If you like your thrillers dark, messy and violent, look no further than Scottish noir in general and Malcolm Mackay in particular. Mackay is probably best known for his Glasgow Trilogy, but each of his works is worthy of notice. FOR THOSE WHO KNOW THE ENDING is his latest book to be published in the United States. It is a hypnotic, addictive, one-sit read that you will tear through even as you fear what will happen next.

Mackay has been building his Glasgow crime universe for a while now, introducing new characters, bringing back old ones, and adding to the body count with each volume. FOR THOSE WHO KNOW THE ENDING introduces Martin Sivok at the very start of the book, which isn’t really the beginning. When we meet him, Martin is in dire straits --- in the middle of a dark room tied to a chair that is secured to the floor. He is not going anywhere any time soon, and no doubt he is hoping for a long interlude before the journey ultimately does begin.

"...a hypnotic, addictive, one-sit read that you will tear through even as you fear what will happen next.... There is treachery, deceit, and all sorts of other good things bubbling and percolating around Martin and Kassar."

The author then tells us a bit about how Martin came to be where he is, taking us back in time several months. His presence in Glasgow isn’t entirely voluntary, given that he was on the run from the authorities in his native Czech Republic. While he was somewhat of a big deal back home, that is not the case in Glasgow, where the criminal element is firmly established and there simply isn’t a lot of work for a newbie on the scene. Still, Martin is cautious when a local hood named Usman Kassar offers him a job with the promise of a fairly large payoff with a minimum of effort. It involves robbing a local holder, and it’s the Jamieson organization’s money that they’ll be taking. Readers of Mackay’s previous novels know what that means.

Kassar’s scheme seems all but foolproof until they actually implement it. A couple of seemingly minor but nonetheless important steps go wrong, and as a result, Martin is looking over his shoulder continuously from the point where he and Kassar make their getaway. Things seem to go well --- with an emphasis on “seem” --- and a few months later the two plan another heist. However, there is an undercurrent and a subplot to what they are doing as the layers of criminal politics in Glasgow are slowly and silently brought to bear.

There is treachery, deceit, and all sorts of other good things bubbling and percolating around Martin and Kassar. They are both within and outside of their respective depths as their apparent successes become anything but, and their worth on the streets of Glasgow is found wanting, at least to some extent. There is also, of course, that nasty opening scene, with Martin secured to a chair in a dark room. Is that the beginning, the middle or the end of FOR THOSE WHO KNOW THE ENDING? Only those who read it will know for sure.

You don’t need to have read Mackay’s other books to fully appreciate his latest one, but you certainly will want to do so after experiencing this fine, beautifully dark tale. You also will find it hard to fully trust anyone again, which probably isn’t a bad instinct to acquire. Oops! I seem to have caught the virus as well.

I would be remiss if I didn’t thank Mackay and everyone else responsible for the listing of the characters at the beginning of the book. Those of us of a certain age who sometimes lose track of who is doing what to who, if more than a few characters are presented in a novel, greatly appreciate it. For this and other stated reasons, I recommend this story to you for immediate reading.