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Gods and Beasts

ebook
1 of 1 copy available
1 of 1 copy available
It's the week before Christmas when a lone robber bursts into a busy Glasgow post office carrying an AK-47. An elderly man suddenly hands his young grandson to a stranger and wordlessly helps the gunman fill bags with cash, then carries them to the door. He opens the door and bows his head; the robber fires off the AK-47, tearing the grandfather in two.
DS Alex Morrow arrives on the scene and finds that the alarm system had been disabled before the robbery. Yet upon investigation, none of the employees can be linked to the gunman. And the grandfather-a life-long campaigner for social justice-is above reproach. As Morrow searches for the killer, she discovers a hidden, sinister political network. Soon it is chillingly clear: no corner of the city is safe, and her involvement will go deeper than she could ever have imagined.
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    • Publisher's Weekly

      Starred review from December 3, 2012
      At the start of Scottish author Mina’s excellent third crime novel featuring Det. Sgt. Alex Morrow (after 2011’s The End of the Wasp Season), a lone gunman enters a Glasgow post office, where he orders the patrons to lie on the floor. An elderly gentleman hands his young grandson to a stranger and gets up to assist the robber by filling bags with cash. The gunman then cuts the old man down with a hail of bullets from his AK-47 pistol. Meanwhile, looming budget cuts and police layoffs lure two of Morrow’s subordinates into stealing a pile of dirty drug money. Finally, a former labor hero turned politician is caught up in a sex scandal with a 17-year-old female staffer. While Mina keeps Alex’s life outside of work mostly on the back burner, she ups the stakes by taking us into the dark, beating heart of modern Glasgow, where the real deals are struck and the spoils divided.

    • Kirkus

      January 1, 2013
      Who would shoot an inoffensive retiree in the middle of an otherwise routine robbery? One minute, geology student Martin Pavel is queued up at the post office; the next, he's lying on the floor at the command of a man with a mask, an AK-47 and a very short temper. Yet Martin is a lot luckier than Brendan Lyons, the retired bus driver who offered to help the gunman collect the loot and got thoroughly shot for his trouble. It seems clear that the robber recognized the old man, but even so, why would he feel the need to kill him? DS Alexandra Morrow would love to bear down hard on the case, but as usual, there are other problems. After pulling over dicey driver Hugh Boyle, DC Tamsin Leonard and DC George Wilder have found 200,000 concealed in his car; instead of turning it in, Wilder's had the bright idea of splitting it between themselves; and the surprisingly resourceful Boyle has photographed them in possession of the loot. So, even though Alex gets a promising lead that links the gunman to the anonymous figure who menaced householder Anita Costello three years ago, Strathclyde's finest is hardly enjoying its finest hour. Higher up in the social ranks (though equally far down the ethical scale), Labour MP Kenny Gallagher is battling rumors that he's taken party volunteer Jill Bowman, 17, under more than his wing--rumors that are particularly hard to scotch since they're true. As Gallagher faces the ruin of his career, readers will wonder how Alex (The End of the Wasp Season, 2011, etc.) can possibly tie these cases together. Though the final surprise doesn't have the snap of logical inevitability, it's depressingly realistic.

      COPYRIGHT(2013) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

    • Library Journal

      Starred review from December 1, 2012

      During an armed robbery in a Glasgow post office, a grandfather inexplicably steps from the queue to help the gunman before being shot to smithereens. DS Alex Morrow is on the case, despite her exhaustion from having newborn twins. But what begins as a murder investigation turns into a maze of conspiracy and lies. A witness claims the grandfather recognized his killer, but the dead man's widow says it's impossible. Meanwhile, one of Morrow's trusted officers flirts with corruption, and her half-brother, Danny, a notorious gangster, is connected to a scandal that threatens a prominent politician. Although these story lines don't always appear to connect, Mina deftly stitches them together in time for a powerful climax. VERDICT In this third Alex Morrow procedural (after The End of the Wasp Season) Mina again plumbs the depths of the grungy Scottish metropolis, capturing political posturing, class differences, and familial dynamics with equal aplomb. At its center is the cranky, sympathetic Morrow, fast becoming one of the most intriguing cops in crime fiction. Fans of smart, character-driven procedurals will want to snatch this one up. [See Prepub Alert, 8/3/12.]--Annabel Mortensen, Skokie P.L., IL

      Copyright 2012 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

    • Booklist

      December 1, 2012
      A post-office robbery in Glasgow turns deadly at the start of Mina's latest sharp thriller starring Strathclyde Detective Sergeant Alex Morrow. In the midst of the heist, elderly Brendan Lyons hands off his grandson to an unsuspecting stranger, then assists the AK-47-toting thief in filling bag after bag with cash. Lyons' attempt to keep the peace backfires; the gunman shoots him in the back as he carries the score to the door. Was Lyons, a well-known local activist, in on the crime from the get-go? Meanwhile, more trouble is brewing around town. Charismatic politician Kenny Gallagher faces allegations of an affair with a very young woman, and two of Morrow's colleagues steal money from a drug deal but then, in a crisis of conscience, come clean about the deed. Award-winning Scottish crime writer Mina (The End of the Wasp Season, 2011) once again demonstrates her command of the police procedural, creating a compelling cast of characters, from the likable to the loathsome, and deftly linking the plots in a chilling ending.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)

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