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Open Wounds (Davie Mccall) Paperback – September 30, 2016

by Douglas Skelton (Author)
4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 318 ratings
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Davie McCall is tired. Tired of violence, tired of the Life. He's always managed to stay detached from the brutal nature of his line of work, but recently he has caught himself enjoying it.

In the final installment in the Davie McCall series old friends clash and long buried secrets are unearthed as McCall investigates a brutal five-year-old crime.

Davie wants out, but the underbelly of Glasgow is all he has ever known. Will what he learns about his old ally Big Rab McClymont be enough to get him out of the Life? And could the mysterious woman who just moved in upstairs be just what he needs?

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Previous page
  1. Book 4 of 4
    Davie McCall
  2. Print length
    256 pages
  3. Language
    English
  4. Publisher
    Luath Press Ltd
  5. Publication date
    September 30, 2016
  6. Dimensions
    5.5 x 1 x 8.5 inches
  7. ISBN-10
    1910745332
  8. ISBN-13
    978-1910745335
  9. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

DOUGLAS SKELTON is an established true crime author, penning eleven books including Glasgow's Black Heart, Frightener and Indian Peter. He has appeared on a variety of documentaries and news programmes as an expert on Glasgow crime, most recently on STV's In Search of Bible John. His 2005 book Indian Peter was later adapted for a BBC Scotland radio documentary which he presented. His book Frightener, which was instrumental in cleaning the names of two men wrongly imprisoned for mass murder, is currently being made into a film. Blood City is his first foray into fiction.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Luath Press Ltd (September 30, 2016)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 256 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1910745332
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1910745335
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.31 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 1 x 8.5 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 318 ratings

About the author

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Douglas Skelton

Douglas Skelton

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Douglas Skelton has published 12 non fiction books, 12 contemporary crime thrillers and 2 historical thrillers. He has been a bank clerk, tax officer, shelf stacker, meat porter, taxi driver (for two days), wine waiter (for two hours), reporter, investigator and editor.

His first thriller BLOOD CITY was published in 2013.

The gritty thriller was the first in a quartet set on the tough streets of Glasgow from 1980 onwards. It was followed by CROW BAIT, DEVIL'S KNOCK and finally OPEN WOUNDS, which was longlisted for the first McIlvanney Prize for Scottish Crime Book of the Year in 2016.

His two Dominic Queste thrillers, THE DEAD DON'T BOOGIE and TAG - YOU'RE DEAD lightened the tone but didn't skimp on thrills.

He followed this with his New York-set chase thriller THE JANUS RUN in 2018.

THUNDER BAY, a dark and atmospheric tale of secrets, lies and murder, was published to great acclaim by Polygon in 2019. It was longlisted for the McIlvanney Prize for 2019. The series continued with THE BLOOD IS STILL, A RATTLE OF BONES ( longlisted for the McIlvanney in 2022) and WHERE DEMONS HIDE. All four titles have been released on audio by Isis Publishing. Entries in the series are available in the US in print and audio through Arcade CrimeWise, while translation rights have been sold to as Germany, Denmark, Greece and Sweden.

The 5th in the series, CHILDREN OF THE MIST, has now been published.

He also has a new series of historical adventure thrillers featuring gambler, thief and secret agent Jonas Flynt, beginning with AN HONOURABLE THIEF (2022, CANELO, longlisted for the McIlvanney Prize 2023) and A THIEF'S JUSTICE (Canelo 2023).

Douglas is often recruited by documentary makers to contribute to true crime shows on TV and radio and is a regular on the crime writing festival circuit.

He takes part in comedy shows with other crime writers. To date he has written three Carry on Sleuthing plays in which he also appears along with Caro Ramsay, Michael J. Malone, Theresa Talbot, Pat Young and Lucy Cameron, with occasional guests Alex Gray, Lin Anderson and Neil Broadfoot.

He is also one quarter of Four Blokes in search of a Plot, along with Gordon Brown, Mark Leggatt and Neil Broadfoot. This is a fun show in which they invited the audience to give them a murder weapon and a protagonist. They then take it in turns to create a crime story (usually developing into something wild and wacky) while also answering audience queries about the craft.

His one man event, You the Jury, invites audiences to deliver verdicts on real life but heavily disguised cases from around the world. In 2019 the format was extended into a court drama, thanks to the Faculty of Advocates in Scotland, within Stirling Sheriff Court played to three sell-out houses during the Bloody Scotland festival.

He was, with bestselling author Denzil Meyrick, a regular on the SBOOKS podcast.

Author Web Page:

https://http://www.douglasskelton.com/

Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5 out of 5
318 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Susan E. Courtright
5.0 out of 5 stars Davie McCall would really like to claw his way out of the living he ...
Reviewed in the United States on September 3, 2016
Verified Purchase
Davie McCall would really like to claw his way out of the living he makes. There's a part of him that wants to be a George Clooney - suave, debonair, philanthropic. Unfortunately for Davie, there's no road-map for the journey. Skelton has crafted a character, while despicable in his behaviors, has a flicker of light inside that we really want to root for, whilst smacking him with a newspaper!
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booklover
4.0 out of 5 stars Brutal, Violent, Compelling Read
Reviewed in the United States on July 20, 2016
This is a romp through the Glasgow underworld that was electrifying! This is 4th in a series of 4, and I really, really, wish I had read the first three.

Davie McCall is what we would call an enforcer. Although he’s ruthless, he has a code. He doesn’t hurt women, or children, or animals. He’s been working for his old friend, Big Rab, for years, and now he wants out. He’s tired of all the violence, tired of the life.

McCall finds himself investigating a crime that took place several years previous. Old friends become new enemies. Secrets are uncovered …. But are they enough to allow McCall to leave the life behind?

This is a brutal, violent, compelling read. Davie is a bad guy … but not always. He has personal issues to work through, mostly remembering those he has hurt. He has only one true friend that he will protect at any cost. And there’s the woman who has moved upstairs that might be his salvation. And then there is a corrupt cop who seems to be the catalyst for a lot of crime.

A good plot and believable characters make this a must read for anyone who appreciates crime fiction.

Many thanks to the author / Luath Press / NetGalley who provided a digital copy in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.
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tommybanjo
5.0 out of 5 stars A really great read!
Reviewed in the United States on April 10, 2016
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Davie McCall is a great character and Douglas Skelton's skill in bringing him to life for us is immense. This series of books had built tremendous momentum which with "Open Wounds" reaches a crescendo. I for one can't wait to see what Mr Skelton creates next!
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FictionFan
5.0 out of 5 stars Genuine Tartan Noir...
Reviewed in the United States on June 29, 2016
Davie McCall is a gangster with a moral code – he doesn't hurt women, children or 'civilians'. But that doesn't stop him from hurting other people – badly, when they've done something that crosses one of his personal lines. He's always felt in control of his violence though, until recently, when he suddenly found he was enjoying it. Now he wants out of the 'Life', but he's scared – not of what his boss might do to him, but scared that he won't be able to change, won't be able to leave the desire for violence behind him. Meantime, he's still working as a heavy for Rab McClymont, who's not just his boss but an old friend. So when Rab asks him to lean on a man, Fergus O'Neill, at first Davie's fine with that. O'Neill was convicted a few years back of a horrific burglary that involved rape, but is now out pending appeal and is publicly accusing Rab of having fitted him up for the crime. When Davie begins to believe that O'Neill may have been innocent, he still can't believe that Rab would have been involved in a rape, even indirectly. So he begins to investigate...

This is a great book that I'm strongly recommending you don't read. At least not straight away. It's actually the fourth and final book in the Davie McCall quartet, and I very much wish I'd read them in order, partly because there are lots of references to the previous books in this one which meant I was a bit lost at the beginning, and partly because having now read this one, the first three will have been a little spoiled for me since I know how the series resolves. That won't stop me reading them though! The first in the series is Blood City.

The book is set in Glasgow gangster culture and has a totally authentic feel to it. These are low level gangsters, running dodgy businesses, small-time drug dealing, protection rackets and loan-sharking. As well as giving a great sense of place, using mainly real locations, Skelton has a complete grip on Glaswegian “patter”, the humour that covers the harshness of life on the edges of society. The dialogue isn't really written in dialect so non-Scots would have no difficulties with it, but the speech patterns and “voices” are spot on.

Normally I would have a serious problem with being able to empathise with a man who uses violence as a tool, but Skelton provides a ton of moral ambiguity, both about Davie's victims and regarding his background, that makes him understandable. And his own internal struggle to hold onto some kind of moral code lets the reader be on his side, willing him to win out against the demons that haunt him. I couldn't help but think of McIlvanney's Laidlaw – Davie might be how Laidlaw would have turned out if he'd been born into the life of the gangster, and with a few better breaks in life Davie could have turned into Laidlaw. They share that sense of clear-sighted vision about the society they move in, the same philosophical acceptance that there's only so much any one man can do to change things and the same core of morality that makes them swim against the tide even when they feel themselves being sucked under.

Though I struggled at first from not having read the earlier books, by about a third of the way through I had gathered enough about the background for that aspect to stop being an issue, and from that stage in this worked fine as a standalone. The plotting is great, with several strands weaving in and out of each other. Davie is a kind of mentor to a younger thug, trying hard to stop him from losing his humanity. He's increasingly at odds with his boss Rab, whose growing suspicions of Davie's motives threaten their old friendship. There's a corrupt police officer on the take, and this strand is handle particularly well – Skelton shows him believably as the exception rather the rule within the police, disliked as much by his fellow officers as by the lowlifes he bullies and uses. The characterisation throughout is exceptional, with every character ringing true – no clichés or stereotypes here. And in the end all the strands come together to an ending which is credible and satisfying without being falsely uplifting.

This is genuine Tartan Noir, grounded in the real recognisable Glasgow of today – a rare treasure amidst some of the overblown melodramatic dross which is so often wrongly acclaimed as giving an authentic picture of life here. I'm delighted to have stumbled across Douglas Skelton and he is now part of that select band of Scottish crime writers to whose future books I will look forward with keen anticipation.

NB This book was provided for review by the publisher, Luath Press.
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col2910
5.0 out of 5 stars Top Scottish crime!
Reviewed in the United States on August 11, 2016
Douglas Skelton’s 4th Davie McCall book, but only my first. After this enjoyable outing, plans are afoot to address that situation.

McCall is a loner – no family and only one friend. He’s an enforcer for Rab McClymont, but he’s jaded, burnt out and wants out. Problem is he doesn’t have the kind of job you can walk away from.

Rab senses somethings up with his man. He needs watching. Davie’s under scrutiny anyway from Donna, the interesting blonde who’s just moved in to the flat above his own. Maybe he shouldn’t have got involved when her drunken ex turned up and threatened her. And why’s McClymont fretting over the release from prison of Jerry O’Neill?

Great setting – Glasgow’s mean streets

An interesting cast of characters – McCall himself;

McClymont and his band of merry men, including the young scrote, Jimsie - sent to partner Davie on the errands he’s no longer any appetite for, but which Rab keeps sending him on.

A bent cop Jimmy Knight (“How bent is he?” “The man can tie his shoelaces without stooping.”)

A washed-up private detective – Donovan, an unlikely ally for Davie.

Bottle blonde Donna – who is she and what’s she after?

Dark and satisfying, plenty of great dialogue and humour, that old cliché – a page-turner – well it is. What’s even better is the economy of style in which Skelton wraps this all up – a shade under 250 pages.

BIFF, BANG, BOSH! Job done – highly recommended! I’m just a bit miffed I joined the party at the end and not at the beginning. Oh well I can always read this one again after the first three!

5 from 5

Douglas Skelton has his website here.

The first three in the series are Blood City, Crow Bait and Devil’s Knock. He has another novel out soon The Dead Don’t Boogie – something else I’ll have to check out.

Thanks to Juliette at Luath Press for the copy of this one.

Read in April, 2016 - April's pick of the month!
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Top reviews from other countries

JulzBee🐝
5.0 out of 5 stars Where's the dog??
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 24, 2021
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I loved this series of Davie McCall books and I hoped that Davie would get "The Life" he wanted. Douglas Skelton is a craftsman with a pen (metaphorically, no doubt - who uses them anymore?) and these books really come to life in your mind, more so if you know Glasgow. "Open Wounds" rounds up the stories of the main characters (or does it? Where's the dog?): some get their just deserts, some get away with murder. I can even forgive the odd spelling error so good is this book. Do yourself a favour and read this series.
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A. W. Skinner
4.0 out of 5 stars Good writing, but terrible production.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 26, 2020
Verified Purchase
I really enjoy Mr Skelton's writing and he creates credible, if deeply unpleasant, characters. However, the Kindle version was very badly produced, with no chapter or scene breaks i.e. nothing to tell you that there was a change of scene. As a result, I found myself reading a dramatic scene, but the next sentence was about a completely different character in a different setting. I found it very off-putting, and it spoiled an otherwise very good book.
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Gympensioner
5.0 out of 5 stars Open wounds
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 2, 2023
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Well, this was a brilliant read. Last in the series. I have enjoyed them all and will read more by this author.
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CFD at IG
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent, sad to see the series end
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 19, 2019
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The final book in the series and it's sad there will be no more books about anti-hero Davie McCall. There's an enigmatic ending to the story which leaves the reader room to interpret the outcome; I guess the dog's the key. Let's hope Douglas Skelton finds a new thread to pull. I'm a huge fan and wait, like others, eager to read anything else he offers.
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Eamon M Cowman
5.0 out of 5 stars Enjoyable
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 8, 2018
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I really did enjoy this tough, uncompromising series of stories. A great well-written storyline with interesting characters but he warned. The editing of the final book is appalling. A paragraph ends and no little 🌟 to herald the next part of the story, but hey. You get used to it. And these stories must be read in order. Thank you, Mr Skelton
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