Smokeheads and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle. Learn more


or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
Kindle Edition
Read the Kindle edition on Kindle, iPhone, iPad, Android, BlackBerry, PC and Mac.
 
   
More Buying Choices
Have one to sell? Sell yours here
Smokeheads
 
 
Share your own customer images
Publisher: learn how customers can search inside this book.
Start reading Smokeheads on your Kindle in under a minute.

Don't have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here, or download a FREE Kindle Reading App.

Smokeheads [Paperback]

Douglas Johnstone (Author)
4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews) |
Price: $15.75 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
Temporarily out of stock.
Order now and we'll deliver when available. We'll e-mail you with an estimated delivery date as soon as we have more information. Your account will only be charged when we ship the item.
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.

Formats

 Amazon Price New from Used from
Kindle Edition $4.36   -- --
Paperback $15.75   -- --

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1, 2011
This title is shortlisted for CrimeFest's Last Laugh Award. Four friends, one weekend, gallons of whisky. What could go wrong? Driven by amateur whisky-nut Adam, four late-thirties ex-university mates are heading to Islay - the remote Scottish island world famous for its single malts - with a wallet full of cash, a stash of coke and a serious thirst. Over a weekend soaked in the finest cask strength spirit, they meet young divorcee Molly, who Adam has a soft spot for, her little sister Ash who has all sorts of problems and Molly's ex-husband Joe, a control freak who also happens to be the local police. As events spiral out of control, they are all thrown into a nightmare that gets worse at every turn.

Customers Who Viewed This Item Also Viewed

Editorial Reviews

Review

A wild trip to the Scottish Highlands, Doug Johnstone’s debut on the Faber crime list is a classic violent thriller, doused with black humour --This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

About the Author

Doug Johnstone is a freelance journalist and the author of two previous novels, Tombstoning and The Ossians, described by Irvine Welsh as 'a drug-fuelled, counter-clockwise state-of-the-nation rock 'n' roll tour' and by Ian Rankin as 'a powerful and moving commentary on the country and its defining myths'.

Product Details

  • Paperback: 304 pages
  • Publisher: Faber & Faber (August 1, 2011)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0571260632
  • ISBN-13: 978-0571260638
  • Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5 x 0.9 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)

    •  Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?

More About the Author

› Visit Amazon's Douglas Johnstone Page
Douglas Johnstone
Doug Johnstone is a writer, musician and journalist based in Edinburgh. His latest novel, Smokeheads, was published by Faber and Faber in March 2011. He has previously published two novels with Penguin, Tombstoning (2006) and The Ossians (2008), which received praise from the likes of Irvine Welsh, Ian Rankin and Christopher Brookmyre. Doug is currently writer in residence at the University of Strathclyde and has worked for over a decade as a freelance arts journalist.
He is a singer, musician and songwriter in several bands, including Northern Alliance, part of the Fence Collective. Northern Alliance have released four albums to critical acclaim, as well as recording an album as a fictional band called The Ossians. Doug has a PhD in nuclear physics, grew up in Arbroath and now lives in Portobello, Edinburgh with his wife and two children.
For more info check out dougjohnstone.wordpress.com

Customer Reviews

4 star
0
2 star
0
1 star
0
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
My initial thought on the title was that a `Smokehead' must be a pot-smoker or a poorly organised pyromaniac. It turns out to be a term for someone who's in love with the malt-whiskies of the Isle of Islay.
The book tells the tale of a group of 4 middle-aged men who share a love of the brown nectar. They're taking a tour of Islay to get as many tastes of the hard stuff as they can manage. We have Adam (whisky taster extraordinaire), Roddy (coke-snorting live life to the full millionaire), Luke (enigmatic musician and loner) and Ethan (Mr Average).
The book opens on a cliff-hanger, with our protagonist falling through the ice into a frozen lake. We know immediately that he's in trouble - damned if he gets out and drowned if he doesn't. It certainly grabbed my attention from the off.
The story then steps back and tells us how he ended up there.
Adam has a plan to change his life from the mundane to the exciting by persuading Roddy to invest in a remote, old still. In the meantime Adam finds himself hoping to rekindle the odd spark with Molly, a local whisky expert, who last time they met was married to Joe.
Unfortunately for Adam, Joe still carries a torch for his ex and is keen to use it to ignite the odd fire of his own. Worse, he's the hard man of the local police force and has more than the odd screw loose.
Having encountered the charm of a small community, they soon discover the drawbacks of being outsiders.
Following a car accident, life for the whisky tourists is never going to be the same ever again.
By the time I got back to the frozen loch scene I was almost as exhausted as the characters, not having had the chance to rest since the off. The good news was that the resolution to the cliff-hanger is only a new beginning and there's still plenty that remains unresolved.
I feel that Doug Johnstone's work is at its best when taking us through action scenes (and there are plenty of them). He raises the temperature by degree so that it becomes increasingly uncomfortable (no boiling frogs here). He also has a great knack of taking his characters from extreme situations and surprising them with things that aren't so much left-field as Outer Limits.
By the end of the book, I realised that I didn't actually like any of the main characters. I'm not sure I'd want to spend much time with them, but I'd certainly buy them a drink to steady their nerves and to wipe out their memory banks - that would be the compassionate thing to do.
I'd recommend this to fans of fast-paced action, quality writing, thrilling and unexpected twists, harsh landscapes and those who like a little bit of black humour. I guess it's also a must for any smokeheads out there.
Excellent stuff.
Comment | 
Was this review helpful to you?
OK but unsatisfying July 2, 2011
Format:Paperback
Smokeheads is the story of four middle-aged friends who take a brief trip to the small Scottish island of Islay to sample the world-famous whiskies made there. A slight sense of menace and impending doom and a somewhat clunkily-placed reference to Deliverance give the reader a pretty good idea of what is to come, and I won't spoil the book by giving away any more of the plot. It is a well-written book which eventually turned into an exciting story, but I thought it was ultimately lacking in anything enduring.

The narrative is prefaced with a page of heart-pounding action from later in the book to hook our attention. Just as well, from my point of view because the opening was rather slow and introduces us to the characters who are pretty much a stock group of disparate stereotypes - particularly the obnoxiously cocky and flash millionaire fund manager. As the publishers put it "events spiral out of control" and the middle section is exciting and gripping, but in the end I thought it added up to very little. In particular, I found the thinly-drawn characters, and especially the lack of any development of the one enigmatic and promising character, very disappointing.

The book has a good build-up of atmosphere and is rather interesting about whisky itself. There is a lot of well-described action, pursuit and sickening violence which certainly kept me reading, but in the end I didn't think it amounted to much and I found it very unsatisfying in lots of ways, so I can't give it more than three stars.
Comment | 
Was this review helpful to you?
Search Customer Reviews
Only search this product's reviews

Tag this product

 (What's this?)
Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organize and find favorite items.
Your tags: Add your first tag
 
See most popular tags

Customer Discussions

This product's forum
Discussion Replies Latest Post
No discussions yet

Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
 


Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
Search all Amazon discussions
   
Related forums

Listmania!


Create a Listmania! list

So You'd Like to...


Create a guide

Look for Similar Items by Category

Look for Similar Items by Subject

Search Books by subject:






i.e., each book must be in subject 1 AND subject 2 AND ...