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majabwds's review against another edition
3.0
I liked how we got to see the thought process of every character. What they were thinking when they were doing things, the cause and effect, how things could go if they make a mistake and so on. It was interesting. I did not like the ending. It left things unfinished. I guess that's way there are sequels.
urlphantomhive's review against another edition
3.0
Read all my reviews on http://urlphantomhive.booklikes.com
In a genre like crime fiction it is very difficult these days to get an original angle to the story. This is however where The Necessary Death of Lewis Winter succeeded. One murder, and the reader is given every detail of its planning, its execution and its aftermath from different angles.
Because we were there, so to speak, there is little crime solving in the novel. What we do get to see is the frustration of police officers and the web of lies some of the characters are spinning. While this sounds very interesting on paper, I found it difficult to connect with any of the characters and I didn't really care much whether they would succeed or not. If any, I probably cheered for the hitman. There also were a lot of things unsolved at the end of the novel, which I don't know will be addressed in the next.
Interesting premise, but in the end, I expected more from it.
Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!
In a genre like crime fiction it is very difficult these days to get an original angle to the story. This is however where The Necessary Death of Lewis Winter succeeded. One murder, and the reader is given every detail of its planning, its execution and its aftermath from different angles.
Because we were there, so to speak, there is little crime solving in the novel. What we do get to see is the frustration of police officers and the web of lies some of the characters are spinning. While this sounds very interesting on paper, I found it difficult to connect with any of the characters and I didn't really care much whether they would succeed or not. If any, I probably cheered for the hitman. There also were a lot of things unsolved at the end of the novel, which I don't know will be addressed in the next.
Interesting premise, but in the end, I expected more from it.
Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!
juanfrasaga's review against another edition
4.0
Normalmente, las novelas de detectives/policiacas/crimen empiezan con un cadaver y la posterior investigación. Esta no, la novedad de esta novela es que empieza tiempo antes y los personajes principales son todos los implicados en el crimen. Lo que ya le da un punto de frescura que se agradece dentro del género.
Otro punto de frescura se encuentra en la forma de narrar la historia, una suerte de primera persona pasando por todos los implicados. Con frases cortas, lo que le da un ritmo rápido y coloquial.
En definitiva, una novela fresca, que renueva el género y que merece la pena visitar.
Otro punto de frescura se encuentra en la forma de narrar la historia, una suerte de primera persona pasando por todos los implicados. Con frases cortas, lo que le da un ritmo rápido y coloquial.
En definitiva, una novela fresca, que renueva el género y que merece la pena visitar.
martamarne_'s review against another edition
5.0
Un joven sicario de 29 años recibe el encargo de deshacerse de Lewis Winter. El sicario en nómina está de baja por una operación de cadera y necesitan a alguien joven y muy profesional. Eso será lo que tratará de hacer Calum MacLean, que el trabajo sea impecable y que todo salga perfecto.
Malcolm Mackay se estrena con esta fabulosa novela de ambientación clásica que además de contar con una gran trama aporta una narración desde varios puntos de vista: el del sicario, el del jefe que le contrata, el de Lewis Winter, el de su chica... Con esta visión de conjunto conseguimos una visión de conjunto completa, sin información sesgada para el lector, para que sea él quien juzgue y valore.
Si esta ha sido la primera novela de Mackay la cosa no puede más que ir a mejor.
Malcolm Mackay se estrena con esta fabulosa novela de ambientación clásica que además de contar con una gran trama aporta una narración desde varios puntos de vista: el del sicario, el del jefe que le contrata, el de Lewis Winter, el de su chica... Con esta visión de conjunto conseguimos una visión de conjunto completa, sin información sesgada para el lector, para que sea él quien juzgue y valore.
Si esta ha sido la primera novela de Mackay la cosa no puede más que ir a mejor.
eiseneisen's review against another edition
4.0
The Necessary Death of Lewis Winter is a greatly entertaining and fast read about the people that inhabit the criminal underworld in Glasgow. Author Malcolm Mackay uses an abrupt, clipped narrator's voice that perfectly fits the world of crime in which the story takes place.
The Necessary Death of Lewis Winter is reminiscent of the Friends of Eddie Coyle in style and mood, and is equally entertaining and gritty. If you like fast-moving thrillers about the complex, relationship-oriented world of organized crime, read this book... the 300 pages fly by.
The Necessary Death of Lewis Winter is reminiscent of the Friends of Eddie Coyle in style and mood, and is equally entertaining and gritty. If you like fast-moving thrillers about the complex, relationship-oriented world of organized crime, read this book... the 300 pages fly by.
raven88's review against another edition
4.0
Another date for next year’s diaries crime fans! Due to be published mid-January ‘The Necessary Death of Lewis Winter’ is the first of a Glasgow based trilogy by debut author Malcolm Mackay- a debut that I was mightily impressed by. With seamless plotting, plausible characters and a sparsity of prose in the vein of American writers such as Denis Johnson or Tom Franklin, this book had me absolutely hooked.
Populated by a host of ne’er-do-wells against a backdrop of the Glasgow underworld, Mackay documents a heightening struggle for control of the drugs turf between two rival gangsters- Peter Jamieson and Shug Francis- and those that find themselves, sometimes literally, in the crossfire. Lewis Winter is one of Shug’s crew- a sorry figure of a man, cuckolded by his scheming girlfriend and a small time dealer, who annoys Jamieson enough to commission a hit on him and this is where the utterly compulsive facet of this story kicks in. Colum MacLean is a hitman for hire but who, during the course of the book, starts to have a crisis of conscience and through his stream of consciousness and the sparsity of Mackay’s dialogue the real creative genius of this debut comes to the fore. The mesmeric characterisation of MacLean has a very different pull on the reader throughout as the dispassionate tone of the prose alienates but engages the reader at the same time, and as MacLean gets sucked down further into this maelstrom of uncertainty you go with him unflinchingly despite the immorality of his chosen profession.
Likewise, where there could be a tendency to conform to stereotype with any novel set in the gangland underworld, Mackay neatly sidesteps this with all the main protagonists seeming credible and not cliched, from the crime bosses themselves, to the police investigators, to the brilliant femme fatale Zara, who has her own personal agenda to survive the departing from this mortal coil of the hapless Lewis. I particularly liked the character of Frank MacLeod, a gruff old bugger and Jamieson’s former go-to man for professional hits, currently laid up recovering from a hip replacement, imparting words of wisdom to ‘grasshopper’ Colum, exhibiting a good comedic touch in an otherwise dark and amoral tale.
Needless to say the more literary style and addictive narrative of this first book can only bode well for those to follow and I would highly recommend this for those seeking a change from the bog standard police procedural, providing as it does a far more insightful portrayal of the criminal class in the seedy underbelly of underworld Glasgow. A remarkable debut.
Oh and by the way it's Malcolm not William Mackay!
Populated by a host of ne’er-do-wells against a backdrop of the Glasgow underworld, Mackay documents a heightening struggle for control of the drugs turf between two rival gangsters- Peter Jamieson and Shug Francis- and those that find themselves, sometimes literally, in the crossfire. Lewis Winter is one of Shug’s crew- a sorry figure of a man, cuckolded by his scheming girlfriend and a small time dealer, who annoys Jamieson enough to commission a hit on him and this is where the utterly compulsive facet of this story kicks in. Colum MacLean is a hitman for hire but who, during the course of the book, starts to have a crisis of conscience and through his stream of consciousness and the sparsity of Mackay’s dialogue the real creative genius of this debut comes to the fore. The mesmeric characterisation of MacLean has a very different pull on the reader throughout as the dispassionate tone of the prose alienates but engages the reader at the same time, and as MacLean gets sucked down further into this maelstrom of uncertainty you go with him unflinchingly despite the immorality of his chosen profession.
Likewise, where there could be a tendency to conform to stereotype with any novel set in the gangland underworld, Mackay neatly sidesteps this with all the main protagonists seeming credible and not cliched, from the crime bosses themselves, to the police investigators, to the brilliant femme fatale Zara, who has her own personal agenda to survive the departing from this mortal coil of the hapless Lewis. I particularly liked the character of Frank MacLeod, a gruff old bugger and Jamieson’s former go-to man for professional hits, currently laid up recovering from a hip replacement, imparting words of wisdom to ‘grasshopper’ Colum, exhibiting a good comedic touch in an otherwise dark and amoral tale.
Needless to say the more literary style and addictive narrative of this first book can only bode well for those to follow and I would highly recommend this for those seeking a change from the bog standard police procedural, providing as it does a far more insightful portrayal of the criminal class in the seedy underbelly of underworld Glasgow. A remarkable debut.
Oh and by the way it's Malcolm not William Mackay!
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