Scottish Bookshelf – Latest Releases From August

By Contributor -

Enjoy our pick of August book releases. First for fact and fiction…

The is a brief selection of reviews taken from our August issue.

Five By Five
Claire Wilson
£18.99 (hardcover)
Penguin
Falkirk author Claire Wilson invites us into the raw and gritty world of Scotland’s prison system in her remarkable debut novel.

Five By Five, which can be accurately described as Orange Is The New Black meets Line Of Duty, centres around the world of Kennedy Allardyce whose job as an intelligence analyst sees her monitoring
not just the inmates, but the prison staff too.

Kennedy has just stumbled across her most dangerous foe yet – rumoured to be a corrupt guard with lethal influence. And unfortunately for her, they seem to have realised already that the intelligence analyst is on their tail.

At least one thing is bringing her joy – her blossoming relationship with Molly, an enigmatic new guard. But is Molly the person Kennedy believes her to be?

It’s absolutely no surprise that this page-turning novel was awarded the inaugural Penguin Michael Joseph Undiscovered Writers’ Prize last year.

Claire, who is an intelligence analyst in real life, brings authority and confidence to this ambitious and thrilling novel, creating a darkly disturbing and claustrophobic read.

Told from multiple points of view, this punchy novel is filled with twists and turns, but never loses the heart of its story.

Claire has created vivid and memorable characters – from corrupt guards to terrifying cons. She has a gift for writing lively and engaging dialogue that keeps readers turning the pages.

Although the action is often brutal, the character of Kennedy carries us through the story, giving readers a protagonist to worry about and root for.

The novelist brings authenticity to her work, filling the book with realistic present-day Scottish prison slang and painting a terrifying picture of life both behind, and in front of, bars.

Claire Wilson is an exciting new voice in the Scottish crime fiction genre – and is definitely one to listen out for in the future.

Dawn Geddes

Living Is A Problem
Doug Johnstone
£9.99 (paperback)
Orenda

When a funeral the Skelfs are conducting is attacked by a drone, Jenny fears they’re in the middle of an Edinburgh gangland vendetta. At the same time Yana, a Ukrainian member of the refugee choir that plays with Dorothy’s band, goes missing.

The Black Loch
Peter May
£22 (hardcover)
Riverrun

The body of an 18-year-old is found abandoned on a remote beach on the west coast of the Isle of Lewis. When Fin Macleod learns his married son was having an affair with the girl, and is suspected of murder, he returns to the island he left 10 years earlier.

Resolution
Irvine Welsh
£20.00 (hardcover)
Jonathan Cape

Ray Lennox has left Edinburgh for a fresh start in Brighton, quiet evenings and a fitness regime. Then he meets smooth-talking, rich Mathew Cardingworth who presents himself as a respectable developer. Yet memories that have long haunted Lennox reawaken.