Terminal Black by Colin Garrow
A stolen identity. A hitman. A bent cop.
Relic Black takes things that don’t belong to him—credit cards, golf clubs, toothbrushes. But when a hitman mistakes him for someone else, Relic lands himself in a difficult situation. With a dead man on his hands and a guilty conscience, he sets off to save the life of the man whose identity he has stolen. And that’s when the real trouble starts…
About the author
Colin Garrow grew up in a former mining town in Northumberland. He has worked in a plethora of professions including: taxi driver, antiques dealer, drama facilitator, theatre director and fish processor, and has occasionally masqueraded as a pirate. All Colin's books are available as eBooks and paperback.
His short stories have appeared in several literary mags, including: SN Review, Flash Fiction Magazine, Word Bohemia, Every Day Fiction, The Grind, A3 Review, 1,000 Words, Inkapture and Scribble Magazine. He currently lives in a humble cottage in North East Scotland where he writes novels, stories, poems and the occasional song.
He also makes rather nice cakes.
Review
‘Terminal Black’ is a gritty novel set in the Highlands of Scotland where things aren't as pretty as they seem! This is the start of a new series from Colin Garrow which follows the antics of Relic Black and it's a solid beginning. I have been a huge fan of the Terry Bell taxi driver series and I couldn't wait to dive into this one!
Relic Black takes things that doesn't belong to him - credit cards, golf clubs, cars. But when a hitman mistakes him for the owner of the said credit cards things become difficult for Relic. When a dead man to hide and a life on his conscious he head off the save the original target! And that's when the real trouble starts…
It took me a while to pick up the threads with this book but I am glad I persevered as when they all link together you have quite the thriller and madcap adventures! Relic despite kind of also being a bad guy becomes the guy that you are rooting for. He is witty, smart and also relatable with his floundering love life and dodgy mates down the pub.
One thing that put me off slightly is the use of Scots in the book. Now don't get me wrong I am all in favour of Scots being included in books which are set in Scotland, indeed I am a champion for that. However, in this case it was somewhat cliche Scots. I don't think I have ever heard someone actually say ‘help ma boab’ in real life and I live in Glasgow. I think this the problem, it was more a version on Glaswegian Scots than native to the area. Anyway that doesn't distract from the fact that this was a great book which I devoured in a couple of sittings, was action packed and full of great characters!
Let me know if you pick this one up!
