Halfhead - Softcover

Stuart B. MacBride

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0007298706 ISBN 13: 9780007298709

Publisher: Harper Voyager, 2009

Synopsis

Terrifying serial killer thriller set in the gritty Glasgow of the near future, from the bestselling author of the Logan McRae series. Glasgow, not too far in the future. A new punishment has been devised for the perpetrators of serious crimes -- one that not only reduces the prison population but also benefits society at large. The process is known as halfheading: the offender's lower jaw is removed and they are lobotomized. They are then put to work as cleaners in municipal areas like hospitals, where they serve as a warning to all that crime doesn't pay. But for one halfhead, it seems the lobotomy hasn't quite succeeded. Six years after her surgery, Dr Fiona Westfield 'wakes up' surrounded by the butchered remains of a man she has just brutally killed. As her mind slowly begins to return, she sets out on a quest for vengeance. William Hunter, Assistant Section Director of the 'Network' -- a military wing of the police -- attends the crime scene left behind by the newly awakened halfhead. Sherman House is a run-down concrete housing development full of undesirables and Hunter and his team quickly find themselves in a firefight with the locals. With the help of old comrades and a new friend in the form of prickly but attractive Detective Sergeant Josephine Cameron, Will gets on the trail of the killer. But before long the investigation leads back to a terrible tragedy in his own past, as well as to a terrifying conspiracy to sow violence and misery among Glasgow's most vulnerable citizens.

About this title

About the Author:

Stuart MacBride, without the 'B', is the bestselling author of a series of crime novels featuring DS Logan McRae and set in Aberdeen. He won the International Thriller Writers best debut novel award, and has been shortlisted for the Barry Award, and twice for the Theakston's Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year award. In 2007 he won the Dagger in the Library, awarded for a body of work and in 2008 he won the ITV3 Crime Thriller Award for Breakthrough Author. Halfhead, published under the name Stuart B MacBride, is his first foray into Science Fiction. Stuart lives in north-east Scotland with his wife Fiona, cat Grendel, and a vegetable plot full of weeds.

Review:

'Slick, gruesome and brutally intelligent, this is bare knuckles thriller-writing.' Michael Marshall 'Compelling' SFX Praise for Stuart MacBride: 'Riveting and gruesome' Telegraph 'Grim, gritty and great fun' Daily Sport 'Stuart MacBride goes straight for the jugular with a tight, thrilling novel' Glasgow Herald 'The action is fercious and the pace unrelenting' Northern Echo

About this edition

• Publisher: Harper Voyager
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 0007298706
• ISBN 13: 9780007298709
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 384