The dark, rawly comic follow-up to the winner of the McIlvanney Prize for best Scottish crime book of the year.

'A serious talent' Kevin Bridges

'Inventive and witty, with a nerve-shredding finale' Chris Brookmyre

'An outstanding new writer who is destined to become a very big name' Peter James

DCI Alison McCoist is back: newly promoted and even less popular.

Chuck Gardner is the proud owner of both a confidential paper-shredding business and a serious betting habit.

When Chuck finds some scandalous paperwork and McCoist investigates a rat-nibbled corpse under a flyover, they are both sucked into a deadly stramash of gangland wars and police corruption.

Can Chuck solve his gambling and gangster problems before some head-banger feeds him into his own shredder? And can McCoist claw herself out of this latest shitemire without her own shady dealings coming to light? It might depend on how far she's prepared to go...



Callum McSorley is a writer based in Glasgow where he grew up. His debut thriller, Squeaky Clean, was inspired by years working in a carwash in the city's East End. It won the McIlvanney Prize for Best Scottish Crime Book of the Year, was a Times Crime Book of the Year and a Waterstones Scottish Book of the Month. It's sequel Paperboy (also starring DCI Alison McCoist) was a Times crime book of the month and shortlisted for the McIlvanney Prize. The third book in the series, Rat Race, is forthcoming from Pushkin Vertigo.