guilt tripper

by Geoff Small

Set in Scotland, Guilt Tripper is the fast-moving story of Glasgow man, Danny White, an unemployed artist whose beautiful girlfriend has left him for his successful and wealthy best friend, Bob Fitzgerald. Convinced his socialist beliefs have made him soft, Danny decides things should change. So when he discovers Fitzgerald has a perverted violent side, he extorts money from him which he then uses to set up an art school in the Scottish Highlands for underprivileged teenagers.

Everything is perfect until a bedraggled Fitzgerald turns up at the school one night and tells Danny the sinister truth about the money funding his project. Horrified and conscience-stricken, Danny attempts to put things right - but is it all too late?

109 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 22, 2012

About the author

Inspired by its tenements, city-centre grid plan, social history, culture and inimitably noir atmosphere, Geoff Small's first four books are set in Scotland's largest city, Glasgow. Guilt Tripper was his debut, but he is better known for the Dirty Rouge detective series, featuring DCI Patrick Curzon. So far Curzon has made three appearances, in The Dirty Rouge, A Long Walk In The Snow and now Whisky Leaks.

Reviews

[Ragne · Rating 1 out of 5]

English is not my first language. You can argue that it's not even my second language. When I see as many simple spelling mistakes and grammatical errors as I did in this book, it really irritates me. The author is also using a lot of "fancy" words. Normally, I take that as a sign of quality. Here, however, they just seem out of place. They occur unnatural in discussions, and quite a few times, I don't think the author really knows what they mean. For example: He even removed his checked baseball cap (...) revealing a sandy crew cut, which made him instantly more amenable. I can't be sure, but I'm guessing that removing your cap and revealing a sandy crew cut does not make you more easily persuaded or controlled.

I have to confess that I didn't really get this book. I'm not even sure what it was about. It seemed pointless. Despite characters seemingly having psychoanalysed them selves, and for some reason explains what they have found, all their weaknesses and character flaws, to their enemies, I didn't feel like I got to know them. None of them seemed natural. Neither did any of the conversations. I got sick and tires of Danny White speaking about his mother who had destroyed him with her Christian and Marxist views. At the end, I just thought "Get over yourself FFS! You're 43! A grown man can think for himself, not confer with his dead mum before making any decisions."

Quite frankly, I think the only thing I liked about this book, was Danny White's view on drug politics. At least until he suggested sending the drug addicts who couldn't be detoxified and stay that way to Afghanistan, because that way they wouldn't recruit more addicts, heroin wouldn't be imported as there would be no addicts, and he was sure the Afghani people would be very happy to get the money they would spend on drugs, and maybe even send some healthy Afghans to Scotland as an exchange. Yeees... I see absolutely no problems with that plan...

All in all, I think the plot could have been good, but was poorly executed. The language is OK, but a bit pretentious at times, and confusing when the author doesn't know exactly what he's saying. The characters weren't credible, and the dialogue was unnatural. A frustrating book to read.

[Georgiann Hennelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Guilt Tripper is the story of Danny White an unemployed artist. When his beautiful girlfriend leaves him for his best friend Bob who is wealthy. Danny believes its because his beliefs have made him soft so he decides to change. When he discovers Bob has a perverted violent side he decides to black mail him. He uses the money to set up an art school for the poor teenagers of the Scottish Highlands.One night Bob turns turns up at the school and tells Danny the truth about where his money comes from. Danny tries to put things right- but is it to late?

[Michal · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really liked the plot and the story itself. I do wish the main character, Judith, would have had, well, character. We end up not knowing anything about her. She shows no emotions. She's very laconic. This somewhat improves in the end, but I would've really enjoyed the book if it had been the whole way through.

[Chris Lane · Rating 4 out of 5]

The world of drugs and tenements in Glasgow. Made me think
Even at the end there was still some doubt in my mind as to how one of the characters had really met his end.