Breakers - Softcover

A pulsatingly tense, deeply moving and devastatingly dark psychological thriller from the Number One bestselling author of Fault Lines

‘A cracking story, great characters ... it’s also about something and really addresses the “whys” of crime’ Mark Billingham

‘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

’Breakers again shows that Doug Johnstone is a noir heavyweight and a master of gritty realism. This may be his finest novel yet’ Willy Vlautin

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.

’It’s as psychologically rich as it is harrowing. I’ve come to expect nothing less from Doug Johnstone, one of the genre’s premiere writers’ Megan Abbott

‘Doug Johnstone is for me the perfect free-range writer, respectful of conventions but never bound by them, never hemmed-in.  Each book is a different world, each book something new in this world’ James Sallis

‘Breakers is bloody brilliant. Gut punch after gut punch after gut punch and you can’t put it down. But it’s the final, huge punch to the heart that blows you away. Pages you can’t stop turning, characters that linger long after you’ve finished the book. This is premier league crime writing’ Martyn Waites

‘Doug Johnstone’s books are what the phrase “no filler, all thriller” was invented for. His no-nonsense style is tight and taut but still carries emotional depth. A tough, gritty and effective ride into the dark side of Edinburgh’ Douglas Skelton

‘Pacy, harrowing and occasionally brutal, it’s a stunning thriller about poisonous families and one decent kid’s desperate attempt to do the right thing. Had me in tears at the end. Couldn’t recommend more. Oh god’ Paddy Magrane
 
‘Loved this one. Think it may be Doug Johnstone’s best, in fact — unusual perspective on Scottish crime that just knocks it out the park. Go read, folks’
Russel McLean

‘The tale is both horrifying and uplifting, and one of those books I looked forward to picking up each time I had a moment to read ... I hope it does as well as it deserves to’ James Oswald

‘I thought Fault Lines was good, but Breakers is off the scale amazing! Stayed up almost all night to finish it. Absolutely brilliant’ Louise Voss

‘Oh. My. God. This was sooo good. Read it in two days. Gripping, dark, fast, but still somehow full of heart’ Louise Beech