Hard Man

*** Winner of the Spinetingler award (Best Novel--New Voice) ***
*** Shortlisted for the Last Laugh award ***

Described by critics as 'a Grand Guignol masterpiece', 'a Buster Keaton movie with bloodshed', 'an updated and X-rated version of Hamlet' and 'a Guy Ritchie movie starring Phil and Grant Mitchell', HARD MAN is really a Monty Python urban blue-collar western (with some torture porn) about a man who loves his mum, loses his dog and finds Jesus.

Has Pearce finally found his match?

The time-served Edinburgh hard man is still recovering from the loss of his mother when he's invited by the dysfunctional Baxter family to protect their pregnant 16-year-old daughter from Wallace, her 26-year-old husband. Having found out that the baby's not his, Wallace – a man with a reputation for violence – has sworn vengeance. Pearce declines the job: he's no babysitter.

But when Wallace starts taunting Pearce, he goes too far. Before long, Pearce is forced to confront him. Now it's deeply personal.

Time to find out who the real hard man is...

Read a sample chapter

First published by Polygon, UK, '07