Imagine my surprise when I found a series by Nick Harkaway that I hadn’t read! I’d missed them because they were written under a pen name, but still – new Harkaways! I was excited.

Now, let me give you a piece of advice: Read The Price You Pay and then take a little time off. Don’t jump immediately into the second book in the series. You’re going to need some time to catch your breath.

Jack Price is a drug dealer, but if you are imagining some seedy guy lurking on a street corner, you have entirely the wrong idea. This was a sophisticated operation, with consistently high quality product (artisan cocaine) and layers and layers of security, ensuring that no one had enough information to make inroads. Very discreet. Non-violent. And very lucrative.

But then something happens to shake up Jack’s little enterprise: the woman in the apartment directly below him is murdered. Executed, really. And that makes Jack wonder if perhaps someone got the wrong apartment? Or were they trying to send a message?

Jack reaches out to an old associate, Petra. She has recently joined a well-known criminal syndicate, the Seven Demons, and it turns out that the first job she will be joining them on is an assassination. Of Jack Price.

Now, most people would be scared witless if they found out they were the target of international assassins, but not Jack Price. Jack Price has been preparing for this his entire life. This gives him the opportunity to unleash his very worst, most brutal impulses – and there will far fewer than seven demons left when he’s done.

The book is a tornado of text. Stream of consciousness paragraphs with little punctuation and no time to stop and absorb what you’ve read, razor-sharp wit and some really bizarre social commentary. Reading it is exhausting. It’s worth it in the end, it really is, but I made the mistake of jumping right into the next book in the series, Seven Demons, and I think I was suffering from PTSD by the end of it. Take my advice, give this one time to settle. Read something fluffy, a nice beach book maybe. You’ll be able to appreciate the next book much better when you’re rested.

My copy of The Price You Pay came from my local library.