Loss

Gus Dury is a changed man. He is off the Edinburgh streets and back with estranged wife, Debs. He has promised her that he won't get involved in any more dodgy cases which the police can't or won't solve. And above all, he's off the drink. In his pocket at all times is a half bottle of Scotch, but although the label is worn to shreds, he has never so much as loosened the cap. Then his brother Michael is found dead with a bullet in his heart and Gus' life begins to unravel all over again. How can he keep the promises he has made and still avenge his brother's murder? Praise for LOSS: "Tony Black is my favourite British crime writer and Gus Dury the genre's most interesting protagonist. Like his previous books, Loss has the power, style and street swagger that makes most of his contemporaries a little bland by comparison." -Irvine Welsh "Tony Black has written two of the finest crime novels to come out of the UK in the past twenty years and I'm willing to bet that in twenty years, Paying for It and Gutted will be on the top ten list of any crime list. But now comes Loss... Phew-oh... It's like having yer ass kicked and yer heart shrived simultaneously. What a privilege to watch a master writer achieve everything you'd hoped for and then some." -Ken Bruen "Tony Black delivers a story with a hard edge and fast-moving action. In this third book, he yet again produces a story that never lets up and delivers a superb book that you just can't put down. I can't wait for the next instalment of Gus Dury." -EuroCrime "A brilliant, sweeping and heartbreaking novel, Black truly deserves your attention." -International Thriller Writers "As washed-up private detectives go, Gus Dury is compelling-he's as hard as any criminal and twice as self-destructive." -Evening Standard "This is modern crime at its most brutal, its most affecting, its most honest and its most intelligent." -Russel D McLean, author of Do Some Damage "Black writes about urban blight and the curse of alcohol like no other, but his down at heel tales are also full of everyday humour. Harrowing but indispensable." -Maxim Jakubowski Praise for Tony Black: "Tony Black is one of those excellent perpetrators of Scottish noir...a compelling and convincing portrayer of raw emotions in a vicious milieu."- The Times "If you're a fan of the Ian Rankins, Denise Minas and Irvine Welshes of this world, this is most certainly one for you."- Scotsman "Black renders his nicotine-stained domain in a hardboiled slang that fizzles with vicious verisimilitude."- The Guardian "Ripping, gutsy prose and a witty wreck of a protagonist makes this another exceptionally compelling, bright and even original thriller."- The Mirror "This up-and-coming crime writer isn't portraying the Edinburgh in the Visit Scotland tourism ads."- The Sun "Comparisons with Rebus will be obvious. But that would be too easy... Black has put his defiant, kick-ass stamp on his leading man, creating a character that deftly carries the story through every razor-sharp twist and harrowing turn."- Daily Record