Damaged

by Simon Conway

In a North Sea storm a drilling rig sinks, taking with it ten kilos of hashish that Calum Bean has hidden in one of its legs. When the bankrollers decide Cal's knee-caps are a reasonable forfeit, his cousin, renegade army officer Seb MacCoinneach, comes to the rescue.

Genres: Thriller

377 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2000

About the author

Simon Conway is a former British Army officer and international aid worker. With The HALO Trust and later as director of Landmine Action he cleared landmines and unexploded bombs in Africa, Asia and the Middle East.
As Co-Chair of the Cluster Munition Coalition he successfully campaigned to achieve an international ban on cluster bombs.In 2014 he returned to The HALO Trust to lead the organisation's effort to address urban conflict in the Middle East.
He lives in Glasgow with his wife the journalist and broadcaster Sarah Smith. He has two daughters.

Reviews

[Ben]

I could not finish this. The actual writing was good and dense, Simon Conway (being a former Army Officer) definitively knows his stuff and I liked the setting, but about 40% into the book I caught myself rooting for the RUC. Each one of the so-called protagonists is a despicable creature and hoping for the Provos to kneecap them, won't carry me through another > 200 pages of rough sex, drug use, cowardice and sexual abuse of women.

[Nigel Pinkus · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story was set initially on a rain soaked island just off the coast of Ireland where in between the muddy paddocks, the rusty cars out the back of the property and rubbish strewn all over the kitchen and lounge room lurks trouble, big trouble. But, it wasn't overly visible at the beginning of the story, nor even for most of the way through the story. This reader found the storyline very hard to follow because the writer deliberately moved back and forth in time ,from the present to the past, then to different characters deliberately blurring reality. But, it all came quite clear in the second half of the story. You see, Seb is a Lieutenant in the army and after being overlooked by the SAS, he concocts a plan to get rich quick by getting Cal to help him. Madielene AKA Damaged also gets involved and things got out of control.

In this story, there was plenty of drugs, sex, alcohol and partying in this gritty, realistic, violent story about marginal people making marginal decisions. This is the second story this person has read by Simon Conway and a common theme seemed to be reoccurring with the writing. Conway deliberately writes shockingly, violent, disturbing novels and the reader better get ready because he or she is in for ride of a lifetime. For some people it might be too much for them, but this reader actually enjoys the challenge of it. 4 Stars.

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rather a grim story involving a damaged set of characters - well drawn. But well done, especially considering this was the author’s first published novel. Conveys the sense of these characters being trapped by their circumstances - unable to break free of bleak formative events in childhood and young adulthood infatuations.

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Extremely violent and full of rather unpleasant (but well written and believable) characters, apart from Cal and Oonagh - although neither of them were averse to violent acts either. Still, I found it well written and enjoyable reading.