Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

Offer ends May 1st, 2024 11:59PM GMT. Terms and conditions apply.
£7.99/month after 3 months. Renews automatically.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Breakers cover art

Breakers

By: Doug Johnstone
Narrated by: Angus King
Get this deal Try for £0.00

Pay £99p/month. After 3 months pay £7.99/month. Renews automatically. See terms for eligibility.

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £13.00

Buy Now for £13.00

Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.

Listeners also enjoyed...

Hit and Run cover art
Gone Again cover art
A Long Time Dead cover art
Crash Land cover art
A Litter of Bones: A Scottish Crime Thriller cover art
The Bonnie Dead cover art
False Start cover art
All the Hidden Truths cover art
Return to Evil cover art
Grimm Up North cover art
Starvation Lake cover art
The Hope That Kills cover art
The One That Got Away cover art
Detective Sebastian Clifford, Books 1-3 cover art
Northwind cover art
The King of Crows cover art

Summary

A pulsatingly tense, deeply moving psychological thriller from the number one best-selling Scottish author of Fault Lines.

A toxic family...a fight for survival...

Seventeen-year-old Tyler lives in one of Edinburgh’s most deprived areas. Coerced into robbing rich people’s homes by his bullying older siblings, he’s also trying to care for his little sister and his drug-addict mum.  

On a job, his brother Barry stabs a homeowner and leaves her for dead, but that’s just the beginning of their nightmare, because the woman is the wife of Edinburgh’s biggest crime lord, Deke Holt.  

With the police and the Holts closing in, and his shattered family in devastating danger, Tyler meets posh girl Flick in another stranger’s house, and he thinks she may just be his salvation...unless he drags her down too.  

A pulsatingly tense psychological thriller, Breakers is also a breathtakingly brutal, beautiful and deeply moving story of a good kid in the wrong family, from one of Scotland’s finest crime writers.  

©2019 Doug Johnstone (P)2019 Audible, Ltd

Critic reviews

"A cracking and highly original thriller. Johnstone never fails to deliver." (Mark Billingham) 

"This may be Doug Johnstone’s best book yet. An unsparing yet sympathetic depiction of Edinburgh’s ignored underclass, with terrific characterisation. Tense, pacey, filmic." (Ian Rankin) 

"Breakers again shows that Doug Johnstone is a noir heavyweight and a master of gritty realism. This may be his finest novel yet." (Willy Vlautin)

What listeners say about Breakers

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    30
  • 4 Stars
    9
  • 3 Stars
    4
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    1
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    32
  • 4 Stars
    8
  • 3 Stars
    2
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    28
  • 4 Stars
    5
  • 3 Stars
    7
  • 2 Stars
    2
  • 1 Stars
    0

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Powerful and poignant

Stark story with violence, love and endurance intertwined, beautifully written and narrated with impeccable phrasing by Angus King.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Gritty well constructed story

Narration by Angus King was excellent (aside from an odd pronunciation of Wauchope). The story moved along well, and kept me listening, though there weren't many surprises. If there was one weak area, it was in the final showdown, which was apparently a shoot-out, in a quiet residential area, yet there is no mention of there having been any reports of gunshot made by neighbours.
I will look for more by Doug Johnstone. Was already a fan of Angus King.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

A story of troubles for a family in Edinburgh

Based in and around Edinburgh the plot centres on a teenager who is trapped in a situation not of his making. Based on the rough side of the city where theft, drugs and violence are common place. With pressures from all directions this bright and savvy teenager is put in dangerous situations seemingly impossible to break out of. The narrator does, as usual, a fine job of telling us the story. The only feedback point is early in the book. The name Wauchope, for me, was pronounced like "Walkup".

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

I enjoyed this book very much.

Brill book. So glad I have found this new author. will look for many more.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

highly recommend

smashing book wonderful characters villains and heros.interesting plot found myself rooting for the heros throughout


Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

5 out of 5 across the board a really good listen

This was a fantastic listen Angus King brilliant as per usual. The book from the very offset had me engrossed crescendoing to an action packed finale all I can say is give it a go.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Best yet

Really enjoyed this - pacy, exciting and well read. Best I have read by the author.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Characters

Fantastic read / listen set in Edinburgh. Well written and read beautifully. Great characters and storylines.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great story.

Characters story and narration brilliant. I’m looking for another one by this author and as always, the narrator did a sterling job

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars
  • ms
  • 10-09-23

Different

I enjoyed this book. If you can get over the bad language and use of the c word then you may enjoy it. It is very violent in parts but it is also very human and touching in other parts. A bit far fetched but it is a story. I was looking for something a bit different and this was certainly that. I have just purchased another by this author .

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful