Breakers

A toxic family, a fight for survival...

Seventeen-year-old Tyler lives in one of Edinburgh's most deprived areas. Coerced into robbing rich people's homes by his bullying older siblings, he's also trying to care for his little sister and his drug-addict mum.

On a job, his brother Barry stabs a homeowner and leaves her for dead, but that's just the beginning of their nightmare, because the woman is the wife of Edinburgh's biggest crime lord, Deke Holt. With the police and the Holts closing in, and his shattered family in devastating danger, Tyler meets posh girl Flick in another stranger's house, and he thinks she may just be his salvation ... unless he drags her down too.

A pulsatingly tense psychological thriller, BREAKERS is also a breathtakingly brutal, beautiful and deeply moving story of a good kid in the wrong family, from one of Scotland's finest crime writers.

“"This may be Doug Johnstone's best book yet. An unsparing yet sympathetic depiction of Edinburgh's ignored underclass, with terrific characterisation. Tense, pacy, filmic." -- Ian Rankin”

It’s a lovely, sad tale, beautifully told and full of understanding’  The Times
‘This may be Doug Johnstone’s best book yet. An unsparing yet sympathetic depiction of Edinburgh’s ignored underclass, with terrific characterisation. Tense, pacey, filmic’ 

  -- Ian Rankin
’It’s as psychologically rich as it is harrowing. I’ve come to expect nothing less from Doug Johnstone'
  -- Megan Abbott
‘Doug Johnstone is for me the perfect free-range writer, respectful of conventions but never bound by them, never hemmed-in.’  -- James Sallis
'This is premier league crime writing’ 

  -- Martyn Waites
‘Doug Johnstone’s books are what the phrase “no filler, all thriller” was invented for. A tough, gritty and effective ride into the dark side of Edinburgh’ 

  -- Douglas Skelton
‘Breakers is the most powerful and moving book from Johnstone yet – a calling card that no-one can ignore’  The Scotsman
‘Absolutely brilliant. A brooding, intensely dark thriller with a defiant beating heart.'  -- Miranda Dickinson

Doug Johnstone is an author, journalist and musician based in Edinburgh.

Doug is also a Royal Literary Fund Consultant Fellow. Doug has released seven albums in various bands, and is drummer, vocalist and occasional guitarist for the Fun Lovin' Crime Writers, a band of crime writers. He reviews books for The Big Issue magazine, is player-manager for Scotland Writers Football Club and has a PhD in nuclear physics.

A toxic family, a fight for survival...Seventeen-year-old Tyler lives in one of Edinburgh's most deprived areas. Coerced into robbing rich people's homes by his bullying older siblings, he's also trying to care for his little sister and his drug-addict mum.On a job, his brother Barry stabs a homeowner and leaves her for dead, but that's just the beginning of their nightmare, because the woman is the wife of Edinburgh's biggest crime lord, Deke Holt. With the police and the Holts closing in, and his shattered family in devastating danger, Tyler meets posh girl Flick in another stranger's house, and he thinks she may just be his salvation ... unless he drags her down too.A pulsatingly tense psychological thriller, BREAKERS is also a breathtakingly brutal, beautiful and deeply moving story of a good kid in the wrong family, from one of Scotland's finest crime writers.

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