For Those Who Know the Ending
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3.7 • 3 Ratings
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- $13.99
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- $13.99
Publisher Description
Martin Sivok is in trouble. Tied to a chair, plastic strips biting his wrists, inside a deserted warehouse . . . There are only so many ways this scenario can end, most of them badly. For now his best hope is figuring out who put him here -- and staying conscious long enough to confront them.
To stay awake he reviews the past year of his life: evading the law in the Czech Republic by running to Glasgow, settling into a borderline respectable relationship with his landlady, and getting back into the life at the very bottom of the criminal ladder, alongside Usman Kassar, a cocky, goofy kid anxious to prove himself.
The job should be simple: Smash heads, grab cash, run. The trouble with being two outsiders is, you don't always know whose heads are too dangerous to crack, or whose cash is too hot to handle...
In sharp, precise prose, Malcolm Mackay -- an "elegant stylist" unmatched in contemporary noir (Chicago Tribune) -- captures the character of Glasgow and its underworld denizens.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Edgar-finalist Mackay's intricate follow-up to 2017's Every Night I Dream of Hell opens with petty crook Martin Sivok, an immigrant from the Czech Republic, tied to a chair in an abandoned Glasgow warehouse. The main narrative reveals what led to Martin's plight. When Martin and his buddy, Usman Kassar, steal 32,000 from a bookie belonging to the Jamieson crime syndicate, Martin, the more cautious of the pair, wants to take his half and lay low, but the flashier Usman is already planning another job. Meanwhile, Nate Colgan, the reluctant acting head of the crime organization during the prison term of Peter Jamieson, the real leader, plans his revenge. Nate must also manage the everyday flow of the business it's a full-time job keeping the operation on its feet while quietly tracking down two amateurs who had the gall to steal from it. As with all of Mackay's work, the violence is shot through with dark humor, and even the lowest criminals have their fair share of humanity. Tartan noir fans will find plenty to like.
