When Private Investigator Charlie Cameron agrees to take on a cold case, he is drawn back into Glasgow’s dark underworld…
Glasgow PI Charlie Cameron knew Kim Rafferty was bad news the moment they met. Desperate people always spelled trouble in his experience, and Mrs. Rafferty was as desperate as they come. What she was asking for was insane. If he agreed to help the wife of the notorious East-End gangster, the consequences for them both could be fatal.
Twenty-four hours later, another betrayed woman with a hopeless case is pleading for Charlie’s help. The PI is her only chance to keep an innocent man from serving a second prison sentence for murders he didn’t commit.
Dennis Boyd is on the run, and as Charlie fights against the clock to keep him out of jail, he crosses a line that puts him on the wrong side of the law and pits him against his old friend and ally, DS Andrew Geddes.
As the body count grows, and the defense for his client falls apart bit by bit, Charlie refuses to accept the inevitable. But everyone has their limits – even the infamous Charlie Cameron. Will he be forced to admit that this case may be the one to beat him…
My Rating:
Favorite Quotes:
Secrets. Everybody had them. The only people who didn’t were six feet under.
He’d helped me more often than I could remember; he had a good heart. But if you wanted to find it, you had to be prepared to dig.
She stepped back to look at him. ‘How do you manage to stay in such good shape?’ ‘Clean living. Avoid it at all costs.’
She rummaged in her bag again with the enthusiasm of a panhandler, except the silver and gold she was after were dried leaves and paper. Diane inhaled hard enough to suck the oxygen from the room; when she spoke, there was smoke in her voice.
When it suited him, Andrew was a paid-up member of the Awkward Squad.
My Review:
Owen Mullen is a master storyteller but he must have a dark and dastardly soul as his well-crafted storylines were dripping with gripping intrigue while raw, gritty, and cringe-worthy with violence and twisted cruelty. I found I was flinching and needed to take it in stages and periodically put my kindle down and walk away. Finishing took me quite a bit longer than expected yet I couldn’t leave it alone. I was hooked, ensnared, and addled by my unrelenting curiosity as the clever wordsmith wasn’t giving anything away. I had to know the who, why, and how as his well-honed mystery seemed unsolvable. The little pea in my brain was working overtime and although my meager gray matter failed to crack it, the beleaguered yet persistent bloodhound Charlie Cameron came through. I was so proud of him I now feel compelled to read all the previous books in this series.
In addition to a new addiction for crime thrillers, I came away from this book with a new entry for my Brit Words and Phrases List with wide boy – which is British informal for a man earning a lot of money in a nefarious or illegal manner. Not at all the image I had pictured 😉
Owen Mullen is a highly regarded crime author who splits his time between Scotland and the island of Crete. In his earlier life, he lived in London and worked as a musician and session singer. He has now written seven books and his first gangland thriller for Boldwood, Family was published in January 2021.
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Great review, Has to be a good thriller if you need to walk away for a bit. In regards to Brit words – Wide Boy isn’t that well known of a phrase. The older generation will know it but the younger won’t have a clue as it isn’t something really said anymore, well not where I’m from anyway.
Ain’t that first quote the truth… Excellent review, as always.
Ah, this sounds intense. I could see myself enjoying this one.