Winner of the Spinetingler Award for Best Novel (Rising Star) and short-listed for the Last Laugh Award, BAD MEN is "... the most extraordinary white-knuckle ride of violent chaos and deathly dark humour I have ever come across" - The Herald
First published under the title HARD MAN and described by critics as 'a Grand Guignol masterpiece', 'a Buster Keaton movie with bloodshed' and 'an updated and X-rated version of Hamlet', BAD MEN is a blackly comic over-the-top crime novel for readers with a strong stomach and a robust sense of humour.
Edinburgh hard man, Pearce, just wants to be left alone. But the Baxter family has other ideas. When 16-year-old May Baxter gets on the wrong side of her psycho husband, Wallace, Pearce is invited to protect her. At first he declines. But then things start to get personal...
WHAT THEY'RE SAYING
"Brutal, violent, Edinburgh-based, hard-boiled, dark tale of the criminal underworld, dysfunctional families, senseless violence and bad men. It rips along - utterly unputdownable."
- Lovereading.com Book Of The Month
"Dark, twisted, violent, and brilliant"
- Stuart MacBride, #1 best-selling author of BIRTHDAYS FOR THE DEAD
"By turns hilarious and horrifying, Guthrie's original voice grabs the reader and doesn't let go."
- Kirkus Review
"Scorched earth writing. A hurtling, high-wire ballet of hard-boiled violence. The last two-thirds of BAD MEN is one screaming aria. Riveting, nasty, dark, violent and utterly compelling. I couldn't put it down."
- Denise Hamilton, best-selling author of DAMAGE CONTROL.
"one of the most hilarious and gruesome crime novels it has ever been my pleasure to read"
- Good Reading Magazine
"an Edinburgh festival of lip-smacking gruesomeness and black comedy, where every light at the end of the tunnel is an oncoming train."
- Val McDermid, best-selling author of THE RETRIBUTION
"Chandler meets Titus Andronicus on the blasted heath of Scotland's urban underclass."
- The Age
"The characters of Allan Guthrie's BAD MEN suffer all the consequences that pluck and thick-skulled stupidity can bring upon them, and Guthrie describes it all with skill, wit, and originality: I promise this is a story you haven't read before."
- Thomas Perry, Edgar Award Winning author of METGER'S DOG
"If this novel had emerged from a high school creative writing class its young author would now be under heavily guarded psychiatric care."
- San Francisco Chronicle
"BAD MEN is one of those books that takes your breath away - at once viciously funny and surprisingly tender, rich on character and yet with a whiplash violence that roars off the page, relentlessly entertaining but with an unexpected emotional resonance that lingers long after its final lines."
- Megan Abbott, best-selling author of DARE ME
"a thoroughly engaging tale, complete with some twists that are so stealthily deployed they're pure genius."
- Spinetingler Magazine
"If you're looking at this book wondering if you should buy it, let me save you some trouble: Buy it." - Duane Swierzcynski, Anthony Award Winning author of EXPIRATION DATE
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Allan Guthrie is an award-winning Scottish crime writer. His debut novel, TWO-WAY SPLIT, was shortlisted for the CWA Debut Dagger award and went on to win the Theakston's Crime Novel Of The Year. He is the author of four other novels: KISS HER GOODBYE (nominated for an Edgar), BAD MEN (aka HARD MAN), SAVAGE NIGHT and SLAMMER and three novellas: KILL CLOCK , KILLING MUM and BYE BYE BABY, a Top Ten Kindle Bestseller. He's also co-founder of digital publishing company, Blasted Heath, and a literary agent with Jenny Brown Associates.
Genre: Mystery
First published under the title HARD MAN and described by critics as 'a Grand Guignol masterpiece', 'a Buster Keaton movie with bloodshed' and 'an updated and X-rated version of Hamlet', BAD MEN is a blackly comic over-the-top crime novel for readers with a strong stomach and a robust sense of humour.
Edinburgh hard man, Pearce, just wants to be left alone. But the Baxter family has other ideas. When 16-year-old May Baxter gets on the wrong side of her psycho husband, Wallace, Pearce is invited to protect her. At first he declines. But then things start to get personal...
WHAT THEY'RE SAYING
"Brutal, violent, Edinburgh-based, hard-boiled, dark tale of the criminal underworld, dysfunctional families, senseless violence and bad men. It rips along - utterly unputdownable."
- Lovereading.com Book Of The Month
"Dark, twisted, violent, and brilliant"
- Stuart MacBride, #1 best-selling author of BIRTHDAYS FOR THE DEAD
"By turns hilarious and horrifying, Guthrie's original voice grabs the reader and doesn't let go."
- Kirkus Review
"Scorched earth writing. A hurtling, high-wire ballet of hard-boiled violence. The last two-thirds of BAD MEN is one screaming aria. Riveting, nasty, dark, violent and utterly compelling. I couldn't put it down."
- Denise Hamilton, best-selling author of DAMAGE CONTROL.
"one of the most hilarious and gruesome crime novels it has ever been my pleasure to read"
- Good Reading Magazine
"an Edinburgh festival of lip-smacking gruesomeness and black comedy, where every light at the end of the tunnel is an oncoming train."
- Val McDermid, best-selling author of THE RETRIBUTION
"Chandler meets Titus Andronicus on the blasted heath of Scotland's urban underclass."
- The Age
"The characters of Allan Guthrie's BAD MEN suffer all the consequences that pluck and thick-skulled stupidity can bring upon them, and Guthrie describes it all with skill, wit, and originality: I promise this is a story you haven't read before."
- Thomas Perry, Edgar Award Winning author of METGER'S DOG
"If this novel had emerged from a high school creative writing class its young author would now be under heavily guarded psychiatric care."
- San Francisco Chronicle
"BAD MEN is one of those books that takes your breath away - at once viciously funny and surprisingly tender, rich on character and yet with a whiplash violence that roars off the page, relentlessly entertaining but with an unexpected emotional resonance that lingers long after its final lines."
- Megan Abbott, best-selling author of DARE ME
"a thoroughly engaging tale, complete with some twists that are so stealthily deployed they're pure genius."
- Spinetingler Magazine
"If you're looking at this book wondering if you should buy it, let me save you some trouble: Buy it." - Duane Swierzcynski, Anthony Award Winning author of EXPIRATION DATE
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Allan Guthrie is an award-winning Scottish crime writer. His debut novel, TWO-WAY SPLIT, was shortlisted for the CWA Debut Dagger award and went on to win the Theakston's Crime Novel Of The Year. He is the author of four other novels: KISS HER GOODBYE (nominated for an Edgar), BAD MEN (aka HARD MAN), SAVAGE NIGHT and SLAMMER and three novellas: KILL CLOCK , KILLING MUM and BYE BYE BABY, a Top Ten Kindle Bestseller. He's also co-founder of digital publishing company, Blasted Heath, and a literary agent with Jenny Brown Associates.
Genre: Mystery
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