Zoe Callahan is having the summer from hell... and it's about to get a whole lot worse.
She's stuck in a dead-end job, her relationship is going nowhere, and the long shadow of the Kelvingrove Park Murders - which, three years ago, upended the lives of both her and her best friend, Anna Scavolini - continues to exert its hold on her.
When a prostitute is brutally assaulted by Dominic Ryland, a rising political star, Zoe leaps at the chance to take on a noble cause, vowing to bring him to justice. But she soon finds herself on the wrong side of some seriously dangerous people: men who have no qualms about silencing her by any means necessary.
As Glasgow simmers under a sweltering heatwave and tensions rise throughout the city, Zoe and Anna are once again drawn into a web of secrets and shocking revelations, with a heavy price to pay for everyone involved - not least Zoe, who's about to realise she's got far more to lose than she ever thought.
A powerful, character-driven thriller with twists and turns a-plenty,
Cruel Summer
is the sequel to M.R. Mackenzie's McIlvanney Prize-nominated debut,
In the Silence
, and the second instalment in the Anna Scavolini series.
Praise for M.R. Mackenzie
'Brings a fresh new voice to the field of Tartan Noir.' - James Oswald
'Writes with precision and passion.' - Caro Ramsay
'Splendidly written stuff.' - Barry Forshaw,
Crime Time
'An immersive slow burn of a tale, peppered with disquieting fire-crackers of revelation.' - Morgan Cry
'Mackenzie has come up with something that defies easy definition and is truly original.' - Paul Burke,
NB Magazine
'Up there with the best contemporary authors working today.' - David B. Lyons