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Title details for The Night the Rich Men Burned by Angus King - Available

The Night the Rich Men Burned

by Angus King
Malcolm Mackay
Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
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1 of 1 copy available
Oliver Peterkinney and Alex Glass, two friends from Glasgow's desperate fringes, become involved in one of the city's darkest and most dangerous trades: debt collection. While one rises quickly through the ranks, the other falls prey to the industry's addictive lifestyle, accumulating steep debts of his own.
Meanwhile, the three most powerful rivals in the business — Marty Jones, ruthless pimp; Potty Cruickshank, member of the old guard; and Billy Patterson, brutal newcomer — vie for prominence. And now Peterkinney, young and darkly ambitious, is beginning to make himself known.
Before long, violence will spill out onto the streets, as those at the top make deadly attempts to outmaneuver one another for a bigger share of the spoils. Peterkinney and Glass will find themselves at the very center of this war; as the pressure builds, each will find their actions — and inactions — coming back to haunt them. But it is those they love who will suffer most . . .
The Night the Rich Men Burned is a novel for our times, and Mackay's most ambitious work to date, proving that in Glasgow's criminal underworld, there's nothing so terrifying as money.
"Malcolm Mackay has created his own world." — The Sunday Times [UK]"A sharp-edged morality play delivered with the relentless intensity of machine gunfire." — Library Journal

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    May 3, 2016

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9781478964414
      • File size: 340639 KB
      • Duration: 11:49:39

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Publisher's Weekly

      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.

    • AudioFile Magazine
      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
    • Booklist

      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.)

    • Library Journal

      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.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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