The focus on Laidlaw as the (now increasingly) stereotypical troubled enigmatic detective did for me overshadow the other interesting characters and the crime at the centre of the plot. Glasgow provides a great atmospheric backdrop and the city reveals itself vividly through the storytelling and the ‘Weegie’ ’ dialect. I suppose the only letdown in reading "Laidlaw" is knowing there are only two more books with him as a character.

It’s easy to see how Laidlaw might have inspired Rebus, who, in my view, has become a bit ridiculous in a series that has gone on too long. In Glasgow, the city with the worst slums in Europe, a city of hard men, powerful villains, bitter victims and cynical policemen, Laidlaw uses unconventional methods. Lo que es diferente en este policía es la constante intención de entender al delincuente poniéndose cuestiones del porqué de sus actos. In this scorching crime prequel, New York Times best-selling author Ian Rankin and Scottish crime-writing legend William McIlvanney join forces for the first ever case of D. Laidlaw's investigation into the murder of a young woman brings him into conflict with Glasgow's hard men, gangland villains, and the moneyed thugs who control the city.He has just passed out from school and now looks forward to his summer job at a company of brick works. Docherty (1975), a moving portrait of a miner whose courage and endurance is tested during the depression, won the Whitbread Novel Award. Born in the Kingdom of Fife in 1960, Ian Rankin graduated from the University of Edinburgh in 1982 and then spent three years writing novels when he was supposed to be working towards a PhD in Scottish Literature. This wonderful crime novel shows the City’s dark shadows and how sometimes you need to operate in them to achieve real success.

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.For example, with no disrespect to David Essex but you won’t find girls bedroom walls decorated with his face in 2020! 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. That’s the fear the cops have as they chase around the same streets seeking the same answers, albeit in a slightly more civil manner.

McIlvaney nonostante abbia una chiara predilezione per Laidlaw - al quale d’altra parte è consacrato il titolo originale di questo primo romanzo di una trilogia - dedica grande attenzione a tutti i personaggi, sfaccettandoli, rendendoli credibili e interessanti, aprendo porte, inserendoli alla perfezione nella storia. Laidlaw is literary and believes that it’s not cops who are needed but sociologists and philosophers who could go back to the origins before crimes are committed to find answers and prevent them from happening. This is a wonderful book with an original defective detective who solves the crime his way which is certainly not how the rest of the Police Force would do it, but he does succeed. Educated at Beath High School in Cowdenbeath, he graduated and decided to study literature at university.The reading here requires a bit more concentration and effort to understand the complexities of the protagonist, but that effort is rewarded with an excellent plot and multi-faceted characters. Eppure, vuoi per la lingua, vuoi per il tono, vuoi per il protagonista, la sensazione è di leggere qualcosa di fresco e attuale, niente che abbia già mezzo secolo di vita. There are so many stories within a story, showing that what gives crime its complexity usually isn't some super-clever criminal or incredibly shrewd investigator.