Overview
Newly minted prison officer Nicholas Glass has fallen in with the wrong crowd at "The Hilton," a Scottish prison for violent offenders. The problem is, there's no right crowd. Bullied and abused by inmates and colleagues alike, Glass finds that each day is getting longer than the one before. When a group of cons use outside help to threaten his wife and daughter, he agrees to do them a 'favor'. But, as their threats escalate, and one favor leads to another, he grows ever closer to breaking point. And when Glass breaks, he shatters...
Slammer is a mile-a-minute thriller shot through with Guthrie's unique blend of dark humor and ultra-violent mayhem. His previous books have been lauded as "gripping noir" (Entertainment Weekly) and "character driven and exciting" (Cleveland Plain Dealer).
Synopsis
Newly minted prison officer Nicholas Glass has fallen in with the wrong crowd at "The Hilton," a Scottish prison for violent offenders. The problem is, there's no right crowd. Bullied and abused by inmates and colleagues alike, Glass finds that each day is getting longer than the one before. When a group of cons use outside help to threaten his wife and daughter, he agrees to do them a 'favor'. But, as their threats escalate, and one favor leads to another, he grows ever closer to breaking point. And when Glass breaks, he shatters...
Slammer is a mile-a-minute thriller shot through with Guthrie's unique blend of dark humor and ultra-violent mayhem. His previous books have been lauded as "gripping noir" (Entertainment Weekly) and "character driven and exciting" (Cleveland Plain Dealer).
Publishers Weekly
Edgar-finalist Guthrie (Savage Night) explores the tenuous division between truth and desperate fiction in the mind of a rookie prison guard in this gritty thriller. In 1992, having recently relocated to Edinburgh, Scotland, with his wife, Lorna, and young daughter, Caitlin, Nick Glass manages to form an uneasy friendship with Mafia, a nearly blind inmate, whose crime was so horrific that no one will talk about it, at a prison for violent offenders nicknamed “the Hilton.” With abuse coming from his fellow officers and prisoners alike, Glass is soon coerced into a dangerous alliance with another inmate, Caesar, who threatens Glass's family unless he agrees to smuggle in heroin. So begins Glass's bloody descent into hell, as he tries to protect Lorna, Caitlin and himself from Caesar's henchman and a danger that might lurk much closer to home. Guthrie's visceral style is a perfect match for the grim setting. Fans who prefer their crime fiction ultra hard-boiled will be rewarded. (Nov.)