Crimelord by David Leslie, 1845960491, Lowest Book Price Finder

Customer Reviews:

Is this book really about Tam McGraw?

I was interested to read about such an enigmatic figure as Tam McGraw, having heard so many others holding forth on the subject (Reg McKay, Paul Ferris et al). I was hoping that this book would cast some light on McGraw's shadowy world. However, the book is largely pre-occupied with smuggling operations undertaken by the Tartan Mafia back in the 90s, with occasional allusions to McGraw's involvement.

There are some interesting anecdotes, though they must be taken with a pinch of salt considering the sources. Unfortunately there are some extensive grey areas. For example, Paul Ferris is rarely mentioned, which considering recent events is unusual. The tone of the book is sympathetic toward McGraw and his henchmen, leaving one with a sense of some modern day Don Vito Corleone figure, a gangster with honour. There may or may not be some truth in this but I was left wondering just how much of a hidden hand McGraw himself may have had in the writing of this work. After all his reputation has been extensively maligned both by fellow gangsters and the media.

On the plus side, as a mildly entertaining true crime biopic of scottish smugglers in the Costa Del Sol of the 90s, this book is worth a read. The title though is disingenuous. Don't expect to have any more of a sense of who "The Licensee" actually is at the end than you had at the beginning.

Boring Boring Boring

Well after reading more books than i care to remmeber i was given the Licensee as a present.

Upon opening it i was with suprise and delight knowing who the book was about and the fact that i hadnt already read it was brilliant.

Thats where the problems started.

This book does nothing but constanlty tell you about a buss driving back and forward to Spain and Glasgow.

There are all the hints of who is behind the buss and who people think are behind it.

There is also the small episode in the book about involvment with Ireland and buying property in Tenerife.

If your really bored and cant find a book that you fancy give this a try and you will be doing the same as i am now.

Writing a review and looking for a new book having passed the boredom reading the LICENSEE

A BEUT OF A BOOK

It must have taken some guts to put it all on paper, and I really enjoyed reading of the inner goings on of a Scottish crime lord.

Nonsense

I looked forward to reading this book with great relish. Sure that i would be about to read some previously unknown interesting facts regarding Thomas McGraw the self-proclaimed Mr Big and suspected super-grass. I was totally disappointed and unimpressed with the books content. What i read was little more than a concoction of half-truths, complete fabrication and mis-informed gangland gossip coupled with stories i had read in the press.

The author i suppose did his best with the information gleaned from interviewing the friends and associates of Mr McGraw. I appreciate it would have been a hard task to find any semblance of truth among the author notes taken from the motley bunch of miscreants that surround McGraw. The author if he had tried harder could i am quite sure, have sought out and interviewed some neutral players from the Glasgow criminal fraternity, thus giving his book more balance and perhaps something approaching truth.

If you are from the Glasgow area and suffer from insomnia this book may help you through the night, but i doubt it. My advice would be to save your cash and give this book a miss, unless fairy-tales are your favourite book genre.

Glamourised, Inaccurate, greatly fictionalised

OK, I may not know Tam McGraw personally (thankfully), but having a Father who is a senior police officer in Glasgow who dealt with McGraw, Ferris and Arthur Thompson over the years I can safely say that a large part of this book is both exaggerated and inaccurate. To portray Tam McGraw as the "Robin Hood" of Barlanark is just plain stupid. Reading this book gives you a completely wrong point of view as it glamourises (falsely) the thugs involved. The author's descriptions of the thugs and police officers are also completely inaccurate. To top things off the author gives credit to McGraw and his "crew" for jobs that WERE carried out by Arthur Thompson and his "crew".

This book paints a picture of McGraw as some sort of powerhouse of crime, stronger than Arthur Thompson, but let me just point out McGraw is constantly arrested and has done some time, yet Arthur Thompson was only arrested once falsely for a fur coat that it was alleged to have been stolen, but was in fact legitimately purchased. He did six months for that. When you consider the length of Thompsons career and the fact that he happily dealt with and had the respect of the Kray twins, it truly shows who the real "Wiseguy" and "Crimelord" was. The author has been duped and mislead too much by the criminals he has interviewed.

This book should be read as a work of fiction because what truths are given they are either inaccurate or biased from the criminals point of view.

A positive point I would like to voice though is the fact that considering it was the author’s first book is was well written considering all the factors mentioned above.

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