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The Necessary Death of Lewis Winter

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The Necessary Death of Lewis Winter

By: Malcolm Mackay
Narrated by: Angus King
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About this listen

Winner of the ITV3 Crime Thriller Book Club Best Read Award; shortlisted for the Theakston's Crime Novel of the Year Award, shortlisted for the CWA John Creasey Dagger for Best Debut Crime Novel of the Year and the Saltire Scottish First Book of the Year Award, longlisted the CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger for Best Thriller of the Year.

A twenty-nine-year-old man lives alone in his Glasgow flat. The telephone rings; a casual conversation, but behind this a job offer. The clues are there if you know to look for them.

He is an expert. A loner. Freelance. Another job is another job, but what if this organisation wants more?

A meeting at a club. An offer. A brief. A target:

Lewis Winter.

It's hard to kill a man well. People who do it well know this. People who do it badly find out the hard way. The hard way has consequences.

An arresting, gripping novel of dark relationships and even darker moralities, The Necessary Death of Lewis Winter introduces a remarkable new voice in crime fiction.

The second book in the Glasgow Trilogy How A Gunman Says Goodbye will follow soon . . .

 Crime Crime Fiction Crime Thrillers Fiction Genre Fiction Modern Detectives Mystery Thriller & Suspense Urban Thriller Suspense

Critic reviews

‘Cool, laconic and very enjoyable. I look forward eagerly to the second novel in the trilogy’ Allan Massie

‘A very auspicious debut, this is an amazing novel, incredibly gripping from the first page to the last. A vivid portrait of the Glasgow underworld, it’s completely hypnotic . . . like the great writers, people like Elmore Leonard, Mackay paints really vivid portraits of his characters . . . a really unique voice’ Mark Billingham

‘A really clever multi-viewpoint novel about the Glasgow underworld . . . The Necessary Death of Lewis Winter was a real revelation, a real find for me’ Kate Mosse

‘A dark, rich, brutal thriller . . . it absolutely captivates you. The Necessary Death of Lewis Winter is more than a page turner, it’s a page ripper. For a debut novel this sparkles, this zings, it leaps off the page. If you like Ian Rankin, if you like Stuart MacBride, if you like Val McDermid, Denise Mina – Malcolm Mackay is right up there’ Peter James

‘Glasgow’s a tough city and this is a tough book . . . very authentic, very gritty, you can really feel the streets. They call this genre Tartan Noir and absolutely The Necessary Death of Lewis Winter is a first class member of that’ Lee Child

‘I finished it almost in a sitting. The prose is spare and taut and pulls the reader into the minds of the disparate characters . . . beautifully and truthfully written with the deceptive simplicity of a fine short story’ Ann Cleeves, creator of VERA
‘A remarkably original debut . . . this is a book that it would be hard not to finish in one sitting . . . a wholly believable and unnerving portrait of organised crime’ Observer
‘The debut writer who is being hailed as tartan noir’s most authoritative and authentic new voice . . . Mackay writes in a tough-guy style that is reminiscent of Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett at their most hard-boiled’ Scotsman
‘Brutal, witty and well-written . . . a brilliant debut’ Sunday Telegraph
‘On the evidence of his impressive debut Malcolm Mackay will no doubt be hailed as the newest member of the Tartan Noir community. Yet the feel and style of The Necessary Death of Lewis Winter is more American than Scottish . . . a quietly absorbing gangland tale, full of moral ambiguities’ Marcel Berlins, The Times
All stars
Most relevant
I took a punt on this - never bought anything by this author previously.

I have been mightily impressed by the wuality of the writing - not a reheated JD Kirk rip-off, as some are.

I had bought the next in the series before I was more than halfway through this.

Quality yarn, excellent narration

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46 chapters. By chapter 12, nothing was truly hooking me and lacked quality. Insomnia cure though.

The unnecessary length of the story. 46 chapters.

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I spent the whole of this book waiting for a story to develop or something to happen. Of course soemthing does happen and Lewis Winter does die. The publisher's summary describes the book as a gripping novel and I have to disagree. I did listen to the whole book. I didn't mind the narrator but maybe my ennui was a reflection of the tedium of the gunman's life. The spark of excitement was when he carried out his mission. I am not sure if I will download the next part of this trilogy.

Was it clever or was it boring?

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Where does The Necessary Death of Lewis Winter rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Will keep this one in my top ten for some time to come.

Who was your favorite character and why?

I have to say , Callum, was my favourite character despite his chosen career. He is cool, calm and collected and goes about his "duties" with apparent nonchalance!

Did Angus King do a good job differentiating each of the characters? How?

Angus King was very adept at giving the listener a sense of each character, although his 'voice' for Winter's girlfriend, Zara, was a tad squeaky and grating.

Did you have an emotional reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

The story is gripping from the first few pages, but seriously gets going after Winter's untimely end. Callum's assistant is funny, his comments whilst in Winter's house had me giggling to myself!

Any additional comments?

Excellent debut, looking forward to the next book.

Glasgow's underworld comes to life!

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If you could sum up The Necessary Death of Lewis Winter in three words, what would they be?

Different, interesting and gripping

Any additional comments?

I loved it, and have already downloaded the next in the trilogy

Unexpected but excellent

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