No More Games – Gordon J Brown

Glasgow, 1974 – a time of power cuts, strikes and the three-day week. Twelve-year-old Ginger Bannerman is playing in the local woods when he stumbles across a gunman in hiding. The man has incriminating evidence of police corruption and forces Ginger to steal a tape recording from a major criminal’s flat. But when Ginger discovers that his dad, a police constable, is mentioned on the tape, his world is turned upside down. With both the gunman and the criminal in hot pursuit, he must prevent the tape falling into the wrong hands if he’s going to save himself and his family. Things have suddenly got very serious.

I was grateful to recieve a review copy from the author

Ginger and Milky are 12 years old. They go to high school in Glasgow and it’s 1974. Best friends who look out for each other and are about to have a life changing encounter.

You’re going to hear about this encounter, and all the subsequent consequences that spiral from it, as someone is reminiscing and telling their story. The storyteller isn’t sure his audience of one (you will be the second listener) will actually stay to hear the whole story but if they do listen there’s a suggestion of a job to be completed at the end of it.

The story begins with a dead body. In Milky and Ginger’s secret den of all places. Milky has found the body and he seeks out his best friend to share the discovery and seek guidance on what they should do. Once they have assured themselves there really IS a dead body in their den neither boy is prepared to approach the dead guy but that problem quickly becomes irrelevant when their corpse wakes up. Terrified and fascinated in equal measure the boys make their high speed escape.

When Milky returns to the den the next day the dead guy is gone but he’s left something behind…a gun. While the boys are debating what to do with a loaded gun (obviously one of them wants to try it out) the “dead guy” returns to collect his property and a standoff ensues. Again the boys will have to escape from an older (and slower) pursuer but speed won’t help when the man you’re running from knows where you live.

Soon Milky and Ginger are being followed by people that want to involve them in affairs outwith their youthful comprehension. Return the gun. Don’t tell your parents. It’s going to end badly for you if you don’t do as we say. Unfortunately for Ginger and Milky there is a suggestion of corruption within the Glasgow police, their encounter with the gunman brings them directly into this situation.

Someone is keen to utilise their knowledge of these corrupt officers, someone else is already paying these officers and wants to continue to benefit from their services. Both parties are powerful and dangerous individuals and two twelve year old boys are not going to disrupt their plans.

Ginger will soon find himself in possession of a tape which could shine a light on the dark corners of the corruption in the police station – but there’s a suggestion his Dad’s name is on that tape. Can Ginger and Milky risk exposing Ginger’s own father as a criminal?

Huge Kudos to Gordon J Brown for making this story sing from first page to last. The scene setting (Glasgow in 1974) is perfectly captured, the rental televisions, the rolling power cuts, the school janitor sneaking a nip of vodka during class time and the two boys behave exactly how you’d expect two twelve year-old’s to behave. It all feels so very real and the story just flows from one predicament to the next.
No More Games was absolutely mesmerising. Time will slide past, totally unnoticed, as you get caught up in Ginger and Milky’s story. Their problems just snowball from chapter to chapter and every decision they make seems to drag them deeper and deeper into the mire. You will want to know who is telling Ginger’s story and you’ll want to know who is listening. You’ll will them to survive, you’ll hope their problems are not as bleak as they appear and you’ll love how 1970’s Glasgow comes alive for you.

No More Games is published by Red Dog Press and is available directly from the publisher here: https://www.reddogpress.co.uk/product-page/no-more-games

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August 14

Decades: Compiling the Ulitmate Library with Rod Reynolds

This is Decades. It’s a challenge I set myself to assemble the Ultimate Library, a library which began with zero books and was to be filled with nothing but the very best reading recommendations. Which books should be included? What have been the essential reads over the years?

I knew this was not a task I could undertake myself so each week I invite a booklover to join me and I ask them to nominate books which they feel should be added to my Decades Library. There are two rules which govern the selection of their five books:

1 – You may choose any five books
2 – You may only select one book per decade over five consecutive decades

Easy? This week’s guest began his email reply to me with “I can see now why people are getting so mad about this”. This may well be why I am asking my guests to select the books and not taking this challenge on myself!

The Decades Library is also a bookshop as I have set up a store page over at Bookshop.Org. If you fancy reading any of the recommendations made by my Decades curators you can purchase the books through this handy link: https://uk.bookshop.org/lists/grab-this-book-the-decades-library 10% of the cover price goes towards supporting independent booksellers. This is an affiliate link.

This week the Decades curator hat passes to Rod Reynolds. Back in the early days of Grab This Book I was offered the opportunity to read Rod’s first Charlie Yates book. The Dark Inside, which utterly blew me away. Two more books followed in the series and I loved them both. The Guardian described the books as “pitch-perfect American noir” which is a near perfect way to describe how I felt when I read them. Last year Rod released his first novel set in the UK, London based Blood Red City was another terrific page turner and his latest, Black Reed Bay continues to set a high bar for tension and thrills.

You can see all Rod’s books here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Rod-Reynolds/e/B01BHZGQ5E?ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1&qid=1628926594&sr=8-1

DECADES

1980s – The Neon Rain by James Lee Burke

Burke is arguably the finest prose sytlist in all of crime fiction, writing in a lyrical, poetic and mystical way about violent, damaged and gritty individuals. This is the first in his Robicheaux series, which I think is his best work. Although I can take or leave the titular protagonist, there’s no character I enjoy more in crime fiction than his fearsome partner, Clete Purcel.

1990s – 1974 by David Peace

The first of Peace’s Red Riding Quartet, a monumental achievement from a writer who is criminally underappreciated (at least in his home country). An intense portrayal of journalist Eddie Dunford’s harrowing journey through greed, murder and obsession to the dark heart of 1970s Yorkshire.

2000s – The Cold Six Thousand by James Ellroy

The book that changed everything for me with its raw power. I’d never read Ellroy before and, in retrospect, this is the worst place to start because it represents the high (or low, depending on your personal taste) point of his ‘telegraphic’, jive-heavy style, making it at times almost impenetrable to the uninitiated. At first, I had no idea what I was reading, and it made no sense. By the end of it, I wanted to be a writer.

2010 – November Road by Lou Berney

A book set in the aftermath of the JFK assassination was always going to catch my eye because it’s the same territory Ellroy’s best work treads. But this is a very different type of novel, one with that examines what happens when a lifelong mobster realises he’s run out of road with the bosses – just as he falls in love for the first time. A beautiful and beautifully written novel about life, regret and the redemptive power of love.

2020 – We Begin At The End by Chris Whitaker

All I can say about this book is that if you’ve already met Duchess Day Radley, you know why it’s here. And if you haven’t, you’re missing out on a novel that raises the bar for modern crime fiction.

My thanks to Rod for sharing his selections. I have never read James Ellroy so this is clearly something I need to rectify as soon as possible. The latest consequence of Rod reading The Cold Six Thousand is called Black Reed Bay, the first book in the Detective Casey Wray series and published by Orenda Books. You can order Rod’s new book here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B08T65D9XX/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i0

DECADES WILL RETURN

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August 8

Scotland ’74 A World Cup Story – Richard Gordon

With the new season less than 48 hours away it is time for a little football chat….

I am a football fan although as a follower of Motherwell Football Club this will probably leave some doubting my initial statement.

As a boy my father would take me to matches at Fir Park Stadium where we would watch my team try their very best and sometimes even win. This was in the 1980’s and Motherwell were not the force they are today (last season’s league table shows that Motherwell finished in 2^nd place in the Scottish Premier League – not too shabby).

Christmas 1983 saw my family uproot from our Lanarkshire home and relocate over 100 miles North in dreary Inverness. I say ‘dreary’ as in 1983 Inverness was not the thriving metropolis it is today. We had one cinema (with 2 screens), a John Menzies and everyone talked funny – except to them I sounded funny. What a blast.

The good news was that Inverness had three football teams. The bad news, none of them were any good and they all played in the Highland League (whatever that was). Deprived of ‘real’ football I turned to my radio. Radio Scotland 810 MW – my link to civilisation and to the excitement of the Scottish Premier League. Football on the radio is infinitely better than it is on television, the skill of the commentators in building up the excitement and describing a visual experience that you cannot see is one I could only dream of emulating. On TV a defender make a 20 yard pass to advance the ball towards the centre spot and the commentator will not say a word, on radio the same pass can sound worthy of Pele at his best.

30 years on I am still a Motherwell fan, I can see Airdrie’s stadium from my window and I have a new season ticket for Albion Rovers (because they are doing amazing things and I want to support their initiative). Yet I will always choose football on the radio over the TV or attending a match.

So what does any of that have to do with Scotland going to the 1974 World Cup in West Germany? It’s right at the top of the page – Richard Gordon. To me, he is the voice of Scottish Football and as I read his magnificent recounting of one of Scotland’s many attempts to conquer the footballing world I can almost hear his voice narrating every line and it made it just that little bit more special.

To turn to the actual book (which is why you are here) it is wonderfully constructed bringing together source documents from the time, player interviews describing the events both on and off the pitch (and there were some fun off the pitch events) and the social history of what it was like to be a footballer and a fan in the early 1970’s. All the material is crafted together in a very readable, almost conversational, manner and makes compelling reading.

Although I had not actually been born when the ‘74 World Cup took place I found that this did not impact upon my enjoyment of the book. The detail the author catches is staggering as we are taken through the qualification matches, the building of the team, the characters, the peripheral players and the managerial changes that took place. Names I knew well and those I did not know at all became part of a very important journey and I got to live it out through the reading of this book.

For those not in the know Scotland had to play Brazil, Yugoslavia (remember them?) and Zaire. We returned home from Germany unbeaten yet we didn’t win the cup, history proves this is a very Scottish way of doing things.

For Scotland fans this book is required reading. Football fans from further afield can enjoy re-living and sharing in the hopes and dreams of a small (but proud) country.

If football is not your thing and you have made it this far down the page – thank you! I should have some Doctor Who stuff coming soon, perhaps that will be more to your liking?

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