Anatomy of a Hit: A Glasgow Trilogy Short Story

Praise for Malcolm Mackay's Glasgow Trilogy, including The Necessary Death of Lewis Winter, How a Gunman Says Goodbye and The Sudden Arrival of Violence: ‘A very auspicious debut, this is an amazing novel, incredibly gripping from the first page to the last. A vivid portrait of the Glasgow underworld, it’s completely hypnotic . . . like the great writers, people like Elmore Leonard, Mackay paints really vivid portraits of his characters . . . a really unique voice’ Mark Billingham ‘A really clever multi-viewpoint novel about the Glasgow underworld . . . it will appeal to people who like to have a bit of a think as well as being entertained. The Necessary Death of Lewis Winter was a real revelation, a real find for me’ Kate Mosse ‘A dark, rich, brutal thriller . . . it absolutely captivates you. The Necessary Death of Lewis Winter is more than a page turner, it’s a page ripper. For a debut novel this sparkles, this zings, it leaps off the page. If you like Ian Rankin, if you like Stuart MacBride, if you like Val McDermid, Denise Mina – Malcolm Mackay is right up there’ Peter James ‘Glasgow’s a tough city and this is a tough book . . . very authentic, very gritty, you can really feel the streets. They call this genre Tartan Noir and absolutely [The Necessary Death of Lewis Winter] is a first class member of that’ Lee Child ’How a Gunman Says Goodbye is even better than its remarkable predecessor . . . The author is already being hailed as a new star of tartan noir and if the third book in this trilogy can maintain the impetus of the first two the existing clan of Scottish writers may have to look to their laurels’ Daily Express ‘There aren’t too many crime novels that take the reader into the mind, such as it is, of a hit man . . . This is a truly exceptional debut’ Independent ‘Mackay ratchets up the tension like a master, and his ability to create rounded characters makes his book, despite its dark subject matter, a breath of fresh air’ Daily Telegraph ‘Remarkable . . . ‘tartan noir’ will have a new star’ Daily Mail ‘I finished it almost in a sitting. The prose is spare and taut and pulls the reader into the minds of the disparate characters. This is beautifully and truthfully written with the deceptive simplicity of a fine short story’ Ann Cleeves, creator of VERA ‘Written with persuasive authority, The Necessary Death of Lewis Winter is cool, laconic and very enjoyable. I look forward eagerly to the second novel in the trilogy’ Allan Massie ‘A remarkably original debut . . . Mackay turns each of his characters into real people – people with interests and back stories and all the small, inconsequential things that make up a life – and ends up with a wholly believable and unnerving portrait of organised crime’ Observer ‘Brutal, witty and well-written . . . a brilliant debut’ Sunday Telegraph