Philip McGrath

The Analyst and Echoes of Laughter Philip McGrath

Charlie O'Malley is an alcoholic former professional boxer, tormented by his wasted talent and sleeping rough in a disused railway station in Yorkshire, sustained only by the memory of Diamond O'Malley, his inspirational father. One night in 1985, two old friends track him down, two men he met while in prison in Leeds twenty years before, Ron Wrightson and Reggie Molloy. They had come to respect O'Malley's judgement and intuition, and now want him to be involved in a bank job they are planning, hoping to use O'Malley's talents as 'the Analyst' to good effect. It's up to O'Malley to assess the robbery they are planning. But Ron and Reggie seem too relaxed and complacent for O'Malley's liking. He must find out what's really going on and stop his old friends from walking into a trap.