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writermattphillips's review
5.0
It takes courage to write a book true-to-working-class life. It takes balls, in fact. This novella takes us into the grit and truth of contemporary Scottish life. I don't want to give away the plot... Just know this is crime/thriller fiction at its finest and most truthful.
Gritty, working-class fiction from a hell of a writer.
Gritty, working-class fiction from a hell of a writer.
ianayris's review
5.0
'Smoke' is the first novella from the pen of the accomplished, Nigel Bird - critically acclaimed short-story writer extraordinaire, and proper nice bloke to boot.
Being familiar with Nigel's bitter-sweet short-stories, I was fascinated to see how trying his hand at a longer piece would turn out. This novella is a little different from many of Nigel's aforementioned short-stories in that the writing voice is unashamedly Scottish. And brilliantly so. I think of all the UK short-story writers plying their trade at the moment, along with the inimitable Mr Paul D. Brazill, Nigel is the one writer that has most successfully found a voice for the US market. That being so, I loved the fact he's returned to his Scottish roots for 'Smoke'.
'Smoke' centres around a lad called Jimmy. Not a bad lad, but a lad who gets into the odd scrape every now and then. In 'Smoke', one of these particular scrapes involves the psychotic Ramsay Brothers and their incredibly vicious, and incredibly well-written, dog-fighting competition, and also a one-armed, one-legged bloke in a motorised wheelchair, called Carlos. The bloke is called Carlos, I hasten to add, not the wheelchair.
Carlos is the other central character - along with Jimmy - and provides the comic edge to what is a primarily gritty story.
The pace of 'Smoke' is first class, whizzing along like Carlos involuntarily descending a hill into traffic - a terrific scene in the book - and a definition of noir itself. The characters in 'Smoke' are well-rounded, the dialogue top drawer, the ending a satisfying conclusion to a cracking tale.
Being familiar with Nigel's bitter-sweet short-stories, I was fascinated to see how trying his hand at a longer piece would turn out. This novella is a little different from many of Nigel's aforementioned short-stories in that the writing voice is unashamedly Scottish. And brilliantly so. I think of all the UK short-story writers plying their trade at the moment, along with the inimitable Mr Paul D. Brazill, Nigel is the one writer that has most successfully found a voice for the US market. That being so, I loved the fact he's returned to his Scottish roots for 'Smoke'.
'Smoke' centres around a lad called Jimmy. Not a bad lad, but a lad who gets into the odd scrape every now and then. In 'Smoke', one of these particular scrapes involves the psychotic Ramsay Brothers and their incredibly vicious, and incredibly well-written, dog-fighting competition, and also a one-armed, one-legged bloke in a motorised wheelchair, called Carlos. The bloke is called Carlos, I hasten to add, not the wheelchair.
Carlos is the other central character - along with Jimmy - and provides the comic edge to what is a primarily gritty story.
The pace of 'Smoke' is first class, whizzing along like Carlos involuntarily descending a hill into traffic - a terrific scene in the book - and a definition of noir itself. The characters in 'Smoke' are well-rounded, the dialogue top drawer, the ending a satisfying conclusion to a cracking tale.
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