Product Description

Gunned down in broad daylight on his own home patch in 1998, the young man's murder seemed like just another street squabble between drugs dealers. The police marked the file unsolved. In a one-mile stretch of Glasgow's slums the victim's bodies started falling, disappearing, overdosing and meeting accidents. The police were at a loss. This is the story of organized crime gone paranoid and turning in on itself, seen through unusual eyes. Kay, a call-girl by profession, was a member of the inner circle of one of the countries most vicious gangs. Raised in a rural middle-class home, sexually abused by her grandmother, she was drug-running for her mother when still a small child. She spent her teenaged years in rough housing schemes, and was conned into prostitution by her mother. After a chance meeting with a gangster in a bar, she was recruited by him as his confidante. Soon she was carrying a loaded gun. She took a lover, the gang's equalizer, who was the young man gunned down in the street. For Kay it was the start of her way out.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #78017 in Books
• Published on: 2002-05-23
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 224 pages

About the Author
Reg McKay is a former social worker, an investigative journalist and the author of None so Pretty: The Sexing of Rebecca Pine and The Ferris Conspiracy.

Customer Reviews

disturbing read
i thought the first 8-10 chapters of the book were a little bit graphic although it did highlight the disturbing childhood that kay had to endure.it shows how desperate some young girls are to try and escape the horror of the slums.Kay managed to escape but at what cost ?.her health suffered as she slipped into a world of drink and serious drug abuse.amongst the anguish of her life was the good points.her great love for lover Paul Sim shone through all the bad times that she was forced to endure in her hard sad life.as i read this book i felt myself caring for kay as if she was my own sibling and a part of my life.i hope that life gets better for the real-life kay and she finds happiness.

A brilliant and exceptionally written novel.
For the first time, I literally could not put down this book. It is a very detailed and magnificently written novel, which left me with a sense of really knowing the characters. At the end of each chapter you're left wondering if things will work out well for Kay, the main character, but despite kick after kick in the teeth, she perseveres. Some readers have said that they found the strong, vivid descriptions too graphic (as well as questioning the realism behind the story) but isn't that what you want when you read a novel? To be able to imagine and believe. I liked the structure Reg McKay uses: you are given parts of the story here and there, describing different periods in Kay's life - you are given a few pieces of a puzzle and are left to read between the lines. (The good thing is, it's not hard to follow, so it's easy to understand when different events take place throughout the novel.) A fascinating story, whether fictitious or not, brilliant characterisation and an 'un-disappointing' and unexpected finale. Unlike some novels I have read, there is no anti-climax here! A brilliant book to read anywhere, anytime. Perhaps not for the easily offended. Ten out of ten.

Too graphic
Far too graphic, Kay obviously had a very difficult and disturbing upbringing under the influence of her mother, but do we really want to know the exact graphic details. As the book goes on it is slightly better, and you do feel drawn to the character and sympathise with her. This book is not for the faint-hearted.