LoveReading Says
Winner of the the 2013 Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year.
March 2013 Book of the Month.
The recent winner of the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award with The End of the Wasp Season is back with a dark tale of corruption, cover-up and murder among Glasgow’s criminal underworld and the city’s politicians. Full of twists and turns it is a stunning and accomplished piece of crime fiction.
Denise Mina said of her 2013 Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year award:
“I’m really quite flabbergasted. This was such a hard book. I really love this book and it means a lot other people appreciate it as it could have crashed and burned. I’m so delighted and so glad to have another gigantic ostentatious award in the shape of a Theakstons beer barrel that I don’t have room for on my mantelpiece!”
Shortlisted for the Specsavers National Book Awards 'Crime & Thriller of the Year' 2012.
Reviewed by Sarah BroadhurstSarah Broadhurst spent her early working life in the book trade in both retail and wholesale until the arrival of children forced her to look for freelance work she could do from…
More reviews by Sarah Broadhurst About Gods and Beasts
Shortlisted for the Specsavers National Book Awards 'Crime & Thriller of the Year' 2012.
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Gods and Beasts Synopsis
Shortlisted for the Specsavers National Book Awards 'Crime & Thriller of the Year' 2012.
A Glasgow post office one week before Christmas. Martin Pavel cowers on the floor, his eyes locked on those of a terrified child. Above them a masked gunman wields an AK47 while the boy's grandfather calmly volunteers to help the robber gather the money. Then the old man stands passively, hands by his sides, while the gunman raises the barrel and shoots him to shreds.
Recently returned to work after the birth of her twins, DS Alex Morrow is called in to head the investigation. Why did the grandfather offer his help? Was it a moment of madness, a noble act of self-sacrifice, or did the old man and his killer share a dark past? Morrow's enquiries lead her to the door of Kenny Gallagher, a politician fighting for his political life - and his marriage - after he's publicly accused of having an affair with a young employee.
And unknown to Morrow a temptation too great to resist leads two of her colleagues, DCs Leonard and Wilder, to make a rash decision and leaves them at the mercy of a ruthless blackmailer.
About This Edition
| ISBN: |
9781409150695 |
| Publication date: |
17th July 2014 |
| Author: |
Denise Mina |
| Publisher: |
Orion (an Imprint of The Orion Publishing Group Ltd ) an imprint of Orion Publishing Co |
| Format: |
Paperback |
| Pagination: |
291 pages |
| Primary Genre |
Crime and Mystery
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| Other Genres: |
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| Recommendations: |
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Denise Mina Press Reviews
'I am beginning to believe that Denise Mina is the finest contemporary exponent of British crime fiction, and that the Glasgow Detective Sergeant Alex Morrow is becoming its most interesting copper...Mina is terrific, too, at portraying the social and political backdrops that envelop her plots.' -- Marcel Berlins TIMES
'For aficionados of the genre thee is a great deal to admire, not just in the elegance of the plotting... Mina's writing is lithe and spare, but alert... Readers inclined to be sniffy about genre fiction would do well to read Mina. As the parallel series progress they become more than the some of the individual novels, and metamorphose into a kind of 21st century Comedie Humaine - a excoriating look at the way that we live, and die, now.' -- Stuart Kelly SCOTSMAN
'GODS AND BEASTS is vintage Mina: a complex three-ply plot involving a shooting, blackmail and corruption, all described with hard-hitting prose and psychological acuity. '-- Julia Handford SUNDAY TELEGRAPH
'Denise Mina is riding high at the moment, having won the prestigious Crime Novel of the Year award for her last book, THE END OF THE WASP SEASON. It was well deserved because that novel, Mina's ninth and the second to feature Detective Superintendent Alex Morrow, was an expert psychological deconstruction of the credit crunch, as well as a page-turning police procedural to boot. If anything, GODS AND BEASTS is even better... One of the best things about her crime novels is her natural tendency to duck out of the way of the genre's cliches...real characters struggling with their jobs, their families and their lives, the same as anyone else... GODS AND BEASTS confirms Mina's place at the front of the crime-writing pack.' -- Doug Johnstone INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY
'Ostensibly a police procedural, GODS AND BEASTS has much more to it...What the elaborate and cleverly crafted plot concerns, as Morrow identifies, is not simply detection but 'being decent'. An excellent novel.' -- Jessica Mann LITERARY REVIEW
About Denise Mina
Denise Mina was born in East Kilbride in 1966. Her first book, Garnethill, won the CWA Dagger for Best First Crime Novel. She has won the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year twice, and the MacIlvanney Prize twice. In 2017 she was named by The Times as one of the top ten crime writers of the decade.
Instagram: @damedenisemina
Website: www.denisemina.com
Maxim Jakubowski's view on ALEX MORROW...
A Glasgow cop with a nose for social injustice and the dark side of society, DS Alex Morrow is introduced in STILL MIDNIGHT by Scottish author Denise Mina, whose previous series featured investigative journalist Paddie Meehan and social worker Maureen O’Donnell. Realistic and bleak investigations with a strong footing in today’s reality are Mina’s forte in all her books.
More About Denise Mina
