That was quite the character journey! Tommy Bruce has inherited his father's Perthshire hotel and really could not care less about it, grudgingly serving the bar and letting people into the damp and mouldy rooms if they find themselves stuck along the route of their hike. He meets the sister of a former school acquaintance and falls somewhat in drunken love with her, and she encourages him to improve himself and the hotel - until her past comes back to haunt them both.
The book is wonderfully narrated from Tommy's point of view as we learn how depressed he is and just wants a quiet simple life, but also his paranoia over his new relationship and his worth in the world. At times his kindness/laid back attitude is taken advantage of until someone goes too far and he snaps.
The book is part slice of life, part rural, small scale Trainspotting and I loved the Scottishisms in the speech. At no point did I find the book boring despite a somewhat slower pace than I as used to and I really started to root for Tommy and his new life - he just needs someone to be on his side for once.
This was a great easy read with a decent amount of peril, excitement and heartbreak and a brilliant journey of reluctant self improvement.
I received a free copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Cracking Scottish thriller

—Tommy’s not living his dreams. Far from it: his pub’s a mess, his friends are scammers and eejits, and his love life’s non-existent.

And then in walks Fi, who rapidly takes over his pub, his friends, his love life, until things start looking rosy—
—and then real life smacks Tommy upside the head and he’s got to make his move, he’s got to take control for once and decide what hill he’ll end up defending, before the whole thing comes crashing down around his ears.

Things do not go to plan.

But this book does. The Scottish Highlands play a massive part in the story, but Tommy is who we’re here for. A flawed hero—or antihero—Tommy doesn’t seem to have it in him, but when push comes to shove, he does the deed and ends up with a, well, an ending that’s worth sticking round for.

Four stars: more, more, more!

Tommy Bruce is living in a run down hotel left to him by his parents.
He is drinking and smoking too much and neglecting the hotel.
In walks Fiona McLean, into the bar and into Tommys bed.
Fiona gets pregnant is it Tommys?
Fiona has some undesirable friends who blackmail Tommy and cause no end of trouble.
A very Scottish book with lots of Scottish words so might make it difficult for some people to read.
A very different but for me enjoyable book.

Tommy Bruce is one of those fictional antiheroes like Tom Ripley who have an appeal one can't always understand.
James Yorkston's third novel is one of the best new Scottish noir titles to appear during the genre's current renaissance. It's dark, disturbing, drawing one in from the very beginning, in a plot that is fresh and gritty and full of unpleasant shocks and surprises.
The writing is totally addictive showing a rural Scotland rarely found in crime fiction. There's a chilling sense of claustrophobia despite the remoteness of the setting.
Tommy, himself, is a stunning character, full of paradoxes but none the less worthy of every readers' empathy and compassion.

Tommy the Bruce is our narrator as this is his story, the writing style is great, but I found the story a bit slow to get into. Tommy is running a small hotel in Perthshire, it is where he grew up so full of memories, but both he and the hotel are in a rut. The hotel is barely surviving and, like Tommy, needs an overhaul, they both get it when Fi walks into the bar and into Tommy’s life. But Fi brings baggage with her in the shape of her ex Simon.
A good read if a bit slow in places.

Oh how I loved Tommy!! The way this book is written, you can’t help but like Tommy despite all his ways. Really liked the setting and could totally imagine where it was in my head. Loved the story building and then the twists along the way. The journey Tommy goes on was brilliant and seeing him recognise his self worth was wonderful!

I've a soft spot for the songwriting novelist and Fife's James Yorkston returns with his third novel set in a remote Perthshire hotel home to Tommy Bruce, who makes minimal effort to keep what was his Dad's enterprise going until Fiona walks into his life.

This is a taut, suspenseful novel that will surely pull you in. Yorkston inverts the noir trope with Tommy sitting at his lowest at the beginning of the novel before finding he has something to fight for as the story progresses. The first third of the novel really leans into this and builds to the inevitable turning point.

Whilst the story rattles along the narrative actually takes place over a couple of years which added to my stress levels while reading. The dialogue is great throughout and certainly displays the very Scottish quality of not always saying what you might be thinking and copious swearing.

This deserves to be in the running for at least the McIlvanney award come September as Yorkston brings something unique to the Scottish crime genre without a DCI in sight.

A hapless hotel owner in Perthshire, Tommy, has his world turned upside down when a young woman sweeps in one night. They fall into a relationship - she moves in and starts helping revive the hotel, pregnancy quickly follows. When she convinces Tommy to take in an old friend-flame recently released from prison, things start to escalate out of control. We are carried along with Tommy as schemes unfold around him. Oh, Tommy. A classic crime story with an unlucky, drifting man caught in a bad situation. You feel for him and want to see him come out ok. Fans of the genre will appreciate the regular beats. I also appreciated the more quiet layers of brotherhood, loss and family in rural towns woven into the story and Tommy's baffled, self-deprecating voice.

Tommy runs the seedy hotel and bar in the Highlands, left to him by his father. He has a handful of regular customers but the main drinker in the bar is Tommy. One day a young woman in a bit of a state walks in and has a few drinks; she's back again soon and begins to stay, working behind the bar and attracting new customers. A year later there's a baby, the hotel is getting smartened up a bit and it feels like Tommy's getting his life sorted out. And then Fiona announces that her ex-boyfriend is coming out of prison and is going to stay with them. Simon, the ex, is a scum-bag of the first order, doesn't want to work, enjoys free food and drink and plans to start his own drug running business. Is Tommy's life going to fall apart again? An engaging story with plenty of pace and action, all a bit chaotic, because not everybody is sober all the time. Good read.

Tommy the Bruce by James Yorkston is a compelling blend of literary noir and dark humour set in the rugged Highlands of Scotland. The story follows Tommy Bruce, a washed-up, debt-laden hotel owner marooned in a crumbling Perthshire establishment he inherited from his late parents. Too young to be middle-aged but too old to feel young, Tommy’s days blur into nights of heavy drinking and loneliness, with his future looking as run-down as the hotel itself.

Enter Fiona McLean, a whirlwind of light and hope who transforms Tommy’s life. Moving into the hotel and, surprisingly, into his heart, Fiona offers Tommy a glimpse of happiness and redemption. But her arrival also stirs up a shadowy past, bringing danger to their doorstep in the form of unwelcome faces and criminal threats that jeopardise everything Tommy holds dear.

Yorkston’s writing masterfully captures a wide range of emotions—hope, despair, joy, fear, and grief—often within the same page. Tommy is a deeply flawed yet endearing character, an ordinary hero whose plight keeps readers rooting for him. The book’s rich atmosphere combines noirish tension with darkly comic moments, drawing readers into Tommy’s turbulent world.

With its unsettling menace and captivating storytelling, Tommy the Bruce is a deeply human tale of resilience and survival. Whether Tommy finds the happy ending he deserves is a question that lingers long after the final page.

Read more at The Secret Book Review.

This is quite an emotional read of a novel, filled with hope, sadness and the vulnerability of a man who is plagued by loneliness. It is sad yet funny at times and set in beautiful Perthshire. Slow paced from the start, it is a provocative, tough read but well worth persevering until the end. Thanks to Net Galley for my ARC.

Tommy runs a rural hotel - but drinks more than he should, and the hotel / bar has seen better days. When Fi arrives and settles into the bar and his life things are looking up, even if her mother is snippy and critical. That is until the dots are joined and Fi's links with a local notorious crime family leave him questioning the situation. When Simon, recently released from jail, moves in the real shenanigans begin and the whole situation becomes a whole lot more serious - can Tommy survive whatever he's been roped into?
An entertaining read - slow to start but worth hanging in for.

Brilliant, propulsive narrative from James Yorkston - was a cliche to listen to his music whilst reading him, but sometimes a cliche is good… A gritty focus on one man and his somewhat challenged circumstances, keeping a loss-making hotel open and dealing with ‘events’. This is not always an easy read - I occasionally felt almost sick as I was reading not from the violence, but from nerves related to poor decision after poor decision. That was the point I was really invested in Tommy Bruce and his hotel…
A lot of the dialogue is in the vernacular, and I could hear the accent in my head whilst reading. It really brought it alive but I suspect it could be offputting for some. Thoroughly recommended

Tommy is singlehandedly managing a rundown perthshire hotel in a small village which is off from the main tourist routes. The description of the hotel is very accurate because it reminded me of some of the depresssing hotels I have come across in this part of the world. Villages that used to have several hotels reduced to one or none.
He was brought up in the area but has little contact with anyone from his past and his life is going nowhere with no prospects.
Suddenly into his life arrives Fiona who manages to put much needed spark into his life and the hotel business. She also hails from the same village but also comes with plenty of baggage and soon Tommy is plunged into a nightmarish world of manipulative ex-cons and drug dealing. There does not seem to be any escape from his living hell and everything looks very bleak.
It is not a synopsis of a cheery read and it starts at 100mph and never really slows down. So it is in your face from the opening pages and I felt I had taken an emotional battering reading the whole book.
I was wondering how the tale would finish and surprisingly it was more upbeat than I could have imagined. But overall it is still a tough read and not really my cup of tea.
Thanks to NetGalley and Verve books for the ARC

As emotionally tumultuous as any of Douglas Stuart’s books, this one had me hooked from the get go. A real peek into a gritty Scottish narrative that is as full of heart as it is full of heartache. Really enjoyed the narrative voice and was gripped from the get go.

Thanks to James Yorkston and NetGalley for this ARC!!

Tommy (the) Bruce is a youngish man (though he’s ageing rapidly). He’s running an isolated hotel in Perthshire in the Scottish Highlands.
When I say ‘running’ a hotel, it could be said that he’s actually running it into the ground. It’s a downtrodden place, off the beaten track, and was left to him by his parents, and Tommy hasn’t carried out any repairs or improvements to it since his parents died, consequently its squalid, and in total disrepair. Tommy however, barely notices, he’s too busy drinking away what little profits there are. He’s up to his eyes in debt, his customers take advantage of him, and in addition to all that, he’s fair lonely here at the back end of nowhere.

Life would have carried on in much the same way if Fiona (Fi) McLean hadn’t walked into the lounge bar one night, and almost faster than a rat up a drainpipe, she had also moved into the hotel, was working behind the bar, and also worked her way straight into Tommy’s bed.

Fi brings a breath of fresh air, not just to Tommy’s life but to the hotel too, even managing to get him to do some general decorating and even cleaning every day - quite the miracle!

Things begin to look up until someone from Fi’s past enters their lives - someone who sees Tommy as just a great big soft lummox, and from there on, their lives take a terrifying turn for the worse.

Author, James Yorkston has written a cracking storyline, with a flawed but interesting character in Tommy, and it’s impossible not to like him. Our Tommy will have you rooting for him right the way through his dreadful ordeal, and trust me he faces the darkest of times! Excellent.

This book has it all! Gripping storyline, hopefully moments but then such darkness too. It was a real emotional rollercoaster. Written beautifully and I shall be looking for more work from this author. Definitely one of my highlights this year!

Hapless Tommy Bruce, drifting through his life running the hotel he inherited. He obviously feels he has no right to be happier or thriving. Into his unhappy existence comes Fiona. As the weeks and months unfold Tommy finds there are people and things he cares about and feels responsible for. This helps him dig deep and survive when events take a terrible turn.
Strange how I went from being very frustrated and angry at Tommy to really rooting for him to succeed.

‘Tommy the Bruce’ by James Yorkston,takes the reader on an emotional perilous journey in a reluctant hero’s shambling search for purpose.
Tommy is a young man ageing rapidly,anesthetizing himself with his own stock of cheap hospitality’s booze ,lost in a ‘hand me down’ life,struggling to run his dead father's hotel in the isolated Scottish Highlands.Desperately unhappy in his existence yet feeling trapped in his apathy,as it seems there are no other feasible options,as the building gradually decays around him,like his meaningless existence.Everything changes on the day when a young woman,Fiona comes into his bar for several gin and tonics.Much to Tommy’s amazement Fi turns his feelings about what matters most in life about completely.
This is a vivid cinematic tale of a lonely wasted life languishing in a backland verge of Scotland's countryside.The darkly humorous tale deals compassionately with the issues of loss,identity,family and fatherhood in the dour Celtic tradition of facing boundless misery,self medicating alcohol misuse, and useless wanna be gangsters.
Many thanks to VERVE Books and NetGalley for a pre-release copy.

I love scottish novels especially with the lingo included, this is sharp, witty, emotional and addictive. The story is exciting and unpredictable. Writing at its best.