Requiem For A Hard Man

Today, I am on the tour for Requiem For a Hard Man hosted by Random Things Tours and published by The Conrad Press. Massive thanks to them both for my gifted copy of the book.

Gutsy and compelling, ‘Requiem for a Hard Man’ follows one man’s fight for redemption through the crime-filled backstreets of 1970s Manchester.

WW2 hero Jackie Dunne has PTSD – re-ignited by his son’s heroin addiction. Unfortunately, fellow war vet Bill Shaw is now one of Manchester’s top drug dealers.
When Jackie dumps two kilos of heroin down the drain, Bill vows revenge. A deadly standoff erupts between the army mates. Unable to sort things out with brute power, Jackie breaks the cardinal rule… and talks to the authorities.

Will Jackie recognize his need for absolution?

Is that possible when he won’t even admit there was a crime?

We are taken right back to the 1970s in Manchester. The author describes a Manchester I am, oh so familiar with, being from Oldham. The city is a perfect foil for the dark and gritty storyline. The ability of the author to reconstruct the Manchester of old took me right there. I felt like I was walking the actual streets.

Jackie is a war veteran who knows his son is back on heroin and is searching for him before he before he kills himself with it. The drug dealer who supplies him is Jackie’s former friend and fellow veteran. Jackie makes a decision that puts everything on the line: will his world crumble along with everything in it, or will he overcome it all?

Jackie suffers from PTSD and I could understand his way of thinking. He knows he has seen so much more than other people. This results in his view of the world being different; I got him. The author has made a lot of unpleasant characters, but none are the same. They are each memorable in different ways through the story. The richness of the characters gives them all a depth that makes them all the more real. Even the bad guys, each unique in their own nasty way.

S.C. Bradbury really made me sit up in my chair. I actually felt like I was almost home reading this book. The magic of his words fully saturated me in Jackie’s world. The plot had twists that I didn’t see coming, which made the story even more tense and I was truly invested in Jackie.

A book that takes you to places you would have preferred not to go. Manchester in the 70s being one of them! It is a great thriller, and it has the same bite as the wind up here round Manchester. This is a highly recommended read from me.