Archive Top 10

January 2004

'True story of the biggest cocaine bust in British history. Scottish chancers attempt to smuggle in half a ton of finest Columbian nosebag. All the while, super-sleuth customs officials are on their trail, astounded by the smugglers incompetence. The verdict: A great story, chock full of detail and hilarious characters, like the dope-smoking scallop-diver whom disaster follows like a shadow.

'Try if you like: Whiskey Galore with class A's. '
FHM

'the result is a thrilling tale from both the hunted and the hunters.'
Ross-Shire Journal

'What Jack Alexander gives us is an intriguing and often moving history...Alexander's book is full of absorbing stories. He claims that it was 16 years in the writing and I believe him. Judging by the footnotes, appendices, bibliographies and acknowledgements his research was extraordinary.'
Scottish Sunday Herald

'this book is of wider interest than just to Hearts fans or students of Edinburgh's history. Anyone who wants to see how a team of footballers can translate that familiar sporting cliche of "taking the fight to the opposition" into reality should read it. This is, quite simply, the best football-related book of the year.'
Times of London

 

In 1973, Les McKeown became the lead singer of the Bay City Rollers, at that stage a one-hit-wonder pop group on the verge of giving up. His charismatic personality transformed the Rollers into an international super-group and, over the next few years, they consistently reached No. 1 all over the world, selling an estimated 300 million records and gaining a massive following. By 1975 he was the most adored man on the planet. Four years later he was all washed up, homeless and penniless after quitting the band.

'a good read for today's generation.'
Greenock Telegraph

'It's a cracking read, funny, witty and self-deprecating. Les spares no-one, least of all himself.'
The Sunday Post

'Burrowes has done a remarkable job in telling this engaging tale of privation and evolving social history in an incisive way.'
The Good Book Guide

'a fine honest book, a gripping read and a commendable celebration of the Glasgow Irish story'
Scots Magazine

'John Burrowes uses (among other things) a much under used resource - Scotland's newspapers (especialy the Glasgow based ones) to paint a picture of the lives of the Irish immigrants. The full horror of the crammed "coffin shops" as they sailed up the Clyde and the hostile reception these economic migrant incomers encountered, is particularly vivid.'
Glasgow and West of Scotland Family History Society

'Dillon is recommended reading for anyone wishing to understand the complexities of British-Irish politics. He stands alone as one of the most creative writers of our time.'
Irish Times

'THE TRIGGER MEN is a good example of his style - Dillon is a cracking writer who conveys an expert knowledge of a murky, complex and savage world.'
Belfast Telegraph

'Dillon places the gruesome and unpalatable reality of loyalist/ intelligence service collusion firmly centre-stage... Dillon's attempt to examine the personality and motivation of some of those responsible for hundreds of deaths throughout the conflict makes for uncomfortable but essential reading for everyone with an interest in Anglo-Irish relations and the need for closer scrutiny and greater transparency concerning the workings of our intelligence services.'
The Morning Star

'Just been cruelly dumped by 'the love of your life'? Don't be a whiny loser, dip into this madcap stocking filler penned by two total trollops who've bonked busloads of bastards, and laugh and sneer your broken heart away.'
Company Magazine

'With so many astro-tomes weighed down by portentousness and a desire to be scrupulously even-handed when presenting the attributes of the 12 signs, a wildly prejudiced account of the zodiac is refreshing, especially when laced with Australian humour.'
Neil Spencer, The Observer

'I've discovered a book that you ladies out there with a blemished love life might find amusing'
Lisa Marie Presley

'I, a non-horsey person, certainly enjoyed it and learned much about the raffish world of punters, shrewdies, faces, connections, the excitement of the betting ring and the adrenalin rush of the race meeting.'
Sports Monthly

'Forget Francis and Francome, it is Reid who wins by a distance. It is he who captures the mix of romance and skullduggery that make racing so intoxicating.'
Observer Supplement

'Reid's great strength is that he thinks laterally about the sport...He does not measure the game in lengths or pounds, but by the many characters and great beasts the pursuit throws up.'
The Independent

A coach transported to the field in a hearse as he played dead. An English manager taken at gunpoint to an Argentinian jail after trying to sign that country's World Cup captain. The hero of 1966 who talked his team out of going on strike on the eve of a title decider.

All are part of the British professionals' story of life in the North American Soccer League in the '70s and early '80s, when everyone - from star turn to unsung journeyman - had the chance to play alongside Pelé, Cruyff, Beckenbauer and Eusebio in the greatest galaxy of world stars ever assembled in one league.

'A welcome addition to football's bibliography.'
Programme Monthly

Rangers entered the new world of sport and big business in April 1986 when they signed Graeme Souness, a man with no previous connections to a club steeped in its own historical traditions. These traditions are ineluctably intertwined with those of their great Glasgow rivals, Celtic, whose origins as an Irish Catholic club set up the rivalry that became known as the Old Firm, once said to be 'a business based on bigotry'.

Celtic were slow to react to the Souness challenge at Ibrox, especially when Souness was joined by a new owner at Rangers, millionaire businessman David Murray, but after years of squabbling at Celtic Park, Celtic's saviour arrived in the form of expatriate millionaire Fergus McCann.

'an honest, yet balanced account'
Scotland on Sunday

'Lots of super photography reflects the drama, celebration and despair of a competition that had everything.'
Scotland on Sunday

'With excellent photography, detailed commentary and all the statistics that fans love, this is an excellent present and an ideal keepsake recording one of the English rugby's finest moments.'
Haverhill Echo

'A great book for England fans like me, for obvious reasons, but also a great book for all rugby lovers...there are fascinating reports and statistics about every game and team in last year's event Down Under...Packed with superb colour photographs, this is a great look at what was a superb tournament.'
South Wales Argos

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