I Read, Therefore I Blog

The Blurb On The Back:

He’s touching the front of his coat, feeling the shape of the gun. Should have got rid of it. On any other night, any other job, he would. This isn’t any other job. This, he intends, will be his last …

It begins with two deaths: a money-man and a grass. Deaths that odder a unique opportunity to a man like Calum MacLean. A man who has finally had enough of killing.

Meanwhile two of Glasgow’s biggest criminal organisations are at quiet, deadly war with one another. And as a Detective Michael Fisher knows, the biggest – and bloodiest – manoeuvres are yet to come …

( The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )

The Verdict:

The conclusion to Malcolm Mackay’s GLASGOW TRILOGY is another tautly written, hard-boiled tale that ties up the loose ends and provides a satisfying conclusion to this strong crime trilogy. Callum’s really developed as a character over the books and the end game between Shug and Jamieson really comes good with Fisher lurking in the background, trying to put all the pieces together from the first book. There are some neat twists, the pacing works well and although the plot line is stripped down and simple, Mackay injects plenty of suspense and I enjoyed the parallels between Jamieson and Young and Shug and Fizzy. I really like the way Mackay shows the relationships and the distrust between the men in this story and how there can never really be friendships when you enter a life of crime. That said, the introduction of Alex MacArthur came a little too late in the trilogy for me and I wished that there had been some earlier interaction between him, Shug and Jamieson to provide a context to some of the events in this book and at times contrivance is relied on to keep events moving forward. I also wished that there had been some more female characters in the book – I understand that this is in keeping with the male world of crime in Glasgow – but it would have been interesting to have some more female perspectives on living with it and while Deana goes some way to do that it wasn’t enough for me. These quibbles aside, I’ve really enjoyed this trilogy and I’m looking forward to seeing what Mackay writes next.

Thanks to the Amazon Vine Programme for the free copy of this book.

The Blurb On The Back:

Never rush it.

A twenty-nine-year-old man lives alone in his Glasgow flat. The telephone rings, a casual conversation, but behind this a job offer. The clues are there if you know to look for them.

He is an expert. A loner. Freelance. Another job is another job, but what if this organization wants more?

A meeting at a club. An offer. A brief. A target: Lewis Winter.

It’s easy to kill a man. It’s hard to kill a man well. People who do it well know this. People who do it badly find out the hard way. The hard way has consequences …

( The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )

The Verdict:

Malcolm Mackay’s debut crime thriller is a tightly written, taut Tartan noir tale of hit men and crime syndicates in Glasgow. I loved the clipped, efficient writing style and the way Mackay swaps between the different characters to flesh out the seedy, violent world in which they operate. The plot itself is slim – it’s all about the hit and the aftermath – but the psychologies at play and the way the characters make decisions based on the information available to them kept me gripped. These are not nice people and Mackay is quick to strip away the supposed glamour of their sordid lives but at the same time, it’s very easy to empathise with their dilemmas, particularly Callum, a cold, emotionless loner who knows the perils of getting too close to an organisation. All in all, I thought this was a great book that kept me hooked from beginning to end and I will definitely be reading the sequel.