The Long Drop : A Novel
Author(s): Denise Mina
A stand-alone true crime thriller from the acclaimed author of the Alex Morrow novels that exposes the dark hearts of the guilty . . . and the innocent.
True story: 1958, Glasgow. Peter Manuel broke into a suburban villa in Glasgow and murdered three members of the Watt family. William Watt, the father, a successful businessman and entrepreneur, was arrested and jailed for the crime, but the police couldn’t find enough evidence to charge him and he was released. Watt was determined to clear his own name and let it be known that he would pay for information. Peter Manuel contacted him and offered to help. The two men met in a bar and spent the next twelve hours drinking together.
No one knows what happened that night.
When Manuel was finally arrested weeks later on another murder charge, he represented himself in what the newspapers called the trial of the century.
The Long Drop is Denise Mina’s reimagining of the mysterious night Peter Manuel and William Watt spent together, intercut with the transcripted trial. Through a careful reconstruction of events, Mina’s riveting prose attempts to make sense of one of the most baffling and intriguing true crime cases in legal history.
Review(s):
“The power of Mina’s writing is such that she can transport readers from placidity to violent pandemonium in the space of a paragraph.”
“She’s up there with Ian Rankin among practitioners of character-driven Scottish noir.”
“Riveting. . . . An installment that exposes the bleakness of small-town Scotland as skillfully as it does the bustling mean streets of Glasgow.”
“A wee fine read.”
“A page turner that is guaranteed to satisfy mystery lovers.”
“There’s a wonderful Glasgow-ness to Mina’s writing. Using various points of view, she captures a city full of hopelessness and hope, a place of deep class divides and gang crime, of loyalty and pride in belonging.”
“Deliciously shadowy.”
“Atmospheric and compelling.”
“Takes you right under the characters’ skin. A relentlessly tense and exciting read, every page oozes menace and its core of truth makes it all the more unsettling.”
“A terrific exploration of crime and oppression.”
ISBN: 9781443452526