Member Review

Having read just one William McIlvanney book, Docherty, (which is brilliant by the way) I'm not qualified to say how faithfully Ian Rankin has reproduced the late author's style but as you'd expect from either writer, this "Tartan noir" murder mystery takes us deep into the mean streets of Glasgow's gang culture, where rival factions battle it out to be top dog of the city's underworld. The story opens with the discovery of the body of bent lawyer Bobby Carter. Laidlaw (McIlvanney's dour detective) is assigned to the case. Hard-headed, experienced and afraid of nothing, he cracks the crime through dogged determination and deduction. The plot is solid but what I enjoyed most was the atmospheric glimpse into Glasgow of the 1970s, peopled with men and women you wouldn't want to mess with - and that includes at least half the police force! It's a very macho, masculine story and plot, but the humour is spot on - one young thug is described as "thicker than the doorstep on a plain loaf" which did make me laugh. McIlvanney/Rankin has the ability to sketch characters in plain pithy prose, and so Laidlaw's boss Ernie Milligan smells of "Old Spice and Ambition"! It's writing like this that brings characters to life and draws you into the story.