Paying for It by Tony Black

Publisher: Preface, 2008
ISBN: 978-1-84809-021-7

First line: Funerals make my eyes water.

Gus Dury is an alcoholic on a downward spiral. He had a promising career as a journalist until he was involved in an unfortunate incident with a member of the Scottish parliament. With no job and no prospects, and his wife starting divorce proceedings, life looks much better through the bottom of glass.

When his mate Col’s twenty year old son, Billy, is killed, the official verdict is suicide. Col knows it was murder and asks Gus to investigate. Gus soon finds that Billy was working for a Russian gangster called Zalinskas and had got himself in way over his head.

As he delves deeper into Zalinskas' business dealings, Gus discovers a people-trafficking operation smuggling in girls from Eastern Europe to work in brothels, and uncovers police and political corruption at the highest levels. He is warned off a number of times, in increasingly violent ways. But Gus is not an easy man to intimidate, and he doggedly continues on to the shocking conclusion.

PAYING FOR IT is a terrific first novel from yet another Scottish crime writer. (What do they put in the water there?!) The Edinburgh that author Tony Black portrays is a very dark place, but it's not just the criminal underworld that is so dangerous and brutal. Flashbacks to Gus's horrendous childhood with an extremely violent and abusive father, show that home isn't always the safe place it should be.

Gus is a hard man with a smart mouth. He has a black humour, and his speech and thoughts are peppered with slang and classic noir-style metaphors. His character develops a depth and complexity that isn't immediately apparent, and despite all his faults, he is a likeable character. His life may be a complete mess, but underneath he's a decent, caring person and a loyal friend. He reminds me a lot of Ken Bruen's Jack Taylor.

I have one minor quibble – the constant naming of cigarette brands. It seemed every time Gus lit up (which was quite often) he smoked a different brand, and for some reason we had to be told this. However, although irritating, it didn't affect my overall enjoyment of the book.

With plenty of action, smart dialogue, a pacy plot, and a group of likeable characters, PAYING FOR IT is a splendid debut.

Tony Black is a journalist living in Edinburgh. He was born in Newcastle, NSW (hey, that's where I live!) but grew up in Scotland and Ireland. PAYING FOR IT is his first novel, and with the second, GUTTED, in the wings, hopefully this is just the beginning of a long series about Gus Dury.

For more information visit Tony Black's website.

Doors Open by Ian Rankin

Published: Orion, 2008
ISBN: 978-0-7528-9071-5

First line: The open door was only yards away, and beyond it lay the outside world, eerily unaffected by anything happening inside the abandoned snooker hall.

Mike Mackenzie is very rich and very bored, so when a friend suggests the perfect crime he is more than a little interested. Professor Robert Gissing, the head of the Art School, annoyed about the amount of art locked away from public view, in private collections and warehouses, proposes the “repatriation of some of those poor imprisoned works of art”.

Mike, Gissing and another friend, banker Allan Cruikshank, devise a plan to use the annual Doors Open day to steal a number of paintings from the National Gallery of Scotland's warehoused collection and make it appear that nothing is actually missing. As their plans begin to take shape they realise they are going to need some 'professional' help. A chance encounter with Chib Calloway, a local gangster and an old school acquaintance of Mike's, suddenly makes it all possible.

But it all starts to go very wrong when Mike finds he is much more deeply involved in the criminal world than he ever wanted to be. Bringing Chib into the plan may not have been such a good idea after all. But Chib is not their only worry – there's the dogged policeman, the talented but dangerously mischievous student, the greedy girlfriend, not to mention the very large Norwegian bikie called Hate.

DOORS OPEN is the eagerly awaited first post-Rebus book by Ian Rankin. It is not a totally new work, but a reworked and extended version of a serialised story originally written for the New York Times. Set in the Edinburgh art world, it is a very different environment to that inhabited by Rebus, however there are some common themes. The two faces of Edinburgh again feature strongly and the association of characters from both sides has echoes of Rebus and Cafferty, but Mike and Chib are quite different characters, and their relationship is very different as well.

While DOORS OPEN does not have the depth of the Rebus books, it is written with Rankin's usual flair, and so can't fail to entertain. It doesn't pretend to be anything other than what it is - a terrific fast paced thriller. Fairly lightweight but with a dark edge, the plot has enough twists and turns to make for a satisfying read. The book really comes into its own in the last third when it becomes much edgier, and I had trouble putting it down from that point. Much as I enjoyed this book, I'm hoping that Rankin was just using it as a palate cleanser before returning to something with a bit more substance.

Ian Rankin lives in Edinburgh and is the author of the wonderful Inspector Rebus series. More information can be found at Ian Rankin's website.

A Snowball in Hell by Christopher Brookmyre

Published: Little Brown, 2008
ISBN: 978-1-4087-0062-4
Pages: 393

First line: Ladies and gentlemen, roll up! Roll on up! Step inside!

Are you sick of reality tv? Tired of the endless parade of vapid ‘celebrities’ it creates? Simon Darcourt is, and his response to it is certainly turning (and in some cases, removing) heads. Darcourt, aka the Black Spirit, is a hired assassin who has been keeping a low profile ever since the spectacular failure of his last job. But now he's decided to come out of retirement, and with the help of the Internet, is creating quite a stir with his very own reality show, one that his celebrity contestants are literally dying to be part of.

With the body count rising, the police call in Detective Angelique de Xavia, formerly a Glasgow police officer who is now working with an anti-terrorism task force based in Paris. Angelique has crossed paths with Darcourt before and knows how dangerous he is. She also knows that if she is going to stop him, she is going to need help – the special kind of help only her old lover Zal Innez, bank robber and magician, can provide. But first she has to find him, and then keep him from being arrested.

A SNOWBALL IN HELL brings together characters from two of Brookmyre’s previous books, A BIG BOY DID IT AND RAN AWAY and THE SACRED ART OF STEALING in a story that is a witty, sharp and sarcastic poke at the cult of celebrity. Nothing is as it seems in this book, and just when you think you’ve finally figured out what’s really going on, Brookmyre pulls off another twist. Although it takes a while to set up all the characters and bring them together, the complex and pacy plot makes this darkly comic book a real page turner.

This is Brookmyre in full rant mode and his amusing diatribes on celebrity and media struck a chord with me. He seems to be one of those authors you either ‘get’ or you don’t, and if, like me, you are in the first category, then you’ll love this book. While reading this, I did start to wonder what sort of person Brookmyre had turned me into, as I at times found myself rather guiltily cheering on Darcourt and laughing at some very gruesome, albeit imaginative, murders!

Christopher Brookmyre’s website is well worth a look.