''Bleeding Hearts'' is a 1994

crime novel Crime fiction, detective story, murder mystery, mystery novel, and police novel are terms used to describe narratives that centre on criminal acts and especially on the investigation, either by an amateur or a professional detective, of a crime, ...

by Ian Rankin, under the pseudonym "Jack Harvey". It is the second novel he wrote under this name.

Plot summary

Michael Weston is a professional assassin, but he also suffers from

haemophilia Haemophilia, or hemophilia (), is a mostly inherited genetic disorder that impairs the body's ability to make blood clots, a process needed to stop bleeding. This results in people bleeding for a longer time after an injury, easy bruising, ...

. The wealthy father of a girl he killed by mistake years ago has sworn vengeance on the killer, hiring a private detective (Hoffer) to track him down. Rankin has said that he wrote this book under the influence of

Martin Amis Martin Louis Amis (born 25 August 1949) is a British novelist, essayist, memoirist, and screenwriter. He is best known for his novels ''Money'' (1984) and ''London Fields'' (1989). He received the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for his memoir '' ...

's novel ''

Money Money is any item or verifiable record that is generally accepted as payment for goods and services and repayment of debts, such as taxes, in a particular country or socio-economic context. The primary functions which distinguish money are as ...

'' and that Weston was influenced by that novel's protagonist John Self.

References

1994 British novels British thriller novels Novels by Ian Rankin Works published under a pseudonym Orion Books books {{1990s-crime-novel-stub