Recommended reading - King of the Ants, by Charlie Higson (1992):

King of the Ants

By Charlie Higson.

Filmed as King of the Ants (2003), directed by Stuart Gordon.

Published by Abacus.
First published 1992.
ISBN-10: 0349144877
ISBN-13: 9780349144870

Description:

Charlie Higson's thrillers are major events. – Mark Billingham.

Funny, very tough and full of action – Patricia Highsmith.

A brave, abrasive, alarmingly realistic debut. – Daily Mail.

Uncoils with wit and imagination. – Time Out.

It seemed straightforward enough. Sean had now consumed so much alcohol that everything seemed perfectly reasonable. He'd started planning the job already. The first problem was how to do it. Thirteen thousand pounds in an envelope seems a fair price for a man's life. Particularly if you don't know the man, he seems a nonentity, and you quite fancy his wife. And there's no chance of being caught. Sean is a drifter, working as a building labourer and waiting for something to happen. When Sean is offered easy money to tail someone and even more easy money to dispose of him, it's all more tempting than you might think. Except when you realize that you've been led up the garden path the whole way...