Night Haunts

Night Haunts follows a series of characters who work the nightshift in contemporary London. The book documents cleaners, minicab drivers, exterminators, sewer workers, and others who keep the city running while most people sleep. Sandhu spent time shadowing these nocturnal workers, recording their stories and experiences in their own words. The resulting accounts mix journalism, ethnography and urban exploration to create portraits of an unseen London. Through interviews and first-hand observations, the book captures both the practical realities of night work and the particular atmosphere of a city after dark. The workers' narratives reveal how London transforms between dusk and dawn. The work raises questions about visibility and invisibility in urban life, examining which forms of labor society chooses to acknowledge or ignore. It creates a document of a parallel city that exists alongside but separate from London's daytime identity.

Readers appreciate Sandhu's poetic and atmospheric writing style in capturing London's nocturnal landscape. Many note his skill in blending journalism with literary prose, with multiple reviews highlighting his portraits of night cleaners and security guards as particularly compelling. Positive reviews focus on: - Unique perspective on hidden nighttime workers - Rich descriptive language - Mix of reportage and creative writing Common criticisms include: - Abstract writing style can be difficult to follow - Some chapters feel disconnected - Limited depth in certain worker profiles Ratings: Goodreads: 3.7/5 (87 ratings) Amazon UK: 3.5/5 (12 reviews) One reader notes: "Sandhu captures the loneliness and alienation of nocturnal London through careful observation." Another counters: "The experimental prose style sometimes obscures rather than illuminates the subject matter." Several reviews mention the book reads more like a collection of essays than a cohesive narrative about nighttime London.

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🌙 Author Sukhdev Sandhu spent two years exploring London's nocturnal world, riding alongside night workers and documenting their largely unseen lives 🌃 The book was commissioned by Artangel, an arts organization known for producing extraordinary works in unexpected places throughout London 🚔 Night Haunts is written in a unique second-person perspective, pulling readers directly into the shadowy experiences of London after dark 🌆 The book reveals how London's nighttime economy employs over 1.3 million people, making the city truly a 24-hour metropolis 🌙 Sandhu interviewed an array of night workers, from urban fox hunters and hospital staff to cleaners who maintain the London Underground - jobs that keep the city running while most residents sleep