A Cool Head
Originally reviewed at mightylewry.wordpress.com“My dad used to say to me, ‘Try to keep a cool head and a warm heart’. At least, I think it was my dad, I don’t really remember him….”
Rating 3.5 out of 5
This book has everything: A Councillor, Gangsters, Mental health issues, Scotland and Celine Dion.
I have never read any of Ian Rankin’s work before, and I was pleasantly surprised, I don’t normally go for “Thrillers”, but as part of my challenge for the weekend I set myself – Reading three titles over the weekend, I thought I would hedge my bets by getting short stories and as I don’t normally read these either, but in for a penny in for a pound.
The story starts of with a chap called “Gravy”, it becomes apparent very quickly he has mental health issues, he lives in a hostel, and life to him is simple. He has a friend called Benjy, who comes to him to hid things. One day Gravy is working and Benjy turns up in an unfamiliar car and clutching his chest asking Grave to hid a bag.
I thought this would be a great plot line in a Guy Richie film, the characters are similar to Lock Stock and that is why I initially and naively thought it was based in London, especially with a character called “Gorgeous George”.
It was a great story that had its moments of suspense – I found myself attributing what I had watched as gangster behaviour in films and expecting the story to go a certain way based on that preconceived idea. I am pleased to say I was partially wrong, there is a hard man image associated with gangsters and that way of life, but while this title portrayed this expected behaviour, it also shows a different side, a more personable side, which was a nice addition.
All in all this was a great little read and wasn't quite what i expected, don’t quite know what i was expecting, but this wasn't it and it was a pleasant diversion
