we mean it), intent on finding his woman and being a good dad to his son. But Blakey has about as much chance of living a quiet life as a fox in a chicken coop has of trying to go vegetarian. What also doesn't help is that there are people determined to manipulate him as a human sledge-hammer in an attempt to stem the advance of modernity (shopping malls, etc) across the town. Sit somewhere comfortable and hold on tight."
- Matthew Lewin, The Guardian
"A sharp and bitingly funny novel that will go down well with fans of the TV series Shameless"
The Big Issue
"Royston Blake is a boastful, aggressive, foul-mouthed, psychopathic hard-man of the utmost political incorrectness, a failure at everything he does but an indomitable believer in his own cleverness and sex appeal. He’s also a careless multiple killer (though insistent that it was never his fault). In short, a thoroughly unpleasant and dislikeable character. Why, then — this is a great mystery — is it so enjoyable to read about him?
- Marcel Berlins, The Times
"Blackly funny and bone-jarringly violent... Williams' latest offering come across like a heady literary mix between Straw Dogs and Pulp Fiction"
Dublin Evening Herald
"Just go with the black humour and strange world of Mangel and its folk. If you like 'Little Britain' or 'League of Gentlemen', this is right up your street. Enter the head of Royston Blake at your peril, but once there, revel in the simple logic of his life, and follow him on his personal Road to Damascus. Or in Blakey's case, the Road to East Bloater."
- Ian Morson, Tangled Web
"King of the Road confirms Charlie Williams as possibly the best British writer working today. He is the ideal adult humourist - someone whose jokes kick for the gut and often say far more than you realise upon a first reading - and he is also an astute modern commentator, someone with something to say about the darkness than is modern life in Britain today. We all know someone like Blakey and we all know somewhere like Mangel. But only Charlie Williams could make us want to stay.
- Russel D McLean, Crime Scene Scotland
"If you loved Deadfolk and Fags and Lager, you will not be able to resist this"
Worcestershire Life
