Set in Miami, Welsh's first novel from a female perspective introduces us to personal trainer Lucy: tough, ripped and full of disdain for the weak and out-of-shape.
Not for nothing is her business called "Hardass Training". She becomes an overnight celebrity after drop-kicking a gunman, her moment of heroism caught on video by Lena, an overweight artist with low self-esteem who becomes one of Lucy's clients. Twists follow: things are not as they seemed, and Lucy has a cruel streak that even the unforgiving opening chapters haven't prepared us for. As she gets lined up for a job presenting a fitness show, she and Lena become cleverly entwined in a story for which the media and the dark side of aspirational fitness culture provide the backdrop. Welsh proves himself spookily adept at getting inside sociopathic Lucy's head. She's a difficult character to empathise with, but anyone considering reading an Irvine Welsh novel will have a taste for hard-edged fiction anyway.
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