Gordon Pearce, the protagonist in ‘Hard Man’, tries to avoid being sucked into the lives of the paranoid Baxter family. The daughter of that family, May, has married an older man while only sixteen and returns home abused and pregnant by Brian Trotter, a fellow closer to her own age, but not her spouse. Now her father, Jacob Baxter, and her two brothers, Flash and Rog, fear that her husband, Wallace, will harm her and the baby. They set about trying to convince Pearce, recently out of prison, to protect May from Wallace.

May's husband, Wallace, is a twenty-six year old, Range Rover driving, glasses wearing guy who works for an advertising agency. Rumor has it that Wallace has kidnapped and tortured before and now he is leaving threatening voice mails and text messages for May and stalking her at school. May's father is convinced she is in terrible danger. Pearce wants no part of the family feud. It isn't his fight and he isn't interested even if the money sounds good.

Pearce is settled in a new flat with his dog, Hilda, a male Dandie Dinmont terrier with three legs and a winning tail wag. Life is relatively good and Pearce wants to keep it that way. When Hilda goes missing, the Baxters tell Pearce that Wallace killed him and from that point on, all hell breaks loose in the book. You don't mess with a man's dog.

Pearce fully commits and Wallace is confronted. The plot you think you know unravels. Your assumptions turn to sand. A brain damaged Baxter family friend, Norrie, is suddenly a player. Brian Trotter, May's runaway lover reappears and becomes a hero of sorts. Be prepared for horrific violence, graphic demonstrations of man's inhumanity to man and seriously deviant behavior. You don't want to look, but you cannot put the book down even though some of the characters act in ways that are totally unrealistic. In the end, few of the characters are left physically or emotionally unaffected.

I found the plotting in this book interesting; however, the author might have spent more time developing the motivations of his characters. I know Wallace is evil by the end of the book, but I frankly don't know why. I need more information to make him a believable villain. May, the only female character in the book, is so inexpertly drawn that one might suggest that the author stick to male characters entirely.

‘Hard Man’ is not a book that will change the literary landscape, but I found it a good read.

I look forward to seeing Allan Guthrie's next one.