‘This pacy new thriller buffs it up new’ - The Times

In the West End, a sniper sets up for his next target. Armed with his Winchester 460 Magnum rifle and Redfield variable-power scope, he prepares for his next victim.

Alice Palm, a woman who enjoys to party every Friday falls prey to the sniper.

The next, a Greek widow on her way from work …

A gay taxi driver…

Jack Willows and his new partner, Claire Parker, are assigned the task of bringing the sniper in.

The killings have clearly been planned, the targets carefully chosen.

Willows and Parker strive to overcome their initial awkwardness in their mission to bring this killer down.

When Franklin and Atkinson are assigned to search Phasia Palinkas’ apartment, the Greek widow, they inadvertently stumble across the sniper.

What was he doing in her apartment?

Disturbed, the sniper takes his next victim: Atkinson.

At the death of one of their own, the investigation takes on a whole new angle.

Franklin, noticeably shaken from the ordeal, is unable to provide a clear recollection of the events leading up to the death of Atkinson.

As the investigation deepens, Willows and Parker realise there is more to the killings – how does the sniper know exactly when to strike?

If the killer is always one step ahead will the crime ever be solved?

Praise for Laurence Gough

‘Bitter, bloody, and brilliantly compulsive’ - Mail on Sunday

‘Gough’s work typically combines knotty, multi-stranded plots, picturesque villains and bit players, pungent humour, and trenchant prose’ - Times Literary Supplement

‘Gough is a real find…For anyone into hard-boiled American fiction, try heading north of the border for a treat’ - Vox

‘Gough’s work is laced with acid humour and a tight-as-a-chokehold prose. If he lived in the U.S., he’d already be a superstar’ - Daily Post (Liverpool) /em>

‘Gough is one of the best crime writers in the country…wickedly twisted…wild and wingy rollercoaster rides’ - Toronto Sun

‘Gough is one of the most inventively reliable bloodsmiths in the trade. His plots and characters are strong and convincing, his mordant humour never forced, the action violent but believable’ - The Times


‘This pacy new thriller buffs it up new’ - The Times (on The Goldfish Bowl)

‘Terse characterization and screwed-up tension take this new author into the McBain class at one stride’ - Observer (on The Goldfish Bowl)

‘Laurence Gough’s first novel…rips the reader with the force of a Winchester .460 magnum fired at arm’s length… Gough’s plotting is fast-paced and confident… His style is tense and tight as a trigger’ - Washington Post

Laurence Gough lives with his wife and two children in Vancouver. He is the author of twelve Willows and Parker mysteries. The Goldfish Bowl , won the Arthur Ellis Award for Best First Novel from the Crime Writers of Canada. Other is the series: Death on a No. 8 Hook; Hot Shots, winner of an Arthur Ellis Award for Best Crime Novel of the Year; Serious Crimes; Accidental Deaths; Fall Down Easy; Killers; Heartbreaker; Memory Lane; Karaoke Rap; Shutterbug; and Funny Money . His international thriller, Sandstorm , won the Author Award (fiction) from the Foundation for the Advancement of Canadian Letters in 1991.