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storyman's review
4.0
I’ve read a few of Tony Black’s hit and miss novellas. This is the first novel of his I’ve read and I really enjoyed it. The plot twists and turns, though you might expect much of it, but you read it for the protagonist, Gus Dury. He’s a former reporter who now slums it in drink and odd jobs. When an old friend asks him to find out who killed his son, Billy, Gus becomes mixed up in an Edinburgh underworld slick with the scum of Russian gangsters, corrupt politicians, and a sex trade in underage east European girls.
All of that is entertaining enough, but I loved more how Gus works out his own inner demons through drink, through strong friendship, through his estranged wife, his ma, and his foul old dad. There are golden turns of phrase scattered throughout, and when the book’s end comes, you’re ready for the second in the series.
A blast.
All of that is entertaining enough, but I loved more how Gus works out his own inner demons through drink, through strong friendship, through his estranged wife, his ma, and his foul old dad. There are golden turns of phrase scattered throughout, and when the book’s end comes, you’re ready for the second in the series.
A blast.
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