CAIRNS BOOK REVIEW: Paying for It by Tony Black (Preface)

This is a gritty, grungy thriller with a beaten down, former journo anti-hero trying to make headway against the scum of Edinburgh.

Paying For It is peppered with pithy Scots sayings, brogue, odes to whiskey and diatribes about the gentrification of one of Britain’s most morose cities.

It’s also full of a dour romance with ‘truth’ and ‘doing the right thing’.

Gus Dury was once a mover and shaker in the Scottish media, until he managed to let his temper get the best of him.

Now on a sharp slide to destitution, there are only a few of his old mates that are willing to see the best of him, and it’s this tenuous tie to the life he left behind that sees Gus dragged into an investigation into a suspicious death.

The 20-year-old son of Gus’ best mate is murdered, made to look like suicide, but his father is certain that something is up.

Before he knows it, Gus is getting followed, meeting the Russian mafia, getting involved in people smuggling and trying to stay sober enough to keep out of jail.

If you like a noir thriller, Paying For It will keep you happy with it’s nasty characters, gritty language and personal issues.

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