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HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd. 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF
First published by HarperCollinsPublishers 2009
Copyright © Stuart MacBride 2009
Cover design © HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2016 Type style © Blacksheep-uk.com Cover photograph © David Wyle/Getty Images
Stuart MacBride asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
This is a work of fiction. Any references to real people, living or dead, real events, businesses, organizations and localities are intended only to give the fiction a sense of reality and authenticity. All names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and their resemblance, if any, to real-life counterparts is entirely coincidental. The only exception to this are the characters Hilary Brander, Alexander (Zander) Clark, and Dave Goulding, who have given their express permission to be fictionalized in this volume. All behaviour, history, and character traits assigned to their fictional representations have been designed to serve the needs of the narrative and do not necessarily bear any resemblance to the real person.
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HarperCollinsPublishers has made every reasonable effort to ensure that any picture content and written content in this ebook has been included or removed in accordance with the contractual and technological constraints in operation at the time of publication
Source ISBN: 9780007342570
Ebook Edition © APRIL 2009 ISBN: 9780007322640
Version: 2017-10-05
‘Hard-hitting prose with a bone-dry humour and characters you can genuinely believe in, Stuart MacBride’s Logan McRae series of novels are a real treat’
SIMON KERNICK
‘Fierce, unflinching and shot through with the blackest of humour; this is crime fiction of the highest order by a writer whose dark star is most definitely on the rise’
MARK BILLINGHAM
‘If you’re looking for taut narrative, gut-churning incident, strong characterisation, all shot through with savagely dark humour, then look no further’
REGINALD HILL
‘Ferocious and funny’
VAL MCDERMID
‘Another brilliant, riveting police procedural. I’m green with envy!’
R D WINGFIELD, author of A Touch of Frost
‘The novel rattles along like a bolting horse and the dialogue crackles like a firework display … DI Steel should be declared a national treasure’
ANDREW TAYLOR, Spectator
‘Makes Ian Rankin’s noir seem blanc’
Observer
‘Cracking dialogue … a standout crime novel’
Metro
‘Grim, gritty and great fun’
Daily Sport
‘Riveting and gruesome’
Daily Telegraph
‘Stuart MacBride goes straight for the jugular with a tight, thrilling novel’
Glasgow Herald
‘A gritty, roller-coaster, in-your-face thriller’
Aberdeen Press and Journal
‘A cracking new writer on the crime scene who hooks you from the first page and never lets you go. The action is ferocious and the pace unrelenting’
Northern Echo
‘This is Ian Rankin on speed … the humour is black, the violence is apalling, the language is, well, realistic, the entertainment is unflagging. I hunger for the earlier novels’
Adelaide Review
For Scott and Christopher
Contents