Two brothers, madness on a motorbike, a policeman dies. One surrenders so the other can escape. But the debt will bind them fatally together, forever.
Two brothers, fired up with motorbikes, beer, women and the reckless relish of a summer night. A night which ends with the death of a policeman. As vehicles blaze Dave gives himself up so that Jamie can escape. Dave’s life spirals downwards. He disappears down south, while Jamie goes on to complete his law degree. A decade later he becomes first Prime Minister of a newly independent Scotland. Political horsetrading leads to a referendum on capital punishment. The public is shocked by a brutal sexual murder the night before the vote, and to the politicians’ horror the death penalty is reintroduced. The killer has been caught red-handed, and the hours tick by as the legal process draws closer to the time of his execution. But when the Prime Minister receives a plea for clemency he discovers that he and the killer are linked by unbreakable bonds from that summer of heedless abandon - and more than one life may be at stake...
Stupendous piece of storytelling - brilliant writing.
Massive creative energy.
Jimmy McGovern - Writer, 'Cracker', 'The Street', 'Hillsborough'