The Night the Rich Men Burned

March 28, 2016
Set in Glasgow, Mackay’s gritty, complex crime thriller centers on childhood friends Oliver Peterkinney and Alex Glass. Both 19 and jobless, Oliver and Alex agree to rough up a man for sleazy moneylender Marty Jones, who’s known for his wild parties. As Alex’s attention is diverted by a prostitute named Ella, Oliver rises in the ranks, eventually branching out on his own in the less than legal world of debt collecting. Trouble brews elsewhere as competing members of Glasgow’s older breed of criminals, men like Ronald “Potty” Cruickshank and Alex MacArthur, struggle to hold on to their places in a changing world when ruthless new blood like Billy Patterson and even kids like Oliver start staking claims. But in the end, this poisonous life “kills the good people first, then the bad,” and Mackay (The Sudden Arrival of Violence) skillfully blurs the line between the two until the characters are all just people, fighting to survive another day. Agent: Grainne Fox, Fletcher & Company.

Narrator Angus King gives credible voices to a whole cast of hardened Glasgow men. Two old school friends, unable to find work, are drawn into the world of debt collecting and gunrunning. Alex Glass gets them their first job but soon flounders, falling into addiction, while Oliver Peterkinney, who is quick to see all the angles, is soon stepping on more established toes and leaving his friend behind. King can be as gritty as it takes but also manages the nonchalant tone the writing requires. The story is well plotted--shocks and surprises abound. But be warned, these are not nice people! C.A.T. © AudioFile 2016, Portland, Maine

May 1, 2016
Tom Wolfe claimed the best way to get close to criminals is to treat them like businessmen, because that's how they see themselves. Maybe that's why stretches of Mackay's fine novel read like a how-to for goons on the way up. These Glasgow men, members of the collection industry, go on about the requirements for success, stressing the need for good manners and for two business offices, one for show and one for work. Around the self-help is the powerful story of two close friends, young men drawn to this violent world of debt collection by the quick money and gaudy life. Oliver fits in right off. On his way to the top, he shows the stone killers a thing or two. Alex has a nicer side. Though handy with a knifeas he demonstrates in one shocking scenehis conscience is tearing him apart. Of course, the two are on a collision course, and Mackay's narrative gathers force as it proceeds, like an avalanche. The action finale, when it comes, is heartrending as well as violent.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)

December 1, 2015

Two Glasgow down-and-outs try to improve their prospects by entering the dark-and-dirty debt collection trade, with one succeeding and the other succumbing to the trade's indulgent lifestyle. A study of crime and social milieu from the author of the "Glasgow Trilogy"; with a 40,000-copy first printing.

Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.