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Low Town: The Straight Razor Cure

On sale

18th August 2011

Price: £10.99

Prix Imaginales best Foreign Language Novel, 2012

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Selected: ebook / ISBN-13: 9781444721331

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Here, the criminal is king. The streets are filled with the screeching of fish hags, the cries of swindled merchants, the inviting murmurs of working girls. Here, people can disappear, and the lacklustre efforts of the guard ensure they are never found. Warden is an ex-soldier who has seen the worst men have to offer; now a narcotics dealer with a rich, bloody past and a way of inviting danger. You’d struggle to find someone with a soul as dark and troubled as his. But then a missing child, murdered and horribly mutilated, is discovered in an alley. And then another. With a mind as sharp as a blade and an old but powerful friend in the city, he’s the only man with a hope of finding the killer. If the killer doesn’t find him first.

Reviews

Books Monthly
'I can't remember when I last enjoyed a fantasy book this much'
British Fantasy Society
'Polansky's writing is confident and punchy from the offset. The action rips along at a brilliant pace allowing us to experience this gritty world through the eyes of a thrilling, dangerous, flawed, yet strangely endearing protagonist. This is modern, dark fantasy at its best and a debut to be envied.'
John Berlyne, SF Revu
'Quite brilliant... The Straight Razor Cure is as good a debut as I've read in along time. [It] has it all - and as the name suggests, it is sharp, steely and viciously bloody. Highly recommended'
<i>Publishers Weekly</i>
'Polansky hits all the right notes in his intelligent first novel, a blend of dystopian fantasy and hard-boiled crime... Sharp, noir-tinged dialogue and astute insights into class struggle mark Polansky as a writer with a future'
<i>Kirkus Reviews</i>
'A strong debut novel with a hero who doesn't waste time worrying about the moral implications of cutting someone's throat'