The New York Times Book Review - Marilyn Stasio
…Every Night I Dream of Hell…lives up to its gritty title…It's a joy to wallow in the muck with Mackay, who writes in a bold style that reflects confidence rather than bravado, occasionally breaking up the tension with a wry joke…And he isn't afraid to show Nate at his violent worst because he knows that…we can't get enough of this morally complex antihero.
Publishers Weekly
02/06/2017
Nate Colgan, a side player in Edgar-finalist Mackay’s Glasgow trilogy (The Necessary Death of Lewis Winter, etc.), narrates this morally complex standalone. Nate is the muscle with brains for Peter Jamieson’s crime organization in Glasgow, a position that has become all the more necessary now that Jamieson and his right-hand man, John Young, are serving time. Dubbed a security consultant, Nate sees two threats to the Jamieson empire: first, infighting and the inevitable internal power grabs; second, the infiltration of a deadly gang from England, hell-bent on taking over. Led by Adrian Barrett, the new lads want Jamieson’s slice of the Glaswegian drug business, which isn’t insubstantial, and they’ll kill to get it. Nate isn’t against getting his hands dirty, but he stops short when he realizes that Zara Cope, his ex-girlfriend and the mother of his nine-year-old daughter, is entangled with Barrett’s gang. Filled with bloody intrigue, Scottish slang, and enough twists and turns to keep even the most astute reader guessing, this is hard-boiled fiction at its finest. Agent: Grainne Fox, Fletcher & Company. (Apr.)
From the Publisher
"Don't pick up a Mackay book unless you've got spare time. They're habit-forming."—Janet Maslin, The New York Times
"The [Glasgow] trilogy was a bravura performance, and one had every reason to expect that Mackay would do more with such rich material. That expectation has now been met, and rousingly so."—Dennis Drabelle, The Washington Post
"A piece of writing that lives up to its gritty title . . . We can't get enough of this morally complex antihero. . . . It is a joy to wallow in the muck with Mackay, who writes in a bold style that reflects confidence rather than bravado, occasionally breaking up the tension with a wry joke."—Marilyn Stasio, The New York Times Book Review
"Contemporary noir doesn't boast a more elegant stylist than Mackay. Even in evoking a world of scuzziness, he makes the lure of redemption sing."—Lloyd Sachs, Chicago Tribune
"A dark read, complex but satisfying, and all the more real for it. . . . I frankly cannot imagine a situation where anyone picking up the novel would not want to immediately dive into Mackay's past work, which is its own fully realized dark criminal universe."—Joe Hartlaub, BookReporter
"Mackay continues to ascend the ranks of hard-boiled British crime fiction authors. His latest novel [is] streaked with black humor and a fast-paced plot that never sacrifices the truly fleshed-out characters."—Library Journal (starred review)
"Morally complex . . . Filled with bloody intrigue, Scottish slang, and enough twists and turns to keep even the most astute reader guessing, this is hard-boiled fiction at its finest."—Publishers Weekly
Library Journal
★ 02/01/2017
Though this Glasgow is as dark and dirty as the city he chronicled in his "Glasgow Trilogy" (The Necessary Death of Lewis Winter; The Sudden Arrival of Violence; How a Gunman Says Goodbye), Mackay takes a slightly different route with this latest stand-alone, though one that shares DNA with The Night the Rich Men Burned. For the first time, readers experience Glaswegian criminal life in the first person, namely Nate Colgan; him some Mackay fans may remember in the previous books as a "security consultant" for Peter Jamieson's criminal organization. Except now Jamieson, and his right-hand man, John Young, are locked up, and Colgan, along with Jamieson's trusted lieutenants, must keep the organization going and fend off unwanted advances from new guys looking to make a name for themselves. There's trouble at home, too, when Zara Cope, the mother of Nate's child, reappears and brings with her a whirlwind of drama. On the other side of the law—though the beauty of Mackay's world is that nothing is ever so cut and dried—DI Michael Fisher is keen to bring down even more of the organization, although he's got a bit of a thing for a certain Ms. Cope. VERDICT Mackay continues to ascend the ranks of hard-boiled British crime fiction authors. His latest novel, although unrelentingly dark, is streaked with black humor and a fast-paced plot that never sacrifices the truly fleshed-out characters,
Kirkus Reviews
2017-01-23
A Glasgow fixer gets roped into the machinations of an embattled crime empire in this hard-boiled tartan noir.When a crime syndicate's head is imprisoned, the hoods trying to maintain control hire Nate Colgan to provide muscle, especially in light of a murder that contains all the earmarks of a warning that the syndicate is about to find itself under attack. Nate and his apprentice, Ronnie, go about providing the security and beatings that his new position requires. Things aren't helped when a hired gun from London comes north to avenge the murder and to prove himself the new hard man in town, nor when the mother of Nate's child suddenly reappears. What follows are the expected brutalities, betrayals, and double crosses, all of it in the determinedly grim tone that offers none of the noir pleasures but is nonetheless almost always acclaimed as authentic. A thriller can have a cold son of a bitch at the center, the classic example being Michael Caine in the film Get Carter, but said SOB also needs charisma, and apart from brooding and beating people, Nate doesn't bring much to the party. From his nondescript house to his nondescript appearance, Nate talks a lot about the necessity for a tough guy to fly beneath the radar. He pretty much flies beneath the radar of the book in which he's the protagonist. Label this one Highland dinge.
