Less of a gap before the the next Rilke book, please. Bought the paperback and audio. I want to Read The Cutting Room again, like today.

Really enjoyed this - will definitely be recommending and looking forward to the next one by this author!

This is the first book by Louise Welsh that I have read, so I missed out on the first book, The Cutting Room, to which this is the sequel, albeit 20 years later.

I am a huge fan of Chris Brookmyre and Ian Rankin, and expected to love this, but I didn’t. The seedy and grimy parts of Glasgow were well portrayed, however I found that depressing. Just not for me - sorry.

Thank you NetGalley and the Publishers, Canongate Books for this ARC.

Thank you to Netgalley for this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.

I enjoyed this dark and twisty thriller. I enjoyed it being in Glasgow and surrounding poverty stricken areas, it felt more interesting to know the places they spoke about. I don't want to say too much about this novel except for it is a must read - maybe during the day though as it made me a bit jumpy at night lol.

I read and loved The Cutting Room when it came out a couple of decades ago and it was brilliant to catch up with Rilke. I loved it. More please!

An openly gay Scottish auctioneer Rilke mixes in some interesting circles, mixing with casual drug users and people who go to sex parties, also getting quick dates on Grindr. One of his friends JoJo after giving Rilke the heads up on a big house that needs clearing quickly so the elderly lady owner can go into care, heads off for a party but ends up being found dead later on in a shop doorway, found by a homeless person. The police are not really bothered but Rilke finds out there have been other similar deaths in the area. He starts looking into this and after finding small bottles of drugs in JO Jo's flat tries to return them to their owner, a local gangster in return for a payment for the funeral.
Meanwhile whilst sorting out for the auction at the big house Rilke notices suspicious activities at a nearby farm and goes to take a look. Everything starts to join together, the sale of the house, the drug dealing, the the deaths, activity at the farm, the sex parties, all tying together and linked to 2 gangster families. An unusual story set in the underworld of Glasgow and the local LBQT community.

This was quite a dark book, but I did weirdly enjoy it! I had to read it in the day thought, to stop me having nightmares!

Thank you NetGalley for my complimentary copy in return for my honest review.

The unexplained death of a sort of friend plunges auctioneer Rilke into an investigation that leads to contact with the darker side of Glasgow society, both through his work for a struggling auction house and the search for the truth behind Jo-jo's death.. The depiction of the characters is so effortlessly rich and nuanced that you root for them in spite of their flaws, and are quickly drawn into the dark, malevolent atmosphere in which they conduct their lives. This is a great thriller, peppered with black humour revolving around a protagonist with a conscience in spite of himself. I will be seeking out Louise Welsh's other books.

With thanks to the author, publishers Canongate, and NetGalley for an ARC copy of this book in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.

This was a type of story I’ve not come across before, a crime investigation whose main character is not part of law enforcement, but an auctioneer named Rilke!

An utterly gripping story, starting off with the unfortunate and apparently tragic accidental death of Rilke’s friend Jojo, but then developing into a multi-stranded thriller that is only fully explained right at the end in a wonderful conclusion. The author created very well developed and fleshed-out characters that were entirely believable, while the fast-paced and entertaining dialog, drifting from dark and gritty to laugh-out-loud funny, and dripping with sarcasm and wit, that she uses to tell the story was an absolute joy to read. In particular I loved the scene with Frank and Rilke having breakfast together, and how Rilke’ “full Scottish” almost became a character in it’s own right in their interaction!

Probably one of the best books I have read this year, this was my first book by this author but I will definitely be checking out other her works.

This was a steady story that plodded along, was not unpleasant to read because I did enjoy it but it didn't wow me...
The premise of the story is that Rilk finds out a very close friend JoJo has died but not just that, he was found in a street. They both had house clearance companies and helped each other out every now and again. As the investigation into JoJo's death is slow, Rilk starts finding things out quietly on his own. JoJo was gay and enjoyed going to sex parties where drugs were a plenty and Rilk investigates more, he finds himself with more questions than answers.
I really think this book is worth a read,
Many thanks to Netgalley for the free arc book for an honest review.
#Netgalley, #canongatebooks, #@louhopew.

I am so cross at myself for not knowing that The Second Cut by Louise Welsh is a sequel. I really enjoyed The Second Cut but really wish I had read The Cutting Room first. Not that you need to read The Cutting Room to enjoy The Second Cut. The characters are well drawn out and because it is 20 years later from the first book you don't really feel like there is connecting threads of plot (I may think differently after I read The Cutting Room).

The story focuses on Rilke and how he manages to get himself entangled in the criminal underbelly of Glasgow and can't seem to claw his way out of it. The death of a close friend Jojo leaves Rilke the unappealing task of getting rid of the accumulation of Jojo's life. In doing so, Rilke discovers that Jojo was up to all sorts of dodgy things and it nis now up to Rilke to sort out a dead man's life.

Funny in places, intense in others - The Second Cut is a must for fans of crime novels.

The Second Cut by Louise Welsh is available now.

For more information regarding Louise Walsh (@louisewelshOO) please visit her Twitter page.

For more information regarding Canongate Books (@canongatebooks) please visit www.canongate.co.uk.

Not having been able to visit my home country of Scotland for the last couple of years, I find myself reading a lot more books either by Scottish writers or set in Scotland. The Second Cut is the follow up to The Cutting Room, which was published over twenty years ago. They both feature the same main character, an auctioneer called Rilke, who is a gay man living in Glasgow. Because I read both books recently, it is very obvious how some things have changed for the better, but the situation is not perfect and still has a long way to go.
Rilke meets his friend Jojo at a wedding, where he passes on a tip about a house clearance in the Borders that would be financially beneficial to the firm Rilke works for, but the next day Jojo is dead. Ballantyne House proves to be a treasure trove, but all is not as it first appears.
Told in the first person from Rilke’s point of view, this story depicts a Glasgow that is so familiar and, at the same time, unknown to me; the city is almost a character in its own right. Suffused with dark humour and witty dialogue, The Second Cut is well written and expertly plotted by a writer at the top of her game. It exposes the seedy underbelly of the city – people trafficking, a new and highly dangerous drug, gay orgies, vicious gangsters – and is not for those of a sensitive disposition.
Rilke is a fascinating character and has matured in the intervening years; he is still cynical and streetwise, but not nearly so self-destructive. He is constantly walking a fine line between right and wrong, even if if gets him into trouble. The Second Cut is one of my favourite books this year so far. I have no idea if Louise Welsh is planning to write any more about Rilke, but I would definitely be up for reading it. Thanks to Canongate and NetGalley for a digital copy to review.

I remember reading The Cutting Room when it first came out, and being completely blown away. I had always wondered what happened to Rilke and the rest at Bowery Auctions - this does not disappoint!

We meet the gang again after 20 years and times have changed - some things more than others. Louise writes skillfully and really brings to life her characters in a believable way, you can feel the love for the city closely intertwined in everything that takes place - good and bad.

When RIlke's friend Jojo is found dead unexpectedly in decidedly shady circumstances, Rilke is determined to get to the bottom of what actually happened. He gets help from unlikely places an hindered by expected and also unexpected sources. The story is dark and gritty, fast-paced, tense - a real page turner that still has that dry Glasgow humour throughout. Highly recommend!

I am not normally a fan of crime writing, however I thoroughly enjoyed this. More of a thriller than a crime. I will be seeking out the first Rilke book too! Totally immersive, wonderfully written. I couldn't put it down.

Really enjoyable starting off with central character Rilke .. I gather he's center of other earlier books, and I'll be looking them.out .. ok .. characters are sometimes given to cliched activity .. drugs and gay parties seem to throw up same types of sleazy creatures .. and relationships are skin deep .. but plot here, dominated by a dead quasi-friend is complex but just about understandable (drugs and debts and artists) .. anyway i fell for the auctioneer called rilke who gets caught up in dead acquaintance's life and nearly gets clobbered himself. There's a real life detective too .. who has appeared before(I gather) .. I MUST find earlier titles .really recommended..

I was sent a copy of The Second Cut by Louise Welsh to read and review by NetGalley. This the first novel I have read by Louise Welsh and it is apparently the second in a series set in Glasgow with protagonist Rilke. I didn’t feel that I needed to have read the first book as any previous history was concisely back filled and the story worked well as a stand-alone. There are quite a lot of sexual references but I didn’t find them to be too gratuitous and they gave a flavour of the scene rather than being overly graphic, which for me was a good thing! I thought the characters were interesting and quite well rounded and there was enough mystery, intrigue and humour to keep the pages turning. All in all an enjoyable foray into the Scottish underworld.

I did not finish this book as the story was too dark and seedy for my liking. However, the writing quality was good and will appeal to other readers.

I had the paperback book of The Cutting Room which I read prior to reading The Second Cut.

Auctioneer Rilke meets old friend Jojo at a wedding reception of mutual friends Bobby & Bobby. He gives him a tip about a possible house clearance which Rilke promises to look up. The very next day Jojo is dead. Is it because of his lifestyle? He liked Grindr hook-ups and drugs, or is it something more sinister? The Police don’t seem bothered so Rilke decides to start his own investigation on the side. He’s finding it hard to get anyone to open up about what Jojo might have been up to..

The tip off is a lucrative one for Bowery Auctions and Rilke and Rose, his boss, jump at the chance to sell the valuables from Bannatyne House in the Ayrshire countryside. Things are not all as they seem. The discovery of the item in the small trunk freaks them all out, as does the abandoned burnt out Micra in the next field. Why is the Asian man they find on the lane so scared, and more importantly where has he come from.. Rilke just knows there's some sort of foul play afoot..

I found the story gripping and the characters flawed but human. It’s a must-read.

Not the sort of story or milieu that I normally enjoy, but this was a very entertaining if dark story.

I enjoyed reading Louise Welsh’s debut novel, The Cutting Room back in 2005, even though it was not the usual type of book that I read, and was way out of my comfort zone. I remember that its dark, edgy atmosphere made it compelling reading about Rilke an auctioneer who discovered a collection of violent and highly disturbing photographs. So when I saw that she’d written another novel, about, Rilke, The Second Cut I was keen to read it. I had forgotten most of the detail in The Cutting Room, but that didn’t matter as this book reads well as a standalone.

Twenty years have passed since the first book was published and much has changed in the world, but Rilke at forty seven years old, is now only four years older in this second book, still an auctioneer at Glasgow’s Bowery Auctions and ‘too tall, too thin and too cadaverous to look like anything other than a vampire on the make’. I found this somewhat confusing as The Second Cut is clearly set in the present day, with all the changes that have taken place in the last twenty years regarding the rights of LBGTQ+ people, and the references to Covid.

Just like The Cutting Room, I found this compelling reading, but not always comfortable reading, particularly about the darker side of Glasgow’s violent underworld and gay scene. The characters are vividly drawn and from start to end the pace is fast, and the details about the auction house are fascinating. There are two main threads – the first is Rilke’s determination to find out how and why his old acquaintance Jojo turned up dead on a doorstep.

Aand the second follows his suspicions about the truth behind the house clearance of Ballantyne House, a neglected Georgian house in Galloway, less than two hours from Glasgow. It was crammed with many valuable items along with the dross. It was owned by Mrs Forrest, an old lady who had been a concert pianist but was now suffering from dementia, so her son and nephew were dealing with the sale of the property and its contents. I read a lot of crime fiction, so I soon guessed what had happened to Mrs Forrest, and similarly I was immediately suspicious about what was going on in the polytunnels.

But it’s the gay scene that is the main focus of the book and in her Afterword Louise Welsh explains that she had written The Cutting Room twenty years ago in a white-hot rage about the intensity of the hostile environment against LBGTQ+ people. Although much has changed since then with equal marriages, increased visibility, access to hate laws, improved awareness of queer and trans rights, with a general consensus that violence and prejudice against LBGTQ+ people is wrong, outrages still occur. She writes that the Glasgow she inhabits is largely better, in terms of sexuality, than it was twenty years ago. I have to say that some of the scenes in The Second Cut seem to be stuck in the past – or have I got that wrong?

Many thanks to Canongate Books for a review copy via NetGalley
3.5* rounded up to 4*