Savage Night [Kindle Edition]

This was the first Guthrie novel I read and it's a terrific, dark, twisted tale with the bleak but laugh-out-loud humour of an Elizabethan revenge drama. Evidently Guthrie has rewritten and improved it for this Kindle edition, though I don't see how the original could be bettered. If you enjoy this gripping novel (and you will), then I highly recommend the linked novella 'Killing Mum' for dessert.

Shakespearean in scope and theme, unrelenting, tragic, Savage Night is a powerful revenge tale, in which violence, fate, love, hate and even humor commingle like blood and wine, one barely distinguishable from the other.

Three modern day families are brought together in this crime novel about opportunity and murder, all of whom are part of Edinburgh's criminal underclass to a lesser or greater degree. Who they are, how they connect, and what they do--based on a lie, ironically--is the crux of Savage Night, which is both suspenseful and affecting. The Park Family includes father Andy, an arsonist; hiw wife, Liz, an attempted suicide; daughter Effie, who lives with boyfriend Martin; and sons Richie, a hit man, and teenage Grant, the only one with an actual job. But even criminals love their families and Andy is no exception. He is desperate to make things better for his brood, especially his beloved Liz. Belying his family name is the non-violent patriarch of the second family, Tommy Savage, who turned a minor criminal career into a legitimate business; his brother, Phil, the brawn to Tommy's brain; Tommy's sons, Fraser, a drug user, and Jordan, a clever ten year old. Tommy, who also has a mother and an ex-wife, is equally devoted to his family and will do anything to protect them. Then there are the Milnes: Martin, sensitive, likeable, and a good cook; his father Greg, an alcoholic abuser; and his mother, Jean, who has a history of madness and is Phil's former lover.

All of these people are damaged, some literally as well as figuratively. Thanks to author Guthrie's skillful characterization, they are also real, with real problems. They are driven by the same needs and wants and wishes and desires as members of any family, and their loyalty and devotion to one another is as admirable as their actions are deplorable and, finally, incredible. Guthrie also gives them foibles and weaknesses that make them sympathetic and even pitiable. One suffered a childhood trauma so horrific that it makes him helpless in an absurd way; another carries a literal scar of betrayal, a third lacks a criminal's heart and intent, and others have addictions that make them careless. They are human and hurting and, against our own instincts, we tremble for them; we want them to wait, stop, pull back, rethink their plans and actions, even as we know how unlikely it is that they will.

Guthrie repeats the triangle of three by sending his characters to three locations where the most violent events occur, each of which, ironically, should represent a safe place, a haven. Then he does it again by juxtaposing scenes of violence and brutality against scenes of tenderness and longing, as when Andy talks to or about his Liz, and finally, through scenes of organic humor that both lightens and makes much of the novel darkly funny. Ultimately, though, Guthrie holds to the maxim: revenge is destructive and insidious; as in war, even the innocent, the young, the afflicted, the generous, suffer. No one is really spared.

Once started, Savage Night is hard to put down, and can even be, despite its grittiness, engaging. The timeline, which is not chronological, builds tension and anticipation. Guthrie has a gift for creating dialogue that sounds like real people talking; conversations between unlikely characters account for much of the novel's black humor. This is a well conceived, tightly written, polished novel that, like a classic, stays in the mind and heart. Read it and be glad.

This is what makes my kindle such a great purchase. The chances of me coming across the likes of Allan Guthrie in my pre kindle days where very slim. Now I have access to the works of Mr Guthrie and his peers for a few pence and a couple of mouse clicks.

Savage Night is a dark Jacobean style tale set in modern day Edinburgh. Two families on the fringes of society become entwined in a web of blackmail, revenge and murder. Mistakes are made, wires crossed and blood flows. The Park family have an unusual care payment plan for a needy relative involving ex tobacco smuggler Tommy Savage. What at first appears to be insignificant details in the first few chapters gradually come together piece by piece to form a complete grisly picture. The author captures the Park family's inevitable decline towards depravity perfectly. Capable of loving tender moments as well as acts of gruesome evil you can't help but warm to them although you may not want them living on your street.

The writing is sharp and brutal, in a world of fuzzy analog Allan Guthrie writes in full digital HD.