The Sudden Arrival of Violence

Alliances crumble and blood spills as Mackay's Glasgow trilogy reaches its bloody operatic finale, with gunman Calum MacLean leading the charge. After taking over the spot as crime boss Peter Jamieson's top killer in How a Gunman Says Goodbye, Calum is the go-to man for any job Jamieson needs doing. This includes a hit on one of his own men (who's been snitching to the cops) and Richard Hardy, the accountant who cooks the books for Jamieson's rival, Shug Francis. What Jamieson doesn't know, however, is that this is the last job Calum intends to do as a gunman; he wants out of the life. But "retiring" from a career of killing people for a living isn't the same as leaving any other job%E2%80%94Calum plans to disappear and never come back. With the help of his brother, William, Calum tries to make a clean break, but nothing goes according to plan. Plans, double-crosses, and deceptions that were put in place during the events of The Necessary Death of Lewis Winter come back into play as Mackay gathers all the pieces of his massively inventive puzzle together. No one comes out unscathed, neither the criminals nor the cops%E2%80%94though these are so often interchangeable that labels seem unnecessary in the end as everyone simply fights to survive. Agent: Grainne Fox, Fletcher & Company. (Apr.)