The Restraint Of Beasts by Magnus Mills

 

An Englishman is given a promotion to supervisor at a fencing company.  He is excited until he is told that his crew would exist of Tam and Richie.  They were known throughout the company as the slackest workers, the ones who could easily turn a two hour job into a day's work.  But there's a big job in England and Donald, the boss, doesn't trust the two to go by themselves.

Towing a caravan, the three set off.  The foreman is well aware of his crew's work habits, having to accompany them to redo a local job in Scotland before they leave.  Once they get to the job site, he has to find ways to get them up in the morning, make them eat, then keep them working as they expect to take a break to smoke every few minutes.  At night, they expect to go to a pub where they borrow money from the foreman and get totally drunk.  In the caravan, they don't clean anything, just scraping food off the dirty plates and pans they haven't cleaned whenever they need to cook something else.

But overall, they are good at their jobs when they can be corralled.  Except, of course, for the 'accidents' that seem to leave bodies behind them wherever they go.  

Magnus Mills was a bus driver who became an author.  This novel, his first, was nominated for the Booker Prize and the Whitbread Prize.  He wrote several other novels and some short story anthologies.  His concentration was on the working class and their foibles, told with humor and gritty detail.  Authority is to be avoided when possible and ignored when not in sight.  This book is recommended for readers of literary fiction.