Hard Man is a non-stop, high impact, ‘in your face’ tale about crime and Edinburgh’s underworld. It leaves you feeling kind of emotionally drained and battered, but is impossible to put down. After the first chapter I was hooked and read it in almost one sitting. I am an avid crime fiction fan and extremely selective in what I read. Very few books tend to stay with me after I have finished them. This one will be fresh in my memory for a long time.
Without wanting to give the game away, Pearce, recently released from prison, is trying to get his life together and come to terms with his mum’s violent death. His hard man days are over. Then he is asked to protect a young woman from her violent husband, who has discovered she is pregnant with another man’s child. Pearce just isn’t interested. He wants to be left to walk his dog in peace. However, other people have different ideas and when his beloved dog goes missing, Pearce gets dragged into the wretched business.
Things are not all as they seem. Just when you think you have everything sussed, Guthrie introduces yet another twist – each one blacker and bloodier than the one before. Who is Dirk? What is Wallace doing with those planks of wood? Will Cutie Pie make it to the vet in time? Just who is the hardest hard man of all?
Read the book and find out!
A Polygon Paperback Original. Published 2007. ISBN 1846970040. 268pp. £9.99
