The Necessary Death of Lewis Winter

By: Malcolm Mackay

Narrated by: Angus King

Length: 8 hrs and 12 mins

Publisher's Summary

An arresting, gripping novel of dark relationships and even darker moralities: introducing a remarkable new voice in crime fiction.

A 29-year-old man lives alone in his Glasgow flat. The telephone rings; a casual conversation, but behind this a job offer. The clues are there if you know to look for them. He is an expert. A loner. Freelance. Another job is another job, but what if this organisation wants more? A meeting at a club. An offer. A brief. A target: Lewis Winter. It’s hard to kill a man well. People who do it well know this. People who do it badly find out the hard way. The hard way has consequences.

An arresting, gripping novel of dark relationships and even darker moralities, The Necessary Death of Lewis Winter introduces a remarkable new voice in crime fiction. The second book in the Glasgow Trilogy How A Gunman Says Goodbye will follow soon…

©2013 Malcolm Mackay (P)2013 Pan Macmillan Publishers Ltd

Critic Reviews

“A very auspicious debut… This is an amazing novel… incredibly gripping from the first page to the last… a vivid portrait of the Glasgow underworld… it’s completely hypnotic… like the great writers, people like Elmore Leanord, [Mackay] paints really vivid portraits of his characters… a really unique voice” (Mark Billingham)
“A really clever multi-viewpoint novel about the Glasgow underworld . . . it will appeal to people who like to have a bit of a think as well as being entertained. The Necessary Death of Lewis Winter was a real revelation, a real find for me” (Kate Mosse)
“A dark, rich, brutal thriller… it absolutely captivates you. The Necessary Death of Lewis Winter is more than a page turner, it’s a page ripper. For a debut novel this sparkles, this zings, it leaps off the page. If you like Ian Rankin, if you like Stuart MacBride, if you like Val McDermid, Denise Mina – Malcolm Mackay is right up there” (Peter James)
"Glasgow’s a tough city and this is a tough book… very authentic, very gritty, you can really feel the streets. They call this genre Tartan Noir and absolutely The Necessary Death of Lewis Winter is a first class member of that” (Lee Child)

"This clipped, chilly novel is an admirable essay on the nature and mechanics of murder-to-order…Despite its taut, flinty deliberation, Mackay still manages to put soft flesh on his characters." ( Radio Times)

Was it clever or was it boring?

I spent the whole of this book waiting for a story to develop or something to happen. Of course soemthing does happen and Lewis Winter does die. The publisher's summary describes the book as a gripping novel and I have to disagree. I did listen to the whole book. I didn't mind the narrator but maybe my ennui was a reflection of the tedium of the gunman's life. The spark of excitement was when he carried out his mission. I am not sure if I will download the next part of this trilogy.

Awesome!

What made the experience of listening to The Necessary Death of Lewis Winter the most enjoyable?

Tightly written, brilliantly narrated and, as the first in a trilogy, I had two more to enjoy.

What did you like best about this story?

Although the subject matter could have led to a gruesome tale of sex and violence, it was superbly handled.

What about Angus King’s performance did you like?

An amazing performance by Angus King. He captured the essence of the story and made the written book redundant.

Did you have an emotional reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

I just couldn't put it down.

Any additional comments?

Most highly recommended

Glasgow's underworld comes to life!

Where does The Necessary Death of Lewis Winter rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Will keep this one in my top ten for some time to come.

Who was your favorite character and why?

I have to say , Callum, was my favourite character despite his chosen career. He is cool, calm and collected and goes about his "duties" with apparent nonchalance!

Did Angus King do a good job differentiating each of the characters? How?

Angus King was very adept at giving the listener a sense of each character, although his 'voice' for Winter's girlfriend, Zara, was a tad squeaky and grating.

Did you have an emotional reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

The story is gripping from the first few pages, but seriously gets going after Winter's untimely end. Callum's assistant is funny, his comments whilst in Winter's house had me giggling to myself!

Any additional comments?

Excellent debut, looking forward to the next book.

STROLLS ALONG

I usually listen to lot longer books, as I have sometimes been disappointed in shorter books having less time to develop characters and plot lines. However this book, althought short , lets you into the mind of many of the characters, as you see a crime from the point of view of them,one at a time, as the plot develops. It is interesting to see the differing thoughts as the plot progresses. So although it's a fairly straightforward crime story, it does give a different slant to it and I found it strolled along to a satisfactory conclusion. I appreciated that although it is written from differing characters points of view , the narrrator stayed the same. I have found it irritating in some audiobooks books when different narrators are used for different characters.

Very badly written story.

What would have made The Necessary Death of Lewis Winter better?

Including emotions as they are felt by the characters and writing from their own point of view as they feel them and not as if they are reporting them to a third party.

What was most disappointing about Malcolm Mackay’s story?

The author seems to believe that writing very short sentences increases the pace and urgency of the story making it more enthralling. It does not. Their occasional use can do this but writing it entirely in this way is simply annoying. Also the story is written from the point of view of each character but in an almost reported, third person singular manner, making for a very detached style which doesn't involve the reader.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

The narrator had poor material to work with but did not seem to add much emotion to the characters.

You didn’t love this book--but did it have any redeeming qualities?

There were few, if any, redeeming qualities to this book.

Unexpected but excellent

If you could sum up The Necessary Death of Lewis Winter in three words, what would they be?

Different, interesting and gripping

Any additional comments?

I loved it, and have already downloaded the next in the trilogy

Gripping

I really loved everything about this book. the detail of the main character was captured perfectly (although some of the others lacking) while he remained mysterious. I could imagine myself in those clubs, talking to those people (we've probably all met folk like that before in Glasgow, although maybe not all hitmen) I had no idea how it was going to end and was gripped to the very last page. immediately bought the second book.

Short. Sentencing. Does. Not. Make. A. Good. Read.

A disappointing book. Choosing a non-Glaswegian, Scots narrator and the terrible accent, irked me. The story takes a very long time to get nowhere and I found it hard to get two thirds of the way through. Short, snappy sentence length detracts from the story and in no way creates the urgency it attempts. The characters are a cliched and hackneyed version of the Glasgow underworld seen through an author and narrator’s eyes who are both unfamiliar with the city. Very poor book.

Very slow start.

Rather long and slightly confusing start to Malcolm Mackay's underworld story, but had to finish.

Good setup, dull conclusion

It's interesting to read a crime book that isn't a thriller. It's a solid setup and an interesting view into the Glaswegian underworld, and more importantly the variety of point of view characters gives a really interesting insight into the workings of a number of minds and personalities, which was my favourite part.

The actual events of the story are what let it down. I won't spoil anything but I don't need to - the author basically telegraphs everything that'll happen in advance. Everything is analysed in minute detail in inner monologues, and there's no real twist or mystery.

Towards the end there's some minor uncertainty over who was the victim of an attack, but it's resolved quickly and I was never in any real doubt. Then the book ends more or less without ceremony, with the police investigation incomplete and the great game being played by the big gang players barely begun. Can't help feeling the story barely got started, but somehow took a long time doing so.