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Back from the Dead: A gritty Scottish organised crime thriller
How much would you give up for another shot at life?
Hapless Bertie Haig wakes up with a killer hangover… and a very dead stranger in his bed.
Mercurial gangster Al Edwards must turn his back on the only life he's ever known.
DI Kris Hendrie is torn between family loyalty and duty to the job.
Three unlikely heroes, living very different lives, until the machinations of a mysterious figure force them to make impossible choices.
Perfect for fans of Irvine Welsh, Val McDermid, and Martina Cole, this pulse-pounding, award-nominated Scottish organised crime thriller from the author of the DI Brian Brandon murder mystery series introduces the Strathburgh crime universe.
Hapless Bertie Haig wakes up with a killer hangover… and a very dead stranger in his bed.
Mercurial gangster Al Edwards must turn his back on the only life he's ever known.
DI Kris Hendrie is torn between family loyalty and duty to the job.
Three unlikely heroes, living very different lives, until the machinations of a mysterious figure force them to make impossible choices.
Perfect for fans of Irvine Welsh, Val McDermid, and Martina Cole, this pulse-pounding, award-nominated Scottish organised crime thriller from the author of the DI Brian Brandon murder mystery series introduces the Strathburgh crime universe.
492 pages, Kindle Edition
Published January 22, 2024
87 people are currently reading
57 people want to read
About the author
André Spiteri
4 books5 followersI'm the author of award-nominated organised crime thriller Back From The Dead and the DI Brian Brandon series of gritty Scottish murder mysteries.
I was born on the sunny island of Malta in 1982 and live in Edinburgh with my wife, our two daughters, and two cats.
Sign up to my mailing list and read the first chapter of Back From The Dead FREE 👉 linktr.ee/andrespiteriauthor
I was born on the sunny island of Malta in 1982 and live in Edinburgh with my wife, our two daughters, and two cats.
Sign up to my mailing list and read the first chapter of Back From The Dead FREE 👉 linktr.ee/andrespiteriauthor
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
December 10, 2023
Back from the dead is André Spiteri’s action filled response to the question of: “what would you do if you woke up with a dead stranger next to you?” At its most simplest it’s a story of an accountant who likes a girl at his workplace and spending time drinking with her far too much for his own good. Really though it’s a story about gangs, violence, the dark side of city life we don’t think about. Mixed with all that is also a tender story of new beginnings, hope for a better future, and a healthy dollop of Scottish humour and love for explicit language and descriptions.
I’ll keep the review spoiler free as this was an ARC I received from Reedsy Discovedy and the book has yet to launch. It’s very entertaining. The way that all novels of this genre are. Action novels, gang/mafia novels, murder/thriller mysteries. There’s just something fascinating about reading about the underbelly of human society. About the seedy individuals we hopefully will never have to encounter. It’s a show you can watch from a distance, and frankly it makes a fascinating performance. With the right kind of writing and plot, it makes for an unforgettable evening for when you just need a distraction. My issue was, with this one I just wasn’t utterly convinced this was fun.
The plot was solid, if overly simplistic, but to try and mask the ultimate simplicity (of man wakes up, finds a dead stranger, experiences lots of panic, eventually this is all resolved) the author turned to the favored technique of multiple plot lines, with characters we are unfamiliar with. The result was… slightly messy. The jumps between present and past, and first person and third person were frequently muddled and threw the pacing entirely off. The novel initially started off incredibly well. It had me engaged from the first page, following the plot because of the unique and vivid first person narration, the main character had a really distinct voice and a humorous tone which lent him a lot of depth, made him leap off the page. Then suddenly I’m thrown into the lives and conflicts of people I don’t know about, don’t care about, and frankly don’t see the reason to care for.
I understand they have something to do with the body, but that’s because they’re literal gang members, who seem to drink and fight all day, and quiver at the mention of their bosses. Like obviously it wasn’t the accountant who did it, but we knew that anyway, as the ambiguous element of “oooh maybe he did it in his sleep” was not entirely there from the first page. So really, it was a race against time to make me care about these gang men, before I dropped the book. Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy that race was won. I definitely cared by the end. But for a general reader who lives in the 21st century world of distractions, will they stick around to find out if they care? The pacing was thrown off, because on one hand it was non stop action, killing someone, running from someone, never a dull moment. On the other hand; it was filled with the different side characters who we’d often forget for long stretches of time to focus on others, and so it was genuinely hard to switch from the family worries of a policewoman to the bloodthirsty narration of a murderer, it was just not organic.
It didn’t help that the characters only warmed on me at the end. Not all of them, even then. The main reason for that was probably the frequent jumps I mentioned above. Don’t get me wrong, I usually enjoy this technique, I just felt that this was not done well here, and everything went downhill from there, because this fault was emphasized as the book progressed. Because of all this, we just didn’t have enough time to connect with them, to begin to empathize, to feel for them, the dialogue felt stilted, the chemistry forced. Some of them were great, Al in particular began to grow on me, I genuinely wanted him to be happy at the end. That was because we had the most exposure to him. We got to see his character, his personality. Really, from the writing, the author seems like he has so much personality too, he seems so funny, so creative, so precise in his remarks on us silly humans. Why then, is this not reflected in the other characters? I’m silent about the female ones, don’t get me started on these archetypes, but what about the male ones? Okay, one of them has a traumatic background, and? Is that it?
I get that this was supposed to be plot driven, but like I said, because the plot was slightly muddled, the characters didn’t exactly save the work for me at the end. I think it showed a lot of promise, and it definitely made for a fun and light read (yes, watching someone get their brains bashed in is not the worst thing I’ve read,) but I’m just not at all convinced it will be the best book of the genre you read. Put simply, it just won’t stand against the distractions of another slightly better structured novel. That being said, I think there is a lot of potential in the author for another novel that I would like. There are many moments of brilliance, my perception is just strongly influenced by the (just as many) moments of lacking novelty, precision, and creativity. A solid 3/5 stars, and I wish I could raise it to four.
I’ll keep the review spoiler free as this was an ARC I received from Reedsy Discovedy and the book has yet to launch. It’s very entertaining. The way that all novels of this genre are. Action novels, gang/mafia novels, murder/thriller mysteries. There’s just something fascinating about reading about the underbelly of human society. About the seedy individuals we hopefully will never have to encounter. It’s a show you can watch from a distance, and frankly it makes a fascinating performance. With the right kind of writing and plot, it makes for an unforgettable evening for when you just need a distraction. My issue was, with this one I just wasn’t utterly convinced this was fun.
The plot was solid, if overly simplistic, but to try and mask the ultimate simplicity (of man wakes up, finds a dead stranger, experiences lots of panic, eventually this is all resolved) the author turned to the favored technique of multiple plot lines, with characters we are unfamiliar with. The result was… slightly messy. The jumps between present and past, and first person and third person were frequently muddled and threw the pacing entirely off. The novel initially started off incredibly well. It had me engaged from the first page, following the plot because of the unique and vivid first person narration, the main character had a really distinct voice and a humorous tone which lent him a lot of depth, made him leap off the page. Then suddenly I’m thrown into the lives and conflicts of people I don’t know about, don’t care about, and frankly don’t see the reason to care for.
I understand they have something to do with the body, but that’s because they’re literal gang members, who seem to drink and fight all day, and quiver at the mention of their bosses. Like obviously it wasn’t the accountant who did it, but we knew that anyway, as the ambiguous element of “oooh maybe he did it in his sleep” was not entirely there from the first page. So really, it was a race against time to make me care about these gang men, before I dropped the book. Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy that race was won. I definitely cared by the end. But for a general reader who lives in the 21st century world of distractions, will they stick around to find out if they care? The pacing was thrown off, because on one hand it was non stop action, killing someone, running from someone, never a dull moment. On the other hand; it was filled with the different side characters who we’d often forget for long stretches of time to focus on others, and so it was genuinely hard to switch from the family worries of a policewoman to the bloodthirsty narration of a murderer, it was just not organic.
It didn’t help that the characters only warmed on me at the end. Not all of them, even then. The main reason for that was probably the frequent jumps I mentioned above. Don’t get me wrong, I usually enjoy this technique, I just felt that this was not done well here, and everything went downhill from there, because this fault was emphasized as the book progressed. Because of all this, we just didn’t have enough time to connect with them, to begin to empathize, to feel for them, the dialogue felt stilted, the chemistry forced. Some of them were great, Al in particular began to grow on me, I genuinely wanted him to be happy at the end. That was because we had the most exposure to him. We got to see his character, his personality. Really, from the writing, the author seems like he has so much personality too, he seems so funny, so creative, so precise in his remarks on us silly humans. Why then, is this not reflected in the other characters? I’m silent about the female ones, don’t get me started on these archetypes, but what about the male ones? Okay, one of them has a traumatic background, and? Is that it?
I get that this was supposed to be plot driven, but like I said, because the plot was slightly muddled, the characters didn’t exactly save the work for me at the end. I think it showed a lot of promise, and it definitely made for a fun and light read (yes, watching someone get their brains bashed in is not the worst thing I’ve read,) but I’m just not at all convinced it will be the best book of the genre you read. Put simply, it just won’t stand against the distractions of another slightly better structured novel. That being said, I think there is a lot of potential in the author for another novel that I would like. There are many moments of brilliance, my perception is just strongly influenced by the (just as many) moments of lacking novelty, precision, and creativity. A solid 3/5 stars, and I wish I could raise it to four.
January 6, 2024
1st off, as a Scottish woman I loved the setting and the language! In saying that, I have a few bits of constructive criticism and then I'll get on with my review of the book!
I actually learned something because I've never seen wain spelled as wean! After extensive googling that is how they spell it on the west. I had no clue! It does look like you'd pronounce it as wean, like to wean a wain so I won't be changing how I spell it but that's so interesting. I read the whole book, raging that it was spelled wrong over and over then lo and behold, it's just the way they spell it over the other cost lol
Likewise, I've never heard anyone say aye, I! You'd say aye, me! Or "aye aye!". And I've also never heard och used as a question so that was odd. Och is never a question lol! I know that as a fact. You cant reply to someone by saying "och?" So there were a few times that seemed to be used in the wrong context. Ive literally been wandering about the house going "och?" and trying to raise the inflection at the end and it just doesnt work. You say it when youre bored, cant be f'd, disappinted, resigned, disgusted, sad - everything from och ignore them! To och, its fine!..... loads of times but its just a noise.... it doesnt mean anything. And is never used alone! Or as a question. "Och" and "aye" are used a lot in this book!
And my only other criticisms about the language would be that even though the characters say plenty Scottish words, they still say why?! We say *how*! Lol any Scottish person will always ask *how* something happened or *how* you came to live here or *howd* that happen?!.... we don't really ask why lol. We wouldn't say why not? We'd say how no? And we definitely wouldn't say "why so?" It's "how?" Just...... "how?"
Oh and I don't know why it always had to be sh*te rather than sh*t coz I've also never heard anyone say sh*teing..... its sh*ting. Or sh*testorm.... its a sh*tstorm. We say both sh*t and sh*te a lot! And it can be p*shing down or you can be getting p*shed but we go for a p*ss and take the p*ss rather than a p*sh. Normally. And I'd say "keep the heid" rather than "keep the head" or even "dont lose your nut".... but... this might all just be coz I'm east coast/ Central and the book might be written in a West Coast dialect. I was confused though lol
It'd have been nice to have "ah dae ken" or "ah dinny ken" rather than I dont know. The occasional *braw* instead of nice/ beautiful. No instead of not, ie im no doing that.... we're not fans of pronouncing the letter t. Em.... kitchen bunker instead of counter. Toasties aren't the same as toast so I'm not sure why he changed from making cheese and ham toasties to saying he was making toast. And to have a gang leader called Boaby? We all know what a boaby is eh? Even if the guys name was Bobby then id have thought he'd kick off if anyone called him Boaby coz it's not exactly a compliment lol. And we'd probably say the c word rather than oaf! I've literally never head anyone call someone that. And we use literally anything as an insult..... but never oaf. Like bawbag, the c word, numpty, tube, chav, rocket, and those are just the polite ones
I did love the fact that one of the characters was known as wee dave and that was always how he was referred to lol! In scotland we all know a wee davie and that is infact his full name! He is never Davie, he is always wee davie! Or jock from the pub is always jock from the pub and never just jock. That's the rules!
And to be fair, if you're not Scottish then you probably won't care about any of the things I've spoken about so I'd best get on with the actual review
It starts off with quite the bang and then jumps back to show how the MC ended up in this situation. Its all about gangs and rivalries with a little bit of police work thrown in and I really enjoyed it! The characters were brought to life really well and the plot constantly moved forward. It all felt realistic and possible and nothing seemed too OTT or ridiculous. The characters were fleshed out and there was character growth shown throughout the book. As for the plot, its cleverly written with a few plot lines all woven together and then they all converge perfectly at the end. And what an ending it Is! The book ticks along at a good pace the whole way, whilst also setting the scene really well and giving such a clear picture of what's going on. But, without ever veering off into unnecessary details or waffle about inconsequential elements. And then all of a sudden, you are hit with twists that I didn't even see coming! And then they come flying at you one after the other as all the lose ends get tied up perfectly! It's one if those I'm guessing would be described as a "high octane thriller" or such. Its probably more for men to be honest but it's definitely a really good read
I actually learned something because I've never seen wain spelled as wean! After extensive googling that is how they spell it on the west. I had no clue! It does look like you'd pronounce it as wean, like to wean a wain so I won't be changing how I spell it but that's so interesting. I read the whole book, raging that it was spelled wrong over and over then lo and behold, it's just the way they spell it over the other cost lol
Likewise, I've never heard anyone say aye, I! You'd say aye, me! Or "aye aye!". And I've also never heard och used as a question so that was odd. Och is never a question lol! I know that as a fact. You cant reply to someone by saying "och?" So there were a few times that seemed to be used in the wrong context. Ive literally been wandering about the house going "och?" and trying to raise the inflection at the end and it just doesnt work. You say it when youre bored, cant be f'd, disappinted, resigned, disgusted, sad - everything from och ignore them! To och, its fine!..... loads of times but its just a noise.... it doesnt mean anything. And is never used alone! Or as a question. "Och" and "aye" are used a lot in this book!
And my only other criticisms about the language would be that even though the characters say plenty Scottish words, they still say why?! We say *how*! Lol any Scottish person will always ask *how* something happened or *how* you came to live here or *howd* that happen?!.... we don't really ask why lol. We wouldn't say why not? We'd say how no? And we definitely wouldn't say "why so?" It's "how?" Just...... "how?"
Oh and I don't know why it always had to be sh*te rather than sh*t coz I've also never heard anyone say sh*teing..... its sh*ting. Or sh*testorm.... its a sh*tstorm. We say both sh*t and sh*te a lot! And it can be p*shing down or you can be getting p*shed but we go for a p*ss and take the p*ss rather than a p*sh. Normally. And I'd say "keep the heid" rather than "keep the head" or even "dont lose your nut".... but... this might all just be coz I'm east coast/ Central and the book might be written in a West Coast dialect. I was confused though lol
It'd have been nice to have "ah dae ken" or "ah dinny ken" rather than I dont know. The occasional *braw* instead of nice/ beautiful. No instead of not, ie im no doing that.... we're not fans of pronouncing the letter t. Em.... kitchen bunker instead of counter. Toasties aren't the same as toast so I'm not sure why he changed from making cheese and ham toasties to saying he was making toast. And to have a gang leader called Boaby? We all know what a boaby is eh? Even if the guys name was Bobby then id have thought he'd kick off if anyone called him Boaby coz it's not exactly a compliment lol. And we'd probably say the c word rather than oaf! I've literally never head anyone call someone that. And we use literally anything as an insult..... but never oaf. Like bawbag, the c word, numpty, tube, chav, rocket, and those are just the polite ones
I did love the fact that one of the characters was known as wee dave and that was always how he was referred to lol! In scotland we all know a wee davie and that is infact his full name! He is never Davie, he is always wee davie! Or jock from the pub is always jock from the pub and never just jock. That's the rules!
And to be fair, if you're not Scottish then you probably won't care about any of the things I've spoken about so I'd best get on with the actual review
It starts off with quite the bang and then jumps back to show how the MC ended up in this situation. Its all about gangs and rivalries with a little bit of police work thrown in and I really enjoyed it! The characters were brought to life really well and the plot constantly moved forward. It all felt realistic and possible and nothing seemed too OTT or ridiculous. The characters were fleshed out and there was character growth shown throughout the book. As for the plot, its cleverly written with a few plot lines all woven together and then they all converge perfectly at the end. And what an ending it Is! The book ticks along at a good pace the whole way, whilst also setting the scene really well and giving such a clear picture of what's going on. But, without ever veering off into unnecessary details or waffle about inconsequential elements. And then all of a sudden, you are hit with twists that I didn't even see coming! And then they come flying at you one after the other as all the lose ends get tied up perfectly! It's one if those I'm guessing would be described as a "high octane thriller" or such. Its probably more for men to be honest but it's definitely a really good read
January 20, 2024
I chose this because I usually enjoy thrillers, but unfortunately it wasn't my cup of tea.
There was a lot of profanity, and in most cases, I don't mind that, but I felt there was just so much of it that it distracted me from what was actually going on in the story. The characters seemed really unlikeable, and I just couldn't bring myself to like or care about any of them. Even when I tried to ignore the profanity, I just couldn't connect with the story. If the profanity hadn't been so frequent, I think I may have warmed to it a little bit more.
Thank you to Booksprout and the author for a free copy to review.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
There was a lot of profanity, and in most cases, I don't mind that, but I felt there was just so much of it that it distracted me from what was actually going on in the story. The characters seemed really unlikeable, and I just couldn't bring myself to like or care about any of them. Even when I tried to ignore the profanity, I just couldn't connect with the story. If the profanity hadn't been so frequent, I think I may have warmed to it a little bit more.
Thank you to Booksprout and the author for a free copy to review.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
April 8, 2024
More Scottish grit than a deep-fried gravel pit, paired with more twists and turns than the river Tweed. André Spiteri’s debut novel is a violent thrill ride with a whip-sharp final act.
The plot throws our protagonists into each others’ paths, putting them at the mercy of both the ruthlessness of hardened criminals and their own flawed instincts, before lining up all the pieces left on the board and deftly knocking them down in one fell swoop. By the time the dust settles, you’ll be left with two questions: how much would you be prepared to give up for another chance at life, and how can you know that anyone is truly who they say they are?
The plot throws our protagonists into each others’ paths, putting them at the mercy of both the ruthlessness of hardened criminals and their own flawed instincts, before lining up all the pieces left on the board and deftly knocking them down in one fell swoop. By the time the dust settles, you’ll be left with two questions: how much would you be prepared to give up for another chance at life, and how can you know that anyone is truly who they say they are?
September 30, 2024
“Back from the dead” is the first crime mystery thriller I’ve ever read —and it did not disappoint. I was invested.
If you enjoy thrillers with multiple POVs, I highly recommend reading it.
If you enjoy thrillers with multiple POVs, I highly recommend reading it.
March 18, 2025
Scottish crime grit at its best
There are no punches held back in this debut novel. In some stories, that might make for an over-written, unpleasant read. But in Back From The Dead, it works perfectly. This is the gritty side of crime that Scotland based fiction does so well. There's a mixed bag of viewpoints: a criminal hierarchy, frustrated cops, and a put-upon accountant who just wants a quiet life (and the girl). All of these build a deftly-layered plotline that keeps you guessing right up to the end.
There are no punches held back in this debut novel. In some stories, that might make for an over-written, unpleasant read. But in Back From The Dead, it works perfectly. This is the gritty side of crime that Scotland based fiction does so well. There's a mixed bag of viewpoints: a criminal hierarchy, frustrated cops, and a put-upon accountant who just wants a quiet life (and the girl). All of these build a deftly-layered plotline that keeps you guessing right up to the end.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews