The Loner

A brilliant new stand-alone crime thriller from Scotland's Crime Master Xavier (Xavi) Aislado is a gentle giant, half Spanish, half Scot, brought up in Edinburgh by his grandmother, Paloma Puig, a ferocious old lady whose grim brand of care sees him into his teens, until his father moves back to Spain, leaving him to grow up fast. His emergence into manhood is colourful, and eventful. After a short career as a professional footballer, he turns to journalism, and has a bloody introduction to the trade, as his first assignment ends in violent death. Inevitably, remorselessly, as his autobiography unfolds, Xavi's life and his love become entwined with his work, and he is immersed in tragedy, loss and betrayal, going halfway round the world in search of a truth that may destroy him. Quintin Jardine's evocation of Xavi's fated world is an unforgettable story of a man riding a one-way train to oblivion. Will he escape, before it hits the buffers, full-speed?


The author

Matthew Quintin Jardine was born in Motherwell on 29 June 1945, the son of two teachers. He was educated at Knowetop Primary School, Motherwell, and at the High School of Glasgow. He went on to study law at the University of Glasgow, briefly and without enthusiasm, before stepping cautiously in 1964 into a career which began in journalism, as a trainee on his local newspaper The Motherwell Times. He moved from Lanarkshire to East Lothian in 1971, and worked in Edinburgh as a government information officer, a political spin doctor and finally an independent media relations consultant. As a member of the Conservative Party's professional staff he was involved during the 1980s in several key by-election campaigns, including Hillhead, 1982, Darlington, 1983 and West Derbyshire, 1986. As a consultant, his clients included the Faculty of Advocates, the Scottish Salmon Growers' Association, Cumbernauld Development Corporation, Dundas & Wilson CS, and Heart of Midlothian Football Club.

Gradually he evolved into a full-time writer. His first novel, Skinner's Rules, was published in 1993, and nominated for the John Creasey award of the UK Crime Writers' Association. He has appeared at Writers' Festivals and other events around the world, in cities including Edinburgh, Glasgow, London, Vancouver, Toronto, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Perth, Melbourne, Sydney, Auckland, Christchurch and Wellington.

In 1966 he married Irene King, of Baillieston, Lanarkshire, and together they had a son and daughter. She died in 1997 after a short illness. In 2002 he was married for a second time, to Eileen Mansfield Abernethy, of South Shields. Today they live, alternately, in Gullane, East Lothian, (Scotland) and in L'Escala, on the Spanish Costa Brava.

His hobbies include football, (the Skinner novel 'Thursday Legends' is based loosely upon a five-a-side football club of which he has been a member for over thirty years), golf, music and movies.


The readers

Cameron Stewart is a highly talented actor, with significant experience on television, radio and theatre, including performances in Romeo and Juliet, Godspell, and Les Misérables in the acclaimed West End musical. His television credits include Silent Witness, The Inbetweeners and Heatbeat.

Steve Worsley studied acting at Queen Margaret College in Edinburgh. His first professional engagement was in the Haddo House pantomime where he was Dame for two years running. He then joined a touring company who travelled the north of Scotland in a musical called Closer Than Ever. It was here that he met Dan. With a shared love of swing music and a weird sense of humour, Ocean's 3 were born.