Jay Stringer (2) (1980–)

Glasgow, present day. It may seem like a big city but turns out if you’re living a life that’s just slightly left of centre, you probably know someone who knows someone. In this case, it’s six degrees of hit man Fergus Fletcher.

You see, Fergus was hired by professional fixer Joe Pepper to kill a politician. Unfortunately the pol was “entertaining” a young woman named Paula who’d been sent there by Cal Gibson, son of hard man Mike Gibson. No worries…..nothing Fergus & Joe show more can’t clean up.
Now Fergus can concentrate on his next job. Alex Pennan has hired him to make it look as if he died so he can disappear with money he’s embezzled from a cartel. It’s a bit of a poser….kind of an un-hit.
But it could open up a whole new line of work. He’s been having a wee existential crisis lately concerning his career & realizes how alone he is. Maybe he should try one of those online dating things…..

Sam Ireland supplements her PI business by running a courier service. After picking up a package from some girl named Paula, she gets a couple of new cases. Mrs. Pennan would like to know if her husband is cheating on her. And local gangster Mike Gibson needs her to find his idiot son Cal. So business is good. She’s just a bit distracted because she recently downloaded a dating app & there’s this guy named Fergus……

Let the games begin. And just a tip: you may find venn diagrams useful. It’s a grab bag of criminals, politicians (redundant?), cops & lawyers providing a backdrop for love, Glasgow style. Characters take turns narrating chapters in Stringer’s trademark economical & witty dialogue. Those written in Glaswegian vernacular are particularly hilarious. The numerous connections between them leave you wondering who’s on the same side & who will walk away.

Make no mistake, this is not a cozy. Sooner or later they all get sucked into the blood thirsty power struggle for the city. It’s obvious early on some of these people won’t survive although in a few cases it shakes your faith in Darwin that they’ve made it this far. Just sit back & enjoy the mayhem as they lie, steal & crash their way around the city.

Several characters pop up in previous books. We met Sam in “Ways to Die in Glasgow”. And stoner Cal was featured in short story “The Goldfish Heist”, where he bravely took on a rogue koi fish.
It’s kind of the literary equivalent of a Tarantino movie where scenes elicit gasps of horror & inappropriate laughter. And like the movies, it won’t be for everyone. But if you’re a fan of smart, intricate plots & tartan noir humour, you’re in for a treat. Please, please let there be a book #3. show less

I didn't like this quite as much as 'Ways to Die in Glasgow', but it's still massively entertaining. Sam Ireland returns as a really engaging, credible hero, and hit man Fergus is a great addition (he's reminiscent of my very favourite fictional assassin, Martin Blank). This is a crime novel that plays out like a farce, with multiple characters all following their own agendas as the coincidences and consequences build wonderfully around them. It's a pleasure to read from beginning to end, show more with a solid plot, some great one liners and loads of film references that never seem over done or annoying. show less

You may also read my review here: http://www.mybookishways.com/2012/07/early-review-old-gold-by-jay-stringer.html

Former cop Eoin Miller is good at finding people. He’s fresh off the tail of a someone that owes a dangerous man money when he sees Mary for the first time, nursing a vodka at the local pub. Drawn to her immediately, he finds out that Mary thinks that someone is trying to kill her. Mary goes home with Eoin, and after a night of, well, sleep (him on the couch downstairs, and her show more upstairs), he wakes up to find her dead, strangled with his tie, with needle tracks in her arm. There’s no sign of a needle, which just compounds the fact that a stranger has been in his home, and murdered Mary. Instead of going to the police, however, Eoin flees, holing up in a flat owned by the Mann brothers and sets out to find out who killed Mary, because he knows that if he doesn’t, he’ll surely be framed for her murder. Not only that, but Eoin just hates a mystery. It also doesn’t help matters that a good friend from the police force is breathing down his neck to find the missing son of one of the brass. Yep, Eoin Miller has a lot piled on his plate, and the pile is about to get higher.

Eoin Miller is a rolling stone, picking up trouble wherever he goes. Seriously, the man has a nose for liars, two rival drug families on his back, and a body following him around. The man is like a Timex. You know, takes a lickin’, etc… Like I said, he can’t stand a mystery, and his need to solve it is even stronger than the lure of the pub, or the increasing lure of his ex-wife, who happens to be a cop on her way up. Luckily, he’s still got an in at the police, even though his Gypsy blood was a constant bane to him while on the force, but motives seem to be increasingly contradictory, and the body count is growing. As he navigates the politics of two powerful families that each want a piece of him, and chases his suspicions and mounting clues, he also has to deal with some powerful demons of his own. Leaving the force and the failure of his marriage have taken a toll, and although his heart is in the right place, his head often isn’t. He’s spent his life as an outsider, and it’s perhaps because of this that so many people just to the left of the law, especially at risk kids, seem to trust him, and this will come in handy. Eoin Miller is my kind of hero, firmly in the grey, but with a heart of, well, gold, and maybe just a tad too much trust to give. I like his vulnerability, though, and his melancholy. It makes things even more heart wrenching when people and situations go south, and boy, do they. There were about a dozen times when I thought I knew where things were going here, and I was wrong just about every time. Eoin may be vulnerable, but you really shouldn’t underestimate him. His sharp mind and brash tendencies carry him through some pretty sticky situations, and the violence he inflicts is never casual, although plenty of casual violence is inflicted on him. There’s a jaw dropper of a twist in this one, and it sneaks up on you, as the best twists do. This is a helluva good book and a helluva debut. I can’t wait for the next one! show less

This was my first read with the Scottish city of Glasgow as the setting, and the location felt as much part of the story as the characters thanks to the author's descriptions. This is a dark story, with a lot of blood, told in a quirkily humorous way. All the characters are well etched and that of Mackie's is in a league of its own. The action is fast paced and the perspective of the narrative shifts frequently. While this makes the book gripping, I had some trouble getting the timelines in show more order - had to go back and reread some chapters.
Ways to Die in Glasgow is a quirky but entertaining read and I would love to follow through the series. show less