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by: Denise Mina  Amazon.com's Price: $84.95 Prices subject to change.Availability: In stock soon. Order now to get in line. First come, first served.
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Binding: Audio CassetteEAN: 9780753117989 Format: Audiobook ISBN: 0753117983 Label: ISIS Audio Books Manufacturer: ISIS Audio Books Number Of Items: 10 Publication Date: 2005-03 Publisher: ISIS Audio Books Studio: ISIS Audio Books Related Items: Alternate Versions: Click to Display Browse for similar items by category: Click to Display Editorial Review: Amazon.com Review: Garnethill (the name of a bleak Glasgow suburb) won the John Creasey Memorial Award for Best First Crime Novel--the British equivalent of the Edgar. It's a book that crackles with mordant Scottish wit and throbs with the pain of badly treated mental illness, managing to be both truly frightening and immensely exhilarating at the same time. Maureen O'Donnell, surely one of the most unlikely crime solvers in recent history, comes from a family so seriously dysfunctional that it deserves a television series of its own. Her mother is an overly dramatic alcoholic who "could scene-steal from an eclipse"; her brother Liam is a bumbling drug dealer; and the black sheep of the family is a sister who went to London and became a Thatcherite. The troubled but gutsy Maureen decides to dump her boyfriend, Douglas--an abusive (and married) psychologist she met while a patient at a sex-abuse clinic. After a night of drinking with a friend who's a social worker, Maureen wakes up to find that Douglas has been tied to a kitchen chair in her flat with his throat slashed. As someone with both a motive and a history of mental illness, Maureen is the most likely suspect--until a second, similar murder occurs that links the crimes to a local psychiatric hospital. Denise Mina, who has a background in health care, law, and criminology, is definitely a writer to watch. --Dick Adler Product Description: "A shattering first novel... You can't look away from it."--New York Times Book Review Maureen O'Donnell wakes up one morning to find her therapist boyfriend murdered in the middle of her living room and herself a prime suspect in a murder case. Desperate to clear her name and to get at the truth, Maureen traces rumors about a similar murder at a local psychiatric hospital, uncovering a trail of deception and repressed scandal that could exonerate her - or make her the next victim. "I can't think of a more interesting - and less likely - crime hero than Maureen O'Donnell, the damaged but determined center of Denise Mina's marvelous debut mystery. . . . The book bristles with angry energy and the spare urban poetry of its unique language." - "A groundbreaking book...its emotional rawness and visceral honesty pack a punch more potent than any boxer-turned-PI could provide."--Washington Post Book World "This raw, powerful story is an exceptional debut." -Kansas City Star "A compelling story. . . . This is the reason we read mysteries." -Rocky Mountain News Average Rating:
 Rating:  - What Can You Say After 5 StarsConsidering that almost everyone who reads this book (and it's companions in the trilogy) heaps praise all over it (and that it's won many prizes) it's hard to write a review that's not all gushing. More than giving us a picture of down at the heals Glasgow in the late 1990's and the wretchedness of those who have to live on the edge of society, it also a true picture of how alcoholism destroys everything. Mostly it begins by destroying the alcoholics, then their families, then their ... Read More Rating:  - Down and out in ScotlandDenise Mina's book Garnethill made me cringe at times while reading - her descriptions of events, places and people leapt out at me without warning like a sucker punch! I wanted to jump into the book and protect the characters from not only the Killer, but also the Mom, and even from each other at times. Great read! Make sure to have a bottle on hand to properly get into it. KUDOS to National Public Radio's interview with Ms Mina which led me straight to Amazon when I heard it. Read More Rating: - FLOWER OF THE COWCADDENSThis story won an award for a debut crime novel, and I can well see why. Without wishing to suggest that it is `perfect' (whatever that is), I would say it is outstandingly accomplished and exceptionally readable. I bought it on the strength of its title and absolutely nothing else. Garnethill is an area of Glasgow that I knew very well when I was young, and nostalgia is strong in Glasgow's émigré children. Apart from other factors, this city is full of unique and distinctive place-names, ... Read More Rating:  - Flat FlatulenceThe ninth sentence, on the first page of the book, last line of the second paragraph is: "Eight long months of emotional turmoil had passed as suddenly as a fart." Um, had I noticed that line in the store I probably would have "passed" on this one (pun intended). Rating: - Bringing Scotland to LifeI have never been to Scotland, but I feel like I know it. Mina is that good at creating her scene. Her characterization is equally outstanding. This novel introduces a sympathetic, yet seriously flawed, protagonist and has a compelling plot. I generally hate anything having to do with "survivor" lit...survivor of abuse, incest, etc...don't like it...except here, it works. I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys detective lit, unless you like your heroes squeaky-clean. I ... Read More 
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