Malcolm Mackay (1)

I won this book as a Goodreads giveaway, but did not affect my opinion.

This is the story of two young thugs in the Glasgow underworld: Alex Glass and Oliver Peterkinney, who are on diverging paths. Alex falls in love with a party girl (prostitute) and cannot find steady work, while Oliver's quiet but firm personality allows him to find jobs and start his own nefarious business as a lender/collector (although there is no explanation as to how he gets the necessary money.) Underlying their stories is a battle among the criminal bosses for control of various enterprises, primarily loan sharking. I found there were too many characters introduced, leaving too little time to develop the protagonist's characters. Oliver's grandfather was the best character in the novel.
… (mer)

Frank has been Jamieson's gunman almost all his life. He's got a bank account with lots of cash, but nothing to spend it on as he knows nothing is more traceable than cash. He's getting older, but still highly respected. Then he makes a mistake. He knows, and everyone else knows, including the copy trying to turn him, that it's the end of the line. "Gunmen don’t get happy retirements. Nobody gets to walk away."

I would suggest starting with the first book in the trilogy, but it's not absolutely necessary. An intriguing series. On to the third.… (mer)

Another case where I am reading an author's books backwards. While I read Every Night I Dream of Hell first, and for all intents and purposes, it could be a stand-alone, those who appreciate a continuation of characters might prefer to read this book and the two following in the trilogy first. In the former, Jamieson is running things from jail and we see most things from the POV of his enforcer, aka "security consultant."

In this book, Jamieson is fully in charge but worried that someone is trying to muscle in on his territory. To send a message, it's necessary to eliminate, Lewis Winter, in an effort to smoke out the rival. POVs vary but are primarily those of Calum, his young hitman. We're also introduced to Zora, who plays a prominent role in EIDOH (don't you just love title abbreviations?)

Mackay has a different style of writing, a combination of narrative and stream of consciousness. It took a bit of getting used to, but was appealing in the end. Now, moving on to How a Gunman Says Goodbye the second in the series which follows the same characters, focusing primarily on Frank, the aging hitman.… (mer)

Picked this up for $1 at Dollar Tree on a whim. I was not familiar with the author and thought I would give it a try. I was a bit intimidated by the five pages of character lists at the beginning and it took a bit to get into, but I was rewarded with a good story of Glaswegian bad guys and thugs. Told primarily from the perspective of Nate, one of the gang's "security consultants" (enforcer), the crime boss has been jailed and there is a power struggle going on.

I have no idea if MacKay writes from personal experience. I hope not, but I will move on to his Glasgow Trilogy which promises to be just as good.… (mer)