AND PERSONAL TRAGEDY... AND IT’S DEAD FUNNY

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“As a country we’ve got a dark sense of humour.

“If you look at authors like Irvine Welsh who manages to take something like heroin abuse, which is a serious issue, and make it a real thing with a comedic aspect.”

The title, Dead Cat Bounce, is a nod to the finance world inhabited by Pete and a indication of how the plot might go. Stemming from the idea that even a dead cat will bounce if it falls from a great height, it describes a brief recovery in the price of a declining stock.

As Scott puts it: “It’s not quite on the floor yet and people think there may be a bit of recovery so they buy into it

“So there’s a bit of recovery but ultimately it fails. It represents Matt, the main character’s, life.

“It’s a metaphor for the fact that he’s on the way down, but you don’t know whether he will get back up.

Since undergoing a Masters degree in Creative Writing at Glasgow University in 2011, Scott has worked primarily on short stories, alongside his day job as a journalist for The Herald.

While his career in journalism has given him an insight into the infamous world of business, the book gave him a desire to go deeper.

“It flowed more naturally, going into the trading side and finding out about his life in the city.

“It was something I really wanted to write about.

“I spoke to a few guys in the city who do that role.

“I read a few books and engorged myself on online research.

“I read about the financial crisis and trading before I embarked on that half.

“These people are human beings but they live in a very different world from the rest of us.

“I learned a lot about that world and hopefully people who read it will learn a lot as well and how it operates.”