The Damage

When three friends reunite in Edinburgh's Blercrae estate, they couldn't have imagined the path they were about to take. Yorkie, the wild one, stumbles across the recipe for a new wonder rave drug with a very secret ingredient. Yorkie, who earned his nickname due to a calamitous stint at York City FC, finds the drug leads them on a merry dance into Edinburgh's underworld. They become a target for the city's dealers, the law and eventually the army. If only there was somewhere impregnable to hide in Scotland's capital city.........

If you are still interested here's the above few words in a bit more detail, but I must warn you this book is not for the easily offended.

The story begins in a council estate in Edinburgh with a very shady, although relatively harmless, character Yorkie. Yorkie earned his nickname from a failed stint at York City football club as their star striker. Although talented his career was short lived entirely because of his love of life's excesses. As football and society turned its back on him, due to his horrendous self-destructive behaviour, he struggles through life looking for his daily hit. His desperation for this hit leads him to make a drink using left over alcohol and house hold products. He stumbles upon a new wonder high. This coincides with his two best, much more sensible, childhood friends returning to the local area both in need of employment and direction. One has left the army after becoming disillusioned with following orders which result in innocent people's misery and the other's job in the city has come to an end due to a financial crisis. Yorkie is elated at his friend's reappearance in his life and manages to convince them to follow him on a path of calamities and riches by selling his wonder high to a large scale drug dealer. As demand increases, the simple economics of this means they have to increase production exponentially, leading them on a merry journey around Edinburgh and Scotland's beautiful south eastern coast.

The friends encounter a number of issues, some of their own making and others out with their control as their business escalates. With large scale drug production there are the pit falls of police involvement, other drug dealers and eventually in this case the anti-terrorism squad and army enter the fray. The drug they make has a very special ingredient which the boys must find ways of sourcing. Finding the appropriate quantities of this brings its own challenges especially as demand grows.

Production of the drug also brings physical risks as it is unstable in the final stages of cooking. Due to this they leave a trail of destruction, ensuring they must constantly find new places to cook their product. After a very public explosion they are given a way out of the city to the relative safety of the seaside. Disaster inevitably strikes again forcing them to flee and return to Edinburgh where they gain access to one last cooking shop. On first inspection their new place of work appears perfect but by now the authorities and drug dealing competition are closing in along with the usual inescapable disaster.