After twenty years in prison, crime boss Patrick Harper is released and, after being betrayed by his business partner and childhood best friend, revenge is the one thing on his mind. Because not content with robbing him of all those years, that business partner, Danny Mannion, took one thing more: the love of Patrick’s life, Sonia.
Keen to get back into his daughter Cathy’s life and with a big plan, Patrick gathers an unlikely band of allies around him: a writer picked up in a betting shop and a tough and useful married couple, Belly and Freda. The Scribbler has no clue why his services are needed, his confusion and panic obvious throughout what goes down over the six days it takes for Harper to make the impact he wants.
I am a fan of Barry’s work, of that there is no doubt, and I eagerly buy whatever his latest release is without hesitation. I don’t need to read the blurb or any reviews to know it will be original and entertaining and one thing more, that it will be packed with excellent writing.
The structure of his sentences, the humour – even in a gritty crime novel such as this – the vividly rich and varied characters that could walk off the pages they are so lifelike. I love it all. The ending is fabulous (no, don’t go and read it first, I know there are those among you who do that, which is both horrifying and one way to ruin a great story) and there’s just the merest hint there might be more to follow. This reader sincerely hopes that to be the case.
There’s a quote on the front cover that states it’s not for the squeamish, so as long as you’re not that I can’t think of any reason you wouldn’t enjoy this most excellent novel. Go on, spoil yourself.
I went straight to Amazon to buy this, not having known of its existence, but it’s only in paperbck – darn!!! I’d like to have the book on my shelf, but my ever-failing eyesight means I prefer to read on Kindle. Is ‘no ebooks’ a Mark0ism???! 😀
I think it might be! I’ve no idea what the reasoning is but maybe Mark will pass this way and let us know? 🙂 Thanks for investigating further anyway. 🙂