John Blake scoops county lines book from Sky's Farrell

John Blake has scooped the first book examining the county lines drug-dealing phenomenon, written by Sky journalist Jason Farrell.

Commissioning editor Kerri Sharp acquired world rights direct from Farrell for County Lines, to be published on 9th January 2020.

The crime phenomenon sees vulnerable adults and children as young as eight being trained as “disposable foot soldiers” by drug dealers to travel the country selling heroin, crack and other narcotics.

Farrell’s book will see him interview gang members, families of victims, MPs, police and experts. The synopsis explains: “Author Jason Farrell fearlessly lifts the lid on the UK’s crisis, delving into the heart of this dark operation, from the crack-dens where drugs are prepared and sold through to the corridors of Westminster, where MPs are trying to find answers to the problem.”

The author is home editor at Sky News and has been nominated three times as Specialist Journalist of the Year by the Royal Television Society.

Sharp said: “Jason Farrell’s exceptional reporting on the sickening county lines phenomenon shocked me out of my chair when I first saw it on Sky News. There cannot be a more timely book about what poverty and the ‘lethal absence of hope’ is doing to our country than County Lines.”