Breakers
4/5
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About this ebook
SHORTLISTED for the McIlvanney Prize for Scottish Crime Book of the Year
***BOOK OF THE YEAR in SCOTSMAN***
'It's a lovely, sad tale, beautifully told and full of understanding' The Times
'The most powerful and moving book from Johnstone yet – a calling card that no-one can ignore' Scotsman
'A cracking story, great characters ... it's also about something and really addresses the "whys" of crime' Mark Billingham
'This may be Doug Johnstone's best book yet. An unsparing yet sympathetic depiction of Edinburgh's ignored underclass, with terrific characterisation. Tense, pacey, filmic' Ian Rankin
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There are two sides to every family...
Seventeen-year-old Tyler lives in one of Edinburgh's most deprived areas. Coerced into robbing rich people's homes by his bullying older siblings, he's also trying to care for his little sister and his drug-addict mum.
On a job, his brother Barry stabs a homeowner and leaves her for dead, but that's just the beginning of their nightmare, because the woman is the wife of Edinburgh's biggest crime lord, Deke Holt.
With the police and the Holts closing in, and his shattered family in devastating danger, Tyler meets posh girl Flick in another stranger's house, and he thinks she may just be his salvation ... unless he drags her down too.
_________________
'It's as psychologically rich as it is harrowing. I've come to expect nothing less from Doug Johnstone, one of the genre's premiere writers' Megan Abbott
'Breakers again shows that Doug Johnstone is a noir heavyweight and a master of gritty realism. This may be his finest novel yet' Willy Vlautin
'Doug Johnstone is for me the perfect free-range writer, respectful of conventions but never bound by them, never hemmed-in. Each book is a different world, each book something new in this world' James Sallis
'Bloody brilliant ... This is premier league crime writing' Martyn Waites
'A tough, gritty and effective ride into the dark side of Edinburgh' Douglas Skelton
'Pacy, harrowing and occasionally brutal ...had me in tears at the end...' Paddy Magrane
'The tale is both horrifying and uplifting, and one of those books I looked forward to picking up each time I had a moment to read ... I hope it does as well as it deserves to' James Oswald
'Oh. My. God. This was sooo good. Read it in two days. Gripping, dark, fast, but still somehow full of heart' Louise Beech
'A brooding, intensely dark thriller with a defiant beating heart. Evocative, heartbreaking and hopeful – the power of the human spirit to shine in the most desperate place ... STUNNING' Miranda Dickinson
Doug Johnstone
Doug Johnstone is the author of Twelve novels, most recently The Great Silence, the third in the Skelfs series, which has been optioned for TV. In 2021, The Big Chill, the second in the series, was longlisted for the Theakston’s Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year. In 2020, A Dark Matter, the first in the series, was shortlisted for the McIlvanney Prize for Scottish Crime Novel of the Year and the Capital Crime Amazon Publishing Independent Voice Book of the Year award. Black Hearts (Book four), will be published in 2022. Several of his books have been bestsellers and award winners, and his work has been praised by the likes of Val McDermid, Irvine Welsh and Ian Rankin. He’s taught creative writing and been writer in residence at various institutions, and has been an arts journalist for twenty years. Doug is a songwriter and musician with five albums and three EPs released, and he plays drums for the Fun Lovin’ Crime Writers, a band of crime writers. He’s also player-manager of the Scotland Writers Football Club. He lives in Edinburgh.
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Reviews for Breakers
3 ratings1 review
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Breakers – Not the picturesque side of EdinburghWhen people talk about Edinburgh they talk of the Royal Mile, the castle, Arthurs seat and the fringe every August. With all that beauty around, people tend to forget the other side, the forgotten, and the sink estates. Doug Johnson brings to life the forgotten and never mentioned side of Edinburgh, where life is hard, and it is dog eat dog.Tyler has enough on his plate, seventeen, still at school, caring for his younger sister and his drink and drug ravaged mother. His elder brother Barry, and sister Kelly have bullied him and coerced him into robbing the houses of those richer than themselves. He could not say no to Barry, as he was handy with his fists, both he and Kelly carried the marks to prove it.One night, both Barry and Kelly are high on cocaine, and it shows, when they pick a rather nice house, no alarm, no lights on and more importantly, detached. Things do not go well on the job, when Barry stabs the homeowner when she returns home. Out of guilt Tyler calls an ambulance for her, and this plays on his mind. What he did not realise that this job will turn into a living nightmare, Barry has stabbed the wife of Deke Holt the biggest crime lord in Edinburgh.When Tyler hears who it is Barry stabbed, he bunks school and goes for a wander round the posher parts of Edinburgh, when after breaking into a house he meets Flick. Flick is the opposite of Tyler, private school, someone he finds it easy to talk too. Will she be his salvation, or will his family drag Flick down with the rest of them?Doug Johnson delivers a beautiful, horrifying and off the scale thriller. There is no dragging the story out, over 200 pages, he delivers an engrossing thriller, which some cannot do at 400 pages. Johnson reveals how some of the poorest live, and it is not a pretty sight, these the forgotten are trying the best they can. Unfortunately think that crime is the only way, along with the drugs to try and forget where you live and what your real situation is. At the same time the story is intense, while pulsating proving why he is not only one of Scotland’s but the UK’s top thriller writers.Once you start Breakers you will want to finish in one sitting, and hope, that there is a better outcome for Tyler and Bean, but the only way to find out is to read their story.