The Necessary Death of Lewis Winter

February 16, 2015
British author Mackay makes his U.S. debut with the dark first in his Glasgow trilogy. A powerful Glasgow boss, Peter Jamieson, hires Calum MacLean, a freelance hit man, to take out Lewis Winter, a smalltime drug dealer who has stepped on some dangerous toes. While 29-year-old Calum is a familiar type, a tough loner with few meaningful human connections, Mackay makes him oddly sympathetic. All the characters, from a police detective investigating a murder to Winter’s opportunistic girlfriend, come across as three-dimensional. The author also does a good job de-romanticizing the life of the hit man, capturing the dullness of Calum’s days as he goes through his preparations for the job. Understated dialogue shows that the characters know how to read what is not said, as well as what is said. Mackay doesn’t break any new ground, but tartan noir fans will be satisfied. Agent: Grainne Fox, Fletcher & Company.

November 1, 2014

Mackay's "Glasgow Trilogy" has received mostly raves since its first volume, The Necessary Death of Lewis Winter, appeared in the UK in 2013; that book was short-listed for the Crime Writers' Association (CWA) John Creasey New Blood Dagger Award and long-listed for the CWA Steel Dagger Book of the Year Award. The trilogy focuses on turf wars among the various criminal organizations swarming Glasgow's underworld.

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from April 1, 2015

Already a hit in Britain, this first installment in Mackay's "Glasgow Trilogy"--Mulholland is publishing the second and third volumes, How a Gunman Says Goodbye and The Sudden Arrival of Violence, simultaneously--is a welcome, hard-hitting addition to the tartan noir genre. In the violent criminal underworld of Glasgow, it's imperative to know your place and stay there. Otherwise you might find yourself on the wrong side of a man like Calum MacLean. A freelance killer of sorts, he's currently working for the powerful Peter Jamieson, tasked with taking out the titular Lewis Winter, a small-time drug dealer who's usurping Jamieson's turf. Unlike a typical whodunit, the story features a killer whose identity is never in question. But Mackay ratchets up the suspense by introducing a wide cast of characters, from the cool, detached MacLean and the surprisingly sympathetic Winter trying to please his gold digger girlfriend to the cops, both straight and dirty, tasked with investigating the murder. VERDICT To loosely paraphrase Mackay (and Raymond Chandler), it's easy to write a crime novel; it's hard to write a crime novel well. And this unrelenting look at the grimy underbelly of Glasgow's criminal underworld does it very well. [See Prepub Alert, 11/1/14.]

Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.