James HutcHesonb o ok cover s3

Winner - TheaksTon’s old Peculier crime novel of The Year 2007

‘EvEry light at thE End of thE tunnEl is an oncoming train.’

VAL McDERMID

‘hard man is bursting not just with violEncE, EnErgy and rEalism, but with hEart, soul and humour . . . no contEst, no argumEnt, this is

onE of thE bEst crimE novEls of 2007.’MARtyn WAItEs

‘scorchEd-Earth writing . . . i couldn’t put it down.’

DEnIsE HAMILton

Has Pearce finally found his match? The time-served Edinburgh hard man is still recovering from the loss of his mother when he’s invited by the dysfunctional Baxter family to protect their pregnant 16-year-old daughter from Wallace, her 26-year-old husband. Having found out that the baby’s not his, Wallace

– a man with a reputation for violence – has sworn vengeance. Pearce declines the job: he’s no babysitter. But when Wallace starts taunting Pearce, he goes too far. Before long, Pearce is forced to confront him. Now it’s deeply personal.

Time to find out who the real hard man is.

AllAN GuTHriE writes adrenaline-rush books about bad people doing bad things to each other. The world of his books is one where absurdity colours the landscape. A world where the violence is red raw, morality is a grey area, and the humour is jet black. He has been compared to ian rankin, irvine Welsh and James Ellroy. Visit www.allanguthrie.co.uk

9 781846 970047

£9.99

www.birlinn.co.uk

covEr photographgEtty imagEs ©dEsign: jamEs hutchEson

iSBN: 978 1 84697 004 7

HARD MAN HARD MAN

‘everY lighT aT The end of The Tunnel is an oncoming Train.’ VAl McDErMiD

allan guthrie

a novelALLAN GUTHRIE

www.jameshutcheson.co.uk