William Mcilvanney, escritor escocés fallecido en 2015 se hizo célebre escribiendo novela negra ambientada en Glasgow en los años 70. Su estilo se conoció como “tartan noir”, sirvió de inspiración a autores de la talla de Ross Mcdonald, Ian Rankin o Val Mcdermid. From time to time, Laidlaw gets to make his views known directly, as he engages with Harkness in lively debates about the role of the policeman in society, about ethics and about personal responsibility. McIlvanney’s Glasgow is a bleak place, with violence never far beneath the surface, fuelled by drink and prejudice. A place of contradictions, where love exists but doesn’t flourish, where loyalty is a product of fear and betrayal is met with uncompromising brutality. Laidlaw is our everyman, our observer – a player, yes, and a flawed one, but with an understanding of humanity that allows him to look beyond events to their causes, and to empathise where others condemn. The most striking thing about him was something Harkness had noticed every time he had seen him - preoccupation. You never came on him empty. You imagined that if a launch arrived to rescue him from a desert island, he would have something he had to finish before being taken off. It was hard to think of him walking casually, always towards definite destinations.

It is great entertainment, but McIlvanney's achievement is to transcend the conventions of the crime novel even while he observes them. The trilogy is one of the finest things in modern fiction, in the Chandler and Simenon class." - Spectator (UK)

Publication Order of Jack Laidlaw Books

The Laidlaw books are not just great crime novels, they are important ones. McIlvanney proved that crime writing could have both perfect style and huge ambition. Most of us writing crime fiction today are standing on the shoulders of giants. McIlvanney is one such giant." - Mark Billingham Now that I'm accustomed to their approach, I will be reading more by both authors. First up, the continuation of the Laidlaw books. It's fine, and worth a read for those that loved the original trilogy but far from essential. I suspect this is 20% McIlvanney and 80% Rankin. If only it had been the other way round.

To quote another GR review: "This isn't a crime writer who decided to get 'all literary'. McIlvanney is a deeply authentic Scottish (Glasgow) writer and poet who decided in the late 1970's (after having written some successful and gritty novels) that he could talk about existential decay now through the device of a crime sequence...this is a magnificent little book. It is raw, it is philosophical, it is grim, it is character and plot and language driven." Overall, I loved it. It’s twisty with really good characters and a believable plot. I’ll definitely want to read more about Laidlaw. Enters Laidlaw, a gritty detective, a man who quotes philosophers, who prefers to get his answers in the street rather than the station. Of ourse, this puts him on the outside, which is where he likes it best. E sono gli anni Settanta: oltre bere a tutte le ore e ovunque, si fuma ovunque e a tutte le ore, i telefoni sono fissi e alcuni funzionano inserendo monete, quelli cellulari non sono neppure nell’aria. This is one of those novels that is intriguing and difficult for me to figure out how much I like it.Is this something they did? Catch a body and write it into your to-do list for tomorrow and then go take a 12 plus hour rest before you start to ask questions or go investigating? Everything had changed. You could walk for as long as you liked in this city. It wouldn't know you. You could call every part of it by name. But it wouldn't answer.St. George's Cross was only cars, inventing destinations for the people in them. The cars controlled the people. Sauchiehall Street was a graveyard of illuminated tombstones. Buchanan Street was an escalator bearing strangers. 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. The complexity comes from all the people--on both sides--each with their web of talents and problems.