Two-Way Split has been long-listed for the Theakston's Old Peculier Crime Novel Of The Year Award. You have until June 17th to vote for your favourite.

two-way split

"Excellent." George Pelecanos

Edinburgh, Dead of Winter.

Robin Greaves is an armed robber whose professionalism is put to the test when he discovers his wife has been sleeping with a fellow gang-member. Robin plans the ultimate revenge, but things go from bad to worse when the gang bungles a post office robbery, leaving carnage in their wake. Suddenly they are stalked by the police, sleazy private eyes, and a cold-blooded killer who may be the only one not looking for a cut of the money.

This lean and muscular crime caper with a seriously twisted dark side was shortlisted for the CWA Debut Dagger in the UK. TWO-WAY SPLIT is an explosive introduction to the raw talent of Allan Guthrie, one of crime fiction's hottest new writers

"In the tradition of Irvine Welsh and Ian Rankin, Allan Guthrie chronicles life in the underbelly of Edinburgh with dazzling grace. TWO-WAY SPLIT is a hard-edged, fast paced noir thriller with outstanding dialogue and plenty of unforgettable bad guys. It's Scottish crime fiction with a unique American hard-boiled twist."
Jason Starr, author of TWISTED CITY

"A lean, vivid novel"
Susan Mansfield, The Scotsman

"a damn good first novel"
Gary Lovisi, Crime Time

"No wonder the film rights ... have been sold, and that it was shortlisted for a CWA Debut Dagger award. Great thriller."
Lucy Sussex, The Sunday Age

"...the characters are alienated, untrustworthy and doing postgraduate studies in sexual dysfunctionality."
Robin Wallace-Crabbe, The Weekend Australian

"...Guthrie pulls it off; right to the end he kept me guessing as to what decisions his characters would make—and, more importantly, caring about those choices"
I've Been Reading Lately
Click here for the whole review

"This noir crime thriller (for noir read 'macho' and occasionally 'misogynistic') is fast-paced enough for those who like their prose unadorned and full of inverted commas."
Anonymous, Scottish Review Of Books

"As unsavoury characters clash in a complex but beautifully structured and paced plot, Guthrie has created a novel which is easily the match for any of the modern American masters of the noir genre."
Doug Johnstone, The Big Issue

"...a dark, fast-paced thriller from one of Scotland's most exciting new writers... A hugely entertaining read."
Kath Lynott, Waterstone's Christmas Gift Guide, 2005

"...the tension ratchets up with each snatch of mayhem. Although the story is florid, the language is tight. Guthrie's style is speedy, dialogue-driven and cleverly structured."
Jenny Renton, Sunday Herald

"Don't miss Two-Way Split! ... a great novel." Forth 2

"a small masterpiece of Edinburgh nastiness"
Paul Johnson, Crime Time

"it is to Guthrie's absolute credit that this book would be extremely difficult to televise"
Stuart Kelly, Scotland On Sunday

"Allan Guthrie is a master at giving readers heroes who are anti-heroes, people who they can easily identify with and care about. In Guthrie’s world, unconventional becomes conventional, sanity is found in madness, love springs from the dark. Critics are fond of calling books like Guthrie’s neon noir or hard-boiled fiction. Call it anything you want, but read ‘Two-Way Split.’ It is damn good fiction."   
H.P. Albarelli, Jnr, Laura Hird's The New Review
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"I was ... riveted by this stripped down, breathless, all-at-one-sitting read - a tough, fast-moving, funny novel with the kind of energy that's so compelling in a lot of the best mid-century American noir"
Lee Horsley, Crime Culture
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"a commanding debut from a name to watch"
Chris Waywell, Waterstone's Quarterly Review

"a straight-up bona fide classic, no messing .... it's the speed, the economy of the style that got me"
Bullet Magazine

"...a memorable and stunning and pitch-perfect debut and one you should grab forthwith. I can't remember a first novel this good in a long, long time..." 
Ed Gorman, Mystery Scene

"With razor-sharp characterisation and an evocative sense of place, the novel's pace never relents: the supremely damaged characters that Guthrie conjures up are seldom let off the hook, and stew throughout in their fetid juices. Dark and splendid." Maxim Jakubowski, The Guardian
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"Quite simply, superb." Crime Scene Scotland

"well put together with solid characterisation, well described action and a really neat twist half way through"
The Jaggy Thistle

"there isn't a phrase that doesn't take the reader along with the plot ... 
... the place for original metaphors"
Be Write

"shows a sporran-full of promise" Kerry J. Schooley, Murder Out There

"one of the five best crime novels I've ever read." Ken Bruen, author of The Guards

"a tight little mood piece whose mood, like Rankin's, is black and blue" Kirkus Reviews

"one hell of a noir novel." Charlie Stella, author of Cheapskates

"Jim Thompson on crack." Terrill Lankford, author of Blonde Lightning

"Everything fits together so perfectly ... Guthrie's really something"
Sarah Weinmann, Confessions Of An Idiosyncratic Mind

"all the beauty of Blue Velvet and all the insanity of Wild At Heart"
Ray Banks, The Saturday Boy

"takes that noir finger of fate and gleefully pokes you in the eye with it"
Donna Moore, Crime Spree Magazine

Click here to read an extract