Laidlaw (Laidlaw Trilogy)

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The dialogue is top-notch too and I was left to wonder how much of all of this was present in McIlvenny’s draft and what proportion was reliant on Rankin’s deft touch. Lo que es diferente en este policía es la constante intención de entender al delincuente poniéndose cuestiones del porqué de sus actos.

McIlvanney deploys a much used and reliable method to get the reader acquainted with his main character: we get to know him indirectly, through the eyes of the rookie constable Brian Harkness, a young man who hasn't yet been embittered and cynical about the job, assigned as partner and liaison to Laidlaw on this case.

This is a wonderful trip back into the 1970s and the language that McIlvanney used then brings back the image of a decaying Glasgow and the harsh cruel world that operated around the city of the day. If I take it as a historical novel and I don’t think too hard on it and just accept the praise that he is pulling together threads that hadn’t previously been put together then it’s an interesting novel. I thought the Swedes had the market cornered when it comes to gloomy, depresive, existentialist crime fiction, but William McIlvanney sets out to prove me wrong, going back right to the angsty and dreary seventies. I would like to thank both Netgalley and Canongate for supplying a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

I get the sense that the ending was very Ian Rankin, as I could easily imagine that it was John Rebus being talked about in those last paragraphs, rather than Jack Laidlaw. No es casual que Laidlaw aparezca en el libro de Lemaitre ya que, para él, la novela de William Mcilvanney es la mejor novela negra de siempre. However, juxtaposed within the mundane activity of cops are chapters from the criminals’ POV in gangland Glasgow which provide a more sinister tone. After author William McIlvaney passed in 2015, a partially written manuscript backtracking to his popular character’s first case was discovered. And into rarely articulated situations like the abject and divisive isolation of being stranded in the company of a partner and their parents.

In addition to writing books and stories, author McIlvanney used to contribute newspaper columns in a number of daily newspaper on a regular basis. The climax of the story didn't go at all the way I expected it to, and I didn't feel like McIlvanney had cheated me either. It’s not a detective novel in the sense of classic detective stories where the focus is always on the detective. Glasgow in the 1960s is the backdrop to this gangsterland story where a gang leader's lawyer is murdered and his body dumped in a rival' Hemingway said that “all American literature came out of Huckleberry Finn; all Scottish crime writing — ‘tartan noir’ — comes out of Laidlaw.

Now, I’ll have to read one of the original Laidlaw novels written by William McIlvanney to see if he also employed this style. Though I'm a noir fan, I otherwise tend to dislike mysteries and detective fiction, and the only thing I know about Glasgow is what I saw walking from one of the city’s train stations to another several decades ago. William McIlvanney’s writing is just superb; almost poetic sometimes and always remarkably evocative.The complexity comes from all the people--on both sides--each with their web of talents and problems. Laidlaw, on the face of it, isn’t particularly likeable, but he has a wicked sense of humour, and I love that), though he does prefer to do his own investigating without any obstructions, so he often leaves Lilley behind - yes Laidlaw is very much a force of nature. Dante networked audio is available throughout the building as described in the how to use Dante video. With the police supervisor in charge of the investigation primarily concerned about keeping the peace between the rival gangs rather than finding the killer, Laidlaw decides to go rogue to discover the origins of the dispute, try to solve it and identify and locate the murderer in the process.

Maybe there is an extra frisson in reading mysteries set in places you've been to, that are familiar on more than tourist terms - perhaps that's why I haven't loved some of the Scandis as much as expected. A contributor to BBC2's Newsnight Review, he also presented his own TV series, Ian Rankin's Evil Thoughts, on Channel 4 in 2002.Through Laidlaw, McIlvanney also brings a subtle, insightful view of the morals and origins of the people and events. Laidlaw is a complex character with his own style of policing and you can see the similarities with Rebus.