Crime

[Rougier45]

What a book this is --nearly finished -Very close to the bone -Paedophilie is the main subject -written brilliantly--Hero Is a Cop , as in line with all Irvines books is a Jambo--but he's not a bad lad but has a prob with the coke and the Bevvy.

Brilliant read with the usual Hibs references and a joke reference to CSF Miami then it all gets a bit twisted--Goes back to the cops youth with his best mate down near colinton Dell his mate a Jambo gets raped on -07-07-70.

Goes on about 7-0 then it ends upo at Dens park-goes into great details--Mercer the crowd the bottling it- 7 minutes to go--albert Kidd a bit like I think Maribou Storks which if I recall ended up with Hearts losing the SC Semi to Airdrie.......

Not finished yet dont know what Jambos will make of it--but I think he has crossed the line more in ReF to Jambos than he gets near with the main hub of the story a paedophile ring.

References to Graeme Rix...

Interested to hear anyone elses thoughts.

BTW Morton who cares--IF deeks comes home we will win the Scottish.

Go On Hibs

[the_ginger_hibee]

Thought it was a brilliant book, one of his best, nice to see him take big issues like pedophilia head on instead of resting on his laurels (drug, sex etc.) (Infact thinking about it, this books pretty much full of it :greengrin anyway....))

However the Dens Park talk was a bit out of place, fair enough Hibs and Hearts fans know about it and can associate with 86' but I thought it just added nothing to the story. A non-Edinburgh-football man may feel a bit lost. Also the big 'chapter' near the end that was just purely about Dens Park was a waste of build-up to the main storyline and just took a bit shine and momentum off 'the big pay-off' of Ray's showdown with 'the ring/Chet etc.'

Apart from that, its certainly a new favourite of mine. Very very good work Irvine Welsh:thumbsup:

[Rougier45]

agree added nothing--but brilliant book--his best work ........

[Dashing Bob S]

The only unconvincing part for me was the Jambo being the hero rather than the paedophille. Methinks Mr Welsh should spend more time keeping up to speed on Hibs.net.

Joking aside, I think its certainly one of the best things he's written in a long time.

[Greentinted]

I struggles with the first half of the book, kinda felt that Welsh was being a tad self-indulgent and overcooking the scene setting with quite a few erudite philosohical tracts that added very little save for showing how sophisticated his literary talents have evolved.
However, fairs fair, when the story unfolds it becomes a highly emotional roller-coaster with enough local references to keep Irvine's Edinburgh based Disciples engaged (I loved the reference to the CSF) and an evocative narrative which will challenge the "sweep things under the carpet" brigade.
Some tough issues dealt with well, including a few unnerving insights into the psychological processes undertaken by the lowest form of humanity (???) our world has to deal with.

Well done Mr Welsh.