As usual Doug makes you think hard about right and wrong and what some people face as choices in life. Tyler comes across as lad with a really good heart growing up in an almost impossible situation. I can't help feeling there must be a lot of youngsters like Tyler in very similar situations that seem to be unseen by the authorities. The story was enthralling and the characters were engrossing. As I neared the end I had decided that if it had ended differently I would have given you a piece of my mind. For me there needed to be some hope in a rather hopeless situation. A really good read that makes you think and makes you feel involved. I thoroughly recommend it to everyone.

About three years ago I reviewed a book by Doug Johnstone called The Jump , a book that remains as one of the best books I have ever read. In my original review I said that, “When people decry genre fiction as somehow not being as worthy or the compare of ‘literary fiction’, I have no hesitation in drawing their attention to books such as this, which possesses an emotional intensity and sensitivity that is rarely encountered in any genre, harnessing emotional, and by their very nature, contentious issues that many writers in the ‘literary’ field would struggle to address in such an affecting way as Johnstone achieves.” So it will come as no real surprise to hear that in this intensely compelling read, and in my ever so humble opinion, Doug Johnstone has more than achieved this again… Let’s start with Tyler, the central protagonist, balancing his role as protector, provider, and accomplice, at a relatively tender age, and with an over enhanced sense of responsibility and some times misplaced loyalty in his familial role. Juggling the role of caregiver and protector of his younger sister ‘Bean’, but finding himself at the behest and control of his aggressive and borderline psychopathic step brother, Tyler navigates a tense and ominously threatening path through life. Desperate to keep the equilibrium of his home life, but with his mum’s instability and dependence on drink and drugs, casting a shadow over the stability of this, one impulsive criminal act places Tyler and Bean in extreme danger. What Johnstone captures so perfectly in the character of Tyler, is that of a young man propelled into adulthood and maturity due to the extreme behaviour of others. He’s bright, resourceful, and emotionally intuitive, and a wonderful caregiver for Bean, but there’s also there’s always this sense of the child about him, dominated by his stepbrother, his tentative handling of his relationship with spiky posh girl Flick, and his unflinching acceptance of his mum’s emotional and physical weakness. He is the epitome of a young man who’s had to grow up a startling fast rate, but not to the detriment of his own strong moral code, his integrity and compulsion to protect others. As we have come to expect of this author, Johnstone himself is also unflinching in this portrayal of a family in meltdown. The particular angst, borderline poverty and issues of abuse and anger, that all too many families encounter lay at the very heart of this book, but tangentially Johnstone also shows through the home life of Flick that this emotional paucity is equally relevant to her life, with the emotional neglect of her parents, her mother’s alcohol abuse, and the coldness of her father. She seeks attention in destructive ways and she’s financially rich, but only attains an emotional richness through her growing attachment to Tyler, and by extension, Bean too. Through this relationship we also see her bravery and resourcefulness, and the sense of her yin to Tyler’s yang that begins to become apparent as her involvement in these dark events escalates. The authenticity of Johnstone’s characters is due in no small part to his intensely realistic portrayal of the world that Tyler and his family exist in. The book is peppered with sudden outbreaks of violence and abuse, with the overriding control of his sadistic stepbrother Barry, and the ramifications of entering the dangerous world of a hardened criminal that Barry’s foolish and impulsive actions, catapult them into. At one point Tyler berates Flick for embarking on her own ‘poverty safari’ as their life experience appear to be so markedly different, and Tyler’s world is a stark contrast socio-economically- harsh and poor, with the threat of violence a norm. As much as the book is brutally realistic, it is also tinged with sensitivity and compassion, with a strong message that a less than promising start in life is not necessarily proof of a moral deficiency, and that a good nature can overrule bad nurture. Despite the anger and tension so in evidence in these characters’ lives, I found this book tremendously life affirming, and as Tyler grows in stature and strength, he very much takes the reader with him. You’re rooting for him, and it doesn’t feel that your belief in him is misplaced. Breakers is a superb read (with an equally excellent soundtrack woven into the narrative) and once more I would heartily encourage you that, if you haven’t read this author before, you really should do so. It would be rude not too… Highly recommended.

Thank you to the publisher for this review copy... I saw it on books at bedtime (on twitter) and thought oh this could be something special... So it got added to my far to big to be read pile - but it wouldn't sit quietly so I had to read it urgently to get some peace... My verdict - absolutely excellent!!! This book certainly deserves ALL the praise. May I strongly recommend you buy and read this!! (ideally from Waterstones Durham - who can order if this suddenly sells out!)

With Breakers Doug Johnstone took my heart and slowly, carefully and with great precision took bite sized chunks out of it until little was left. Breakers is a book in which every word matters; where the precision of the writing evokes a mental picture that is so strong you feel as if you are beside these characters; living their fear, chancing their luck, smelling their desperation. Strong, visceral, rooted in an all too grim reality, Johnstone shows us just what life is like when an absence of care and a lack of money combine to be the strongest forces in the life of a child. This is writing that soars above the crowd; writing that engages the brain and touches the heart. Writing that makes you want to cheer when a young man commits an act so terrible it will mark him for ever. This dialogue is sharp and crisp, his images so clear that sometimes I wished I could cloud them over. Johnstone pulls no punches. He makes us angry, uncomfortable, seeks out those raw spots and prods at them, all the while silently asking us what we are doing to make things different. These are our people who are on the doorstep, who pass us every day, who make us lock our doors and set our alarms in the illusion that this will make us safe. His savage pictures show us a reality we want to ignore, but which rings out loud and clear with startling veracity. His characters are caught in a vicious circle, a product of their environment, though he clearly makes the point that nurture is as important as means. By finding common ground between Tyler and Flick he bridges the class divide to find a pair of young minds that recognise a mutual rawness and a need in each which the other can meet. I’m going to be thinking about this book for a long time as I try and mend the heart that Johnstone has shattered into pieces. Verdict: Brutal, beautiful and ultimately hopeful, I expect Breakers to be the best thing I will read this year.

When people talk about Edinburgh they talk of the Royal Mile, the castle, Arthurs seat and the fringe every August. With all that beauty around, people tend to forget the other side, the forgotten, and the sink estates. Doug Johnson brings to life the forgotten and never mentioned side of Edinburgh, where life is hard, and it is dog eat dog. Tyler has enough on his plate, seventeen, still at school, caring for his younger sister and his drink and drug ravaged mother. His elder brother Barry, and sister Kelly have bullied him and coerced him into robbing the houses of those richer than themselves. He could not say no to Barry, as he was handy with his fists, both he and Kelly carried the marks to prove it. One night, both Barry and Kelly are high on cocaine, and it shows, when they pick a rather nice house, no alarm, no lights on and more importantly, detached. Things do not go well on the job, when Barry stabs the homeowner when she returns home. Out of guilt Tyler calls an ambulance for her, and this plays on his mind. What he did not realise that this job will turn into a living nightmare, Barry has stabbed the wife of Deke Holt the biggest crime lord in Edinburgh. When Tyler hears who it is Barry stabbed, he bunks school and goes for a wander round the posher parts of Edinburgh, when after breaking into a house he meets Flick. Flick is the opposite of Tyler, private school, someone he finds it easy to talk too. Will she be his salvation, or will his family drag Flick down with the rest of them? Doug Johnson delivers a beautiful, horrifying and off the scale thriller. There is no dragging the story out, over 200 pages, he delivers an engrossing thriller, which some cannot do at 400 pages. Johnson reveals how some of the poorest live, and it is not a pretty sight, these the forgotten are trying the best they can. Unfortunately think that crime is the only way, along with the drugs to try and forget where you live and what your real situation is. At the same time the story is intense, while pulsating proving why he is not only one of Scotland’s but the UK’s top thriller writers. Once you start Breakers you will want to finish in one sitting, and hope, that there is a better outcome for Tyler and Bean, but the only way to find out is to read their story.