Ray Lennox pulls in a long breath. This fans rather than extinguishes the burning embers in his chest and calves. Fighting past the pain, he forces himself into a steady rhythm. At first it’s galling, then lungs and legs start working together like seasoned lovers rather than first-time daters. The crisp air carries the fresh whip of ozone. In Edinburgh, autumn often seems the default setting, no more than a rogue isobar away. But the towering trees are yet to shed, and weak sunlight dances through a canopy of leaves above him, as he bombs on down the footpath along the river. The story goes that Trainspotting stood to be Booker-shortlisted in 1993 until two judges threatened to quit. Do you ever think what might have been?

The Long Knives (2022) is a sequel to Crime (2008) which in turn was a follow-up of sorts to Filth (1998). It works fine as a standalone novel. Ma, a prescindere da ogni considerazione, I lunghi coltelli è un romanzo che mette in discussione ogni valore morale e che punta a squarciarti la pancia (e non solo...) a causa dei tuoi errori e delle tue debolezze. Irvine Welsh travalica i confini del bene e del male per raccontare - a modo suo - una storia fatta di dolore, rabbia e ingiustizia, dove i buoni diventano cattivi perché tutti sono andati troppo oltre e non si torna più indietro. Irvine Welsh has described politicians as “grotesque” as he revealed his latest novel is already on its way to screens. Lennox non si è mai davvero ripreso da un’aggressione che ne ha marchiato l’infanzia e i suoi incubi sono destinati a peggiorare, dovendo indagare sull’omicidio del deputato Ritchie Gulliver, brutalmente mutilato. Era un politico corrotto, razzista e pieno di nemici ma, rapidamente, i cadaveri si moltiplicano e il modus operandi non cambia, lasciando intendere la mente perversa di un serial killer. Finché, con la scomparsa di Fraser, il nipote dell’ispettore, tutto diventa dannatamente personale e i buoni propositi di Lennox per restare sulla retta via, vacillano pericolosamente.And you absolutely cannot beat the feeling when one of the Trainspotting boys makes a cameo appearance. The excitement when I realised was similar to the feeling of him winking at me when I was sitting waiting for the Trainspotting stage show to start. Unreal.

He told STV current affairs show Scotland Tonight at the Edinburgh International Book Festival: “We shot the first season based in part on the original book. A critical consensus has built up over the years that there is Good Irvine Welsh and there is Bad Irvine Welsh. Good Irvine encompasses such generation-defining works as Trainspotting, The Acid House and Filth, while Bad Irvine covers such sloppy, repetitive, self-parodic novels as A Decent Ride and the many sequels and prequels to Trainspotting. His 2008 novel Crime, which follows the exploits of Edinburgh detective Ray Lennox as he hunts down paedophiles in Florida, was definitely Good Irvine, with its contorted moral dilemmas, fast-paced action and rich characterisation. Recently adapted into a television drama, Crime was the first part of a proposed trilogy centred on Lennox. The Long Knives is the second instalment. It’s definitely Good Irvine.Dopo un promettente revival con gli ultimi due romanzi ( L’artista del coltello[2016] e Morto che Cammina [2018]), Welsh mette ancora da parte, speriamo provvisoriamente, i personaggi che gli hanno conferito successo, fama e fans appassionati, cioè la banda di Trainspotting, seguiti e dintorni… At the end of the novel, Welsh even tries to give up on understanding any of it, with one of the detectives having the revelation that all this trans stuff is 'a distraction, mate, a petty diversion from the real farking issues.' Really he would've been better off focusing on all the stuff about elite Tory abusers. He had some good lines about all of that, but it felt like his heart wasn't really in it, which is strange and sad because his previous work he was really able to dig into this kind of thing. A mio parere l’operazione gli riesce solo in parte, perché se l’atmosfera edimburghese è come sempre rappresentata in maniera ineccepibile, l’autore non sembra del tutto a proprio agio con gli stilemi del giallo/poliziesco: in primo luogo appare controproducente e fin troppo sfruttata la scelta di intervallare alla narrazione capitoli in cui uno degli efferati killer ripercorre in prima persona vicende ed antefatti. Così si svelano prematuramente gli aspetti più misteriosi delle azioni criminali, del loro movente e degli immancabili rituali connessi con gli omicidi seriali.

No, I’ve learned how to do that down the years. I didn’t know how to write a novel when I wrote Trainspotting. I had these loose stories that seemed to be heading somewhere; the start was going on too much about how they became junkies, so I cut it and went straight into their world and ended it with a heist ending I thought would be dramatic. Then I went on to The Acid House – more stories. Marabou Stork Nightmares was my first attempt at a conventional novel but it turned out quite experimental. I was just messing around in those first few books. They were probably the best ones, because then you learn how to write and you end up writing like everybody else [laughs]. Welsh shows us a lot of human affliction here; a classic offering from him. We visit transphobia, substance abuse, sexual assault, and see a range of political commentary. We’re shown the climate by anti-establishment folks trapped in a system which won’t allow them to behave how they like, and we’re treated to effective demonstrations of how those on the higher rungs are protected. The Long Knives is the second in a trilogy about Edinburgh detective Ray Lennox, following 2008’s Crime.Certain things did change. There’s certain things I just got wrong; I’m happy to be corrected. Other things [other responses] were quite affirmative. It was nice to have the motivation for what I was doing understood. You’re cut away from the rest of the world so you can concentrate on love and art, which are the only things you really want to concentrate on anyway,” he said.