This is not a book I would have picked up if I had not had an arc from Netgalley and Canongate Books - so many thanks for the opportunity to read it.
The Second Cut is a gritty, realistic take on the LBQT and gay scene in Glasgow. Long pushed underground, the book touches on the changes that have happened and how things have moved on with gays being more accepted. However, for Rilke, Bowery Auctions Head Auctioneer, not enough has changed and when his friend Jojo is discovered dead in the street after he left for a party, Rilke finds the police are unwilling to investigate, blaming Jojo's dissolute lifestyle for his demise.
Before his death, Jojo passed on a tip to Rilke about a house that needed clearing, that would make Bowery Auctioneers some money. The job brings Rilke into the company of the Glasgow underworld and the turf wars played out by two rival drug runners.
Although i haven't read Louise Welch's first novel, The Cutting Room, which is a prequel to this book, it made no difference. The characters shine through with their own quirks, colourful and flamboyant, and the background of Glasgow's gay scene is at times sinister and at others disturbing. The only slight downside for me, was how plausible the operation at Bannatyne House was. I just wonder if that stretched belief a little too far, but it made for a good read - gritty, twisted and sinister.

The Second Cut by Louise Welsh is the long-awaited follow up to The Cutting Room, published in 2002. It works as a standalone book or as book number two in the series following Rilke, an auctioneer who discovers risqué situations and objects which propel him into shady worlds. Rilke is a Sherlock character, on the side of the angels, but you’re never quite sure if he’s going to be the one to hand a criminal over to his contact in the police, Anderson, or if he’s going to be arrested himself.

The cold gothic heart of the novel is beautifully shaped by the uncaring streets of Glasgow, murky criminal contacts, Rilke's love of casual gay sex, an unforgettable gay orgy scene, and a draughty old house out in the sticks. You look for signs of warmth and humanity, and when they arrive on the page, you cling to them.

This book is gripping from the first page. It’s thoroughly enjoyable to read, an absolute smasher of a mystery. I was a huge fan of The Cutting Room, and was dismayed when it failed to be turned into a film. It's full of great images, psychologically intriguing characters and fantastic dialogue.

Thank you to Louise Welsh, Canongate Books, and NetGalley, for this ARC in return for an honest review. It's available for pre-order and is published on 27th January 2022.

It's twenty years since Rilke first appeared in The Cutting Room and now he has reappeared in this. Why did it take so long, I ask myself. Rilke is a brilliant character and this brilliance hasn't dimmed in the least over the years. Once again we are in the world of antiques and auctions. At the wedding of friends (the two Bobbys) Jojo gives Rilke a tip off about a large house in Galloway that needs emptying in a hurry. If they get the gig this could save the auction house from going under. A few hours later Jojo is dead and Rilke isn't satisfied that he has died of natural causes. In between visiting the house in Galloway and setting up the auction he starts to investigate Jojo's death becoming more convinced that he was murdered when another of his friends turns up dead in a similar way. Being Rilke, he can't let things be and in his investigations he upsets some of Glasgow's criminal world.

Rilke is a very human, very likeable character. He has a strong moral compass which leads him to investigate things he doesn't like when others might turn their backs. I really hope that it doesn't take twenty years for him to come back in another adventure.

Thanks to the publishers and NetGalley for the ARC.

Sorry I am afraid This one was just not for me. I did not relate to the characters or the story.. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the chance to review it.

Set in the west end of Glasgow, but portraying a much darker side than the one that I saw when growing up there! Knowing the area heightened my enjoyment though, picturing the streets and buildings.
It’s a very troubling book, but a good read.

Thank you #NetGalley for my e-arc copy of #TheSecondCut in exchange for my honest review.

And WOW !! I certainly was not disappointed. And honestly thoroughly enjoyed it.

This is the second novel to feature the main character Rilke, two years after his first appearance in the first book in the series; The Cutting Room. Which I’m ashamed to say that I have not read but I will now find this novel and read at some point. In the hope that it will be just as fantastic as this one.

Now back to The Second Cut.

This book is told in the 1st person narrative.
From Rilkes’ point of view.

Welsh choosing to write in this perspective I found really helps with getting to know and understand the character better. And really helped to keep me gripped and wanting to continue reading.

I loved the how callous Welshs’ writing was throughout this novel in regards to the nature of themes such as drug use and casual gay sex as examples and I found the whole execution of this novel to be just fantastic.


I was so enthralled and captivated with this novel that of course I have to rate it the full five out of five stars.

The Second Cut is published on the 27/01/2022 and I highly recommend it 🤗🤓📖

'The Second Cut', the follow up to Louise Welsh's 2002 novel 'The Cutting Room' has been a long time coming but is certainly worth the wait. Many readers may be new to both the author and the main protagonist, auctioneer Rilke, but I am sure those readers will want to read the earlier novel after becoming immersed in Rilke's world in The Second Cut. That world is one of auctioneering, art, the Glasgow gay scene and the edges of the Glasgow criminal underworld. As Louise Welsh writes in an afterword to The Second Cut, life for gays in Scotland has become easier since her first novel was written but despite equality legislation and the normalisataion of gay marriage, prejudice still exists.
While much of the action in The Second Cut takes place in Glasgow, specifically the Merchant City and the West End, there is also a lot of the plot conducted in rural Galloway where Rilke is involved in a house clearing. Mysteries abound: where is the owner of the house and does her nephew really have permission to sell of all her worldly goods; who is Phan, found running, apparently in fear of his life, on the Galloway estate; what happened to the dog that ended up dead in a chest and, back in Glasgow, how did JoJo end up dead in a doorway hours after he had parted company with Rilke? The questions are all answered but not before Rilke and some of his fellow workers have found themselves in rather dangerous, potentially life threatening, situations.
The story is gripping; the characters are very well crafted; the settings are accurate and evocative, whether they be internal or external. Rilke faces moral dilemmas throughout the novel and is certainly not a clean-cut hero. This is not a pleasant read but it is most definitely a very well-written and memorable one.
Thanks to the publisher via Net Galley for a complimentary ARC of this novel in return for an honest review.

I would describe this as interesting but not riveting. The world inhabited by auctioneer Rilke and his boss, Rose is a million miles away from Bargain Hunt and the Antiques Roadshow, with its dodgy deals and criminal underworld links. The story had a reasonable plot featuring a country house sale and the mysterious death of the friend who led Rilke to the commission. That said, I couldn’t relate much to Rilke’s character and his slightly ambivalent take on life and would have liked to see a bit more of Rose, who seemed more interesting.

Something a bit different for me and a very different genera than I would usually read. However I did enjoy this book, it was quite different but original and kept you turning those pages.

Thank you for the opportunity to review this book. I am looking forward to reading Louise’s first book, The Cutting Room.

I have posted on my Instagram bookstagram account.

It's an enjoyable read, and feels like we've been waiting a long time for this. As the author herself says, it's been a long time coming, and culturally, our lives and expectations (of fiction and generally) have changed since the publication of the first book 'The Cutting Room' so the LGBTQ+ theme, which was perhaps perceived as so edgy with the first book, seems less so now. There's no doubt that the quality of the writing is very good, and there are some excellent jabs of description that really propel the plot. I know you can feel there's a 'but' coming, so here it is: it did feel a little formulaic. And I mention it because I've thought of Welsh as being less compliant than that. The ending was a kind of traditional 'resolution', and an excellent example of the kind of three act plot narrative that point-and-click creative writing students might approve of. I sound patronising - I'm not trying to be - but the upshot of which, for me, made for a less than satisfying ending. Shame, really. Definitely worth a read, though. It's entertaining and great to have these familiar characters back on the scene.

Broody, compelling and a bit antsy… everything you want in a detective. Good read, not read Louise welsh before so a great introduction. Will seek out her other books as well as the prequel to this. Recommend.

For me, this book is difficult to review. I love the character of Rilke, self-deprecatory and self aware, as he picks his way through a fairly uncomplicated plot. Ms. Welsh's writing is excellent, full of skilfully inserted literary references. I particularly enjoyed catching one from my favourite poet. So far, very enjoyable. Where I part company from it is the explicit description of a mass sexual orgy. I'm afraid I was unable to stomach it and it coloured my consideration of the rest of the book. Perhaps if I had read the previous Rilke novel, I would have been prepared for it.
I will not rob Ms. Welsh of her well-deserved five stars because of my sensibilities. Regretfullt, however, I will not seek out Rilke's earlier adventures.

Loved how gay this was. Super readable, and one of those where you're constantly moaning 'no, don't do that!' at basically all the characters, but not feeling annoyed by them. A sad undercurrent, mood-wise, but a realistic one. (An irritating interlude with two young queers picked up at a protest - did they have to be quite so awful? I suppose the old queers are awful too, but they are written more sympathetically and with a genuine fondness which seems lacking in the writing of the non-binary kids. Perhaps I'm defensive, but it does come across a bit 'kids these days'.)

I did find it a little hard to keep track of the cast of characters and their various shifting allegiances, but I suppose that's to be expected in what's basically a gangland novel.

I thought I'd read the first Rilke novel, but now I'm not so sure - I'll take the opportunity to (re)read it now, anyway.

My thanks to Canongate and NetGalley for the ARC.

This is the sequel to Louise Welsh's award winning The Cutting Room, featuring and following up the life of Bowery Auctions Head Auctioneer, Rilke. I have not read the first book but it made no difference to how much I loved this. Whilst this may ostensibly be viewed as a crime and mystery novel, it is more about Glasgow's LBQT+ community and gay scene, documenting how it has changed through the years. Whilst there are still dangers associated with being queer, things have moved on, gays are far more accepted, and they are getting married as the opening moments of the novel testify with the wedding of the 2 Bobbys that Rilke is attending. It is here that he bumps into old friend and client, the ageing Joseph Nugent aka Jojo, drunk, looking the worse for wear, his body showing all the repercussions of a drug fuelled sexually decadent lifestyle.

Jojo leaves for a sex party, but not before he has sold a lucrative house clearing tip to Rikle. When Jojo is found dead on a doorstep the following day, Rikle is left unsettled and feeling a sense of guilt, particularly as Jojo is reported as being one of the city's homeless. The more he tries to find out what happened, the more he keeps coming up against a wall, the police are uninterested as there seems to be nothing untoward about the death, but Rilke just can't let it go. After Covid and hard times, Bowery Auctions is struggling financially, so when Jojo's tip turns out to be the remote Bannatyne House, filled to the rafters with valuables for them to sell at auction, Rose and Rilke are over the moon. However, there are ill omens that hang over their potential bonanza, an abandoned burnt out Micra in which the two occupants died, the horror of a Jack Russell entombed in a trunk, rumours that the sellers, cousins John and Alec Forrest, are taking advantage of the owner of the house who would never have sanctioned the sale of the house contents, the rescue of a terrorised Asian man that suggests there are trafficked people being used as forced labour, and the menacing presence of the vicious and volatile gangster, Jamie Mitchell.

The highlight of Welsh's character driven novel are the colourful and vibrant queer community, the queens, the outrageous, the offbeat, the reckless, the disturbed and the disturbing. The professional life of Rilke goes hand in hand with his more toned down personal life, but he wouldn't be Rilke without the presence of danger, his use of Grindr to meet strangers for sex, and his urges, that he manages to control, to join the drug fuelled sex parties, despite the attendant risks that go with them. He is a good man who wants to protect and help others, like wanting to save the young art student Sands from his worst impulses, perhaps because he recognises his younger self in him. This is a wonderfully written and dark read that depicts the seedier side of Glasgow, its criminal underbelly, amidst the background of contemporary queer circles. Highly recommended. Many thanks to the publisher for an ARC.

The stunning and long-awaited sequel to The cutting room, Welsh's masterpiece originally published in 2002, The second cut is a riveting and menacing tale of criminal shenanigans set in and around contemporary Glasgow and where once again we enter the secret world of private auctions where nothing is as clean-cut as it appears...
Add to it very suspicious deaths, despicable human trafficking and a higly toxic and deadly synthetic drug that seems to be wreaking havoc among the LGBTQ community and you will get a very twisted tapestry of human follies oozing greed, recklessness, ruthlessness and violent deaths....
Very dark and unsettling fiction, full of threatening shadows, barely repressed violence and some very disturbed characters that will keep titillating all your senses until the very end.

A brilliantly plotted thriller from one of the best wordsmiths in mystery fiction at work today in the English language that deserves to be enjoyed without any moderation whatsoever👍👍

Many thanks to Netgalley and Canongate for this terrific ARC

I enjoyed The Second Cut. It haven’t read its predecessor, The Cutting Room, (although I soon will) but it works fine as a stand-alone book.

Rilke is a middle-aged auctioneer, active on Glasgow’s gay scene. His job sometimes brings him into contact with characters from the darker side of Glasgow’s underworld, and his sexual activities can be risky, too – although he is cautious by the standards of some other characters. When an old acquaintance from the scene gives him a tip about a valuable house clearance and is then found dead on a doorstep, apparently from an overdose in an already abused body, Rilke finds himself dealing with some very dodgy characters indeed. A fairly complex but comprehensible plot develops involving vicious drug empires, modern slavery and other skulduggery.

It’s readable, involving and quite exciting in places. Its main feature, though, is the background of Glasgow, its violent underworld and the current gay scene – not all of which is comfortable reading. The degree to which homophobia persists is disturbing, although Louise Welsh makes it clear how far attitudes and laws have progressed in twenty years. I also found the auction house side of the book very interesting and could actually have done with rather more of it.

I thought the first half of the book was exceptionally good; it is well written, thoughtful and involving, with Rilke’s relationships with different characters especially well done. It did tail off a little for me later on as some standard implausibilities in the plot began to emerge, like the extremely unlikely but convenient overhearing of a conversation, or the now horribly familiar decision not to call the police but to investigate alone, and so on.

In spite of these minor flaws, I still think this is a very readable, involving book with some important things to say. Recommended.

(My thanks to Canongate for an ARC via NetGalley.)

A thoroughly enjoyable read. The narrator (Rilke)'s voice and persona, wry, rather ironic, and navigating the grey areas of his world, was particularly engaging. His business is auctioneering (he works for Rose, the owner of Bowery Auctions), and the plot revolved around the death of a client, a tip for auctioning the contents of a house, drugs and a particular gay scene... a noire story which made much of the city, Glasgow, and the varied characters portrayed (clever Rose, self-absorbed art student Sands, old geezer Jojo...). There is judicious amount of gender and identity politics and a number of current issues which add to the verisimilitude, and are germane to the storyline, so no spoilers! Vivid descriptions, good writing. Despite some unlikely turn of events, I totally suspended disbelief. This is my first Louise Welsh and will not be my last. Intelligent entertainment.
Many thanks to Cannongate via NetGalley for the opportunity to read this excellent story.

Welcome back Rilke, Rose and the Bowery Auction House, Glasgow.
As always, Welsh's writing is sharp, witty and creepy. If you have read The Cutting House, you will want to read THE SECOND CUT, enjoy!

I give a 4-sta rating.

I WANT TO THANK NETGALLEY FOR THE OPPORTUNITY OF READING AN ADVANCED COPY OF THIS BOOK IN RETURN FOR AN HONEST REVIEW

I haven't read The Cutting Room and it's not essential to know the background when reading this book - although I will now be getting a copy! Rilke is an auctioneer, with some shadowy connections in Glasgow's underworld. An acquaintance and regular business associate gives him a tip about a house that needs cleared, then turns up dead the next day, and all may not be as it seems at the house.

It's really well written and whilst Rilke is investigating a crime he's not your typical crime novel protagonist. I enjoyed it and there are some tense moments, as well as lots of unexpected twists.

Really enjoyed this story and all the twists and turns it offers along the way. Worth a read without a doubt.