SAVAGE NIGHT, Allan Guthrie

Guthrie’s SAVAGE NIGHT continues to build his own corner of the market. Or take it by force.
The question on the back asks “How much blood would you spill to avenge those you love?” The answer would be 'all of it'.
Exactly who’s doing the avenging is much trickier to answer. The plot revolves around two families, each hell bent on revenge against the other in increasingly depraved ways. Both families are guilty, one-way or another, and yet both are the victims of the plots circumstance.

To add another level, the story is told out of sequence, jumping around the plot’s timeline like a modern film narrative. Just when you think you’ve got a handle on who is guilty, and whom you should be rooting for, the narrative jumps to another point in time and completely messes with your firm grip.

The trick is to stop trying to find a good guy or a bad guy, and have fun. It’s all beautifully fucked up when it comes to morality.

What really makes Guthrie stand out, in my opinion, is the humour. He is one of the funniest writers around at the moment, though his books would probably react like Joe Pesci to be called ‘funny’. He mixes the bizarre with the real. Just when you think something ‘real’ will happen, then the story pulls out something crazy. When you think wackiness is afoot, then the story crashes back into its realistic roots.

Allan goes to length's, however, to point out that his craziest stuff comes direct from real life, from the newspapers, the television, and the unbelievable shit that people really try.

As a writer, Allan Guthrie is not afraid to kill an innocent person. He’s not afraid to kill a guilty person. He’s not afraid to hack either of them up with a saw. He’s not afraid to make it all funny.
And you’ll only be a little bit afraid when you laugh at it.

And, those who know me will know of my booksellers fetish. I love a well made paperback. Its hard to describe; somewhere between the typeset, the feel of the pages, and the quality of the cover. These things make a well made paperback.This one is very well made. But thats just me being a geek.