Glasgow Underworld

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 out-maneuver 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.

From the award-winning author of The Glasgow Trilogy comes Every Night I Dream of Hell, a dark and thrilling Glaswegian crime drama. Nate Colgan would be the first to admit that his violent reputation makes him very good at his job--and bad at everything else. After eighteen years spent working on the sidelines of Glasgow's criminal underworld, there's no question he'll accept the central position that Peter Jamieson's organization offers him, despite his better judgment. The organization isn't as strong as it once was: its most powerful members are either dead or behind bars, including Jamieson himself, and the time is ripe for change. Chang begins with an execution--a message for Jamieson's supporters--which promptly sets the various factions within the organization against one another. Colgan's position as "security consultant" means his duty is clear: identify the killer and find out who's willing to seize power, even if it means igniting a war. Meanwhile, on the other side of the law, DI Michael Fisher conducts his own investigation into the murder. Both men can't help but wonder: Why do these events coincide with the return of Zara Cope, the mother of Colgan's child, a disreputable woman with an uncanny ability to attract trouble and troublemakers? A dark and thrilling crime drama, Every Night I Dream of Hell takes us deep into a world of violence, fear and double-crosses.

Martin Sivok is in trouble. Tied to a chair, plastic strips biting his wrists, inside a deserted warehouse. . . There are only so many ways this scenario can end, most of them badly. For now his best hope is figuring out who put him here--and staying conscious long enough to confront them. To stay awake he reviews the past year of his life: evading the law in the Czech Republic by running to Glasgow, settling into a borderline respectable relationship with his landlady, and getting back into the life at the very bottom of the criminal ladder, alongside Usman Kassar, a cocky, goofy kid anxious to prove himself. The job should be simple: Smash heads, grab cash, run. The trouble with being two outsiders is, you don't always know whose heads are too dangerous to crack, or whose cash is too hot to handle... In sharp, precise prose, Malcolm Mackay captures the character of Glasgow and its underworld denizens.