book cover of Paperboy
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Paperboy

(2025)
(The second book in the Ally McCoist series)
A novel by

 
 
The dark, rawly comic follow-up to the winner of the McIlvanney Prize for best Scottish crime book of the year.
'A serious talent' Kevin Bridges
'Inventive and witty, with a nerve-shredding finale' Chris Brookmyre
'An outstanding new writer who is destined to become a very big name' Peter James
DCI Alison McCoist is back: newly promoted and even less popular.
Chuck Gardner is the proud owner of both a confidential paper-shredding business and a serious betting habit.
When Chuck finds some scandalous paperwork and McCoist investigates a rat-nibbled corpse under a flyover, they are both sucked into a deadly stramash of gangland wars and police corruption.
Can Chuck solve his gambling and gangster problems before some head-banger feeds him into his own shredder? And can McCoist claw herself out of this latest shitemire without her own shady dealings coming to light? It might depend on how far she's prepared to go...



Genre: Mystery

Praise for this book

"Shows off McSorley's confident street-humour, deft plotting and frequently surprising turns of phrase. The energy coming off this book is enough to power you through any number of late nights. The most fun you can have at a crime scene." - Alan Bissett

"McSorley consolidates his status among crime fiction's rising stars. Paperboy is energetic, inventive and witty, laying on the tension as it builds to a nerve-shredding finale." - Chris Brookmyre

"Callum McSorley has done it again! Paperboy is a wickedly funny return to Glasgow's underbelly, where the city's renowned wit nestles alongside brutal violence. The beleaguered DCI Alison McCoist is again the perfect protagonist and McSorley is a master of the hapless character drawn into criminal chaos... I can't wait for the next instalment. Cracking!" - Heather Critchlow

"Magnificent metaphors; dialogue that skips across the page; McCoist with her smart mouth and predilection of getting smashed around the face-there's nothing I didn't love about this brilliant book. The most fun you can have with an industrial paper shredder." - Sam Holland

"A deliciously gruesome, darkly comic and twisty piece of work. McSorley's Glasgow is an irresistibly dangerous world full of characters you won't easily forget." - Tom Newlands

"Just when you're thinking Squeaky Clean is probably the perfect crime novel, along comes Paperboy. The biggest laughs, the seediest urban underbelly, the most irreparably flawed yet inexorably engaging cast." - Sofia Slater

"Had me laughing out loud one moment and gritting my teeth the next. It's dark, delicious and desperately funny. If Paperboy was a stick of rock it would have Glasgow's Underworld running right through the middle. Bring on the next anarchic outing for DCI McCoist." - Marion Todd

"Absolutely loved Paperboy, as dark as a dungeon at midnight but a lot more fun. Sparkling dialogue, startling violence and some truly terrifying villains. And as for Ally McCoist, what can I say? She shoots, she scores!" - Trevor Wood


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