An offbeat love story / hard-boiled thriller from an award-winning author,featuring a reluctant hitman, hookers galore, pimps, bikers, bandits, an Italian-Welsh rock god, corrupt cops, and creepy gardeners.
Industry Reviews
If you're easily offended by swear words and very strong language then you should probably move on right away because this is a book that will leave you reaching for the nearest bin, muttering about the state of society, and pitying the poor mother of young Llwyd Owen. This author is not a man bound by subtlety of subject! Opening with a particularly brutal murder scene with echoes of the wonderfully descriptive Niall Griffiths at his finest skull-crushing moments, this book has everything that has made the seedy underbelly of Wales such a compelling subject in some contemporary fiction: torture scenes so graphic they cause involuntary retina spasms, prostitutes dripping rancid with disease, and ghastly, fetid characters who lurk in the shadows, so full of hate, self-loathing and cruelty that you struggle to imagine them owning a heart But dont run away with the idea that Owen has simply painted an exotic portrait of pain and misery merely for effect. Amidst all this glorious gore, a carefully crafted plotline appears succulent storylines wending their way inextricably together, asking a lot of difficult and searching questions of the reader. The key characters have an almost cavernous depth to them, with protagonist Tubbs an excellent example of a conflicted character whose difficult emotional background invites readers to hate, love, pity and celebrate in almost equal measure. And it is exactly with these evocative characters, the effortless storylines that melt together with every enthusiastic page-turn and a bottle full of pure unadulterated filth that Llwyd has crafted something that comes deliciously close to a modern classic. Only occasionally letting himself down with dialect that at rare moments stutters from his characters in less-than-entirely-believable manner, this is a spellbinding novel and one I would heartily recommend! Not everyone deserves a happy ending warns the front cover Yeah, sure, but Llwyd Owen certainly does! Jack Clothier It is possible to use this review for promotional purposes, but the following acknowledgment should be included: A review from www.gwales.com, with the permission of the Welsh Books Council. Gellir defnyddio'r adolygiad hwn at bwrpas hybu, ond gofynnir i chi gynnwys y gydnabyddiaeth ganlynol: Adolygiad oddi ar www.gwales.com, trwy ganiatd Cyngor Llyfrau Cymru. -- Welsh Books Council