Water of Death - Softcover

'My reader loves him' Bookseller 'Clever and exciting' Inverness Courier 'An inventive, well-structured and briskly paced thriller' Yorkshire Evening Post 'This is first-rate crime fiction with an original twist' Sunday Telegraph 'Impressive follow-up to the award-winning Body Politic...Johnston's conceit with Edinburgh is brilliant and there's a mordant Scots wit...stylish' Guardian '[A] sly satire and gruesome thriller' Daily Telegraph 'A powerful, fantastical thriller' Night and Day (The Mail on Sunday) 'This bleak, near-future hunt for a vicious serial killer won Britain's Creasey Award for best first novel and should capture admiring attention here as well...Offbeat, but on target, this is one exciting debut' Publishers Weekly Praise for THE BONE YARD 'You'll see why Johnston's bone-chilling dystopia took Britain's John Creasey Award for the year's best crime debut' Kirkus 'Intricate plotting and tongue in check descriptions of post-Millennial Edinburgh' Shots 'Think of Plato's Republic with a body count' The Sunday Times 'An excellent satire, and good thriller to boot ... Further adventures are promised and eagerly awaited' Mike Ripley, Daily Telegraph 'A thrilling hunt-the psycho novel with countless twists, turns and dead ends ... accomplished ... offers real proof of the vigour and class of current Scottish crimewriting' Ian Rankin in Scotland on Sunday 'A fascinating and thought-provoking debut that delivers much and promises more' Val McDermid in Manchester Evening News 'Darkly satirical ... more than just a murder story' Scotsman 'An intricate web ... Johnston is a Fawkes among plotters ... Quint's career looks set to blossom' Observer 'A hugely entertaining fantasy ... engagingly imagined' The Times Praise for BODY POLITIC: 'Not only a cracking thriller (with a hugely shocking climax), but a timely one. Johnston's vision of the future is highly entertaining' Ham & High 'Trendily dystopian' The Herald Impressive follow-up to the award-winning Body Politic...Johnston's conceit with Edinburgh is brilliant and there's a mordant Scots wit...stylish * Guardian on THE BONE YARD * 'A thoroughly enjoyable tale' Sunday Telegraph This is first-rate crime fiction with an original twist * Sunday Telegraph on THE BONE YARD * 'Both prescient and illuminating' Ian Rankin, Daily Telegraph A powerful, fantastical thriller * Night and Day (The Mail on Sunday) on THE BONE YAR * An intricate web ... Johnston is a Fawkes among plotters ... Quint's career looks set to blossom * Observer on BODY POLITIC * 'An acclaimed crime series...Johnston brings an intelligent perspective to the dark excitement of the thriller' Nicholas Blincoe, Observer 'Johnston's future city is a dark place, even in the Big Heat of post-global warming summer. Over three novels featuring Quint Dalrymple, he has charted the political and social development of a totalitarian state struggling to find a balance. But this is never a dry treatise, for Johnston's vision is shot through with the bleakest of black humour, never losing sight of the humanity of his characters. This series is getting better all the time' Val McDermid, Manchester Evening News Think of Plato's Republic with a body count * The Sunday Times on BODY POLITIC * A hugely entertaining fantasy ... engagingly imagined * The Times on BODY POLITIC * Praise for WATER OF DEATH 'The mixture of sardonic, occasionally vicious wit, the brilliant concept of this city of the future, and a strong plot are the mixture as before and very tasty it is' Birmingham Post

Edinburgh, 2025 - sweat city. Global warming has led to strict water rationing. The ruling Council of City Guardians has been forced to become more user-friendly - so citizens now live for the weekly lottery draw. Then people start dying after drinking poisoned whisky, and subversive, blues-haunted investigator Quintilian Dalrymple is thrown into a nightmare case which threatens the Council's very existence. For Quint, distinguishing friend from foe soon becomes a question of life or death. And the body count, like the temperature, keeps on rising...