Laidlaw (Laidlaw Trilogy)

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In Laidlaw (#1) we are introduced to Detective Inspector Laidlaw. DI Laidlaw has demons and is in the midst of a failing marriage. The irony is he has a soft spot for criminals and a disdain for the law. Your opinion of me at the moment worries me exactly as much as dandruff would a chopped-off head. I don't have to justify myself to you. I've got to justify myself to me. And that's a bloody sight harder. [...] If everybody could waken up tomorrow morning and have the courage of their doubts, not their convictions, the millenium would be here. I think false certainties are what destroy us. Legea nu este despre dreptate. E un sistem pe care l-am construit pentru că nu putem obține dreptate.„ Stunning. Possibly the best-written crime novel I've read. It continually astounded me with its depth and surprising metaphors. There are noir tropes here, their meaning and resonance vastly amplified; I said similar about Ian Rankin a few months ago when I first read him, but this was like Rankin tripled, quadrupled - this, published in 1977, was one of the inspirations for Rebus.

A contributor to BBC2's Newsnight Review, he also presented his own TV series, Ian Rankin's Evil Thoughts, on Channel 4 in 2002. He recently received the OBE for services to literature, and opted to receive the prize in his home city of Edinburgh, where he lives with his partner and two sons.Maybe I was reading a different book to everyone else but this one did not do it for me. As this was a prequel, maybe it just didn’t work coming in without knowing the characters or plot, orrrr maybe it’s just not for me. McIlvanney shifts our viewpoint from chapter to chapter, sometimes telling it from the viewpoint of the young copper who's been assigned to assist Laidlaw and sometimes from the viewpoint of minor characters, like a wannabe gangster who winds up in waaaaay over his head and pays dearly for that mistake. The psychological insights that McIlvanney brings to these POV shifts tend to be astonishing, particularly one chapter that takes the viewpoint of a brutal, yet oddly principled gangster whom Laidlaw treats as an equal if not a friend (shades of Rankin's own character Morris "Big Ger" Cafferty). Another one, which takes the POV of a character who's openly homosexual, seems way ahead of its time. I have not relished a novel or character as much as I did Laidlaw in years, and I regret that I did not make the acquaintance much sooner. Highly recommended.

Some books can be enhanced by a top-class narrator, but in this case I would recommend the written word over the audiobook. It’s narrated by the author, but he’s not a professional at this and makes mistakes. At one point a voice even breaks in to tell McIlvanney he’s made a mistake and he has to repeat the previous sentence (he responds with an affecting “Oh my!” by way of an apology). Laidlaw non smentisce il suo cognome: è un poliziotto che "spiana" la legge, la semplifica, la adatta al suo modo di agire, vivendo ogni caso di cui si occupa come se fosse un fatto personale. Poliziotto esistenzialista?There are numerous excellent set pieces. One cop/criminal hard man scene in a dodgy pub in the East End of Glasgow has strong echoes of that classic De Niro and Pacino restaurant scene in Michael Mann's Heat despite this novel obviously predating that film. It's a carefully choreographed dance with the rules changing as it happens and the realisation that the men have more in common than may first appear, and a grudging mutual respect. Jaw droppingly good. Knight errant of the Crime Squad, she reflected bitterly. The trouble was, it occurred to her, that with him you never knew whether you were the maiden or the dragon.

Un cadavere viene trovato per caso sotto un cespuglio di un parco cittadino. A scoprirlo bambini che stanno giocando. The crime in Laidlaw is the murder of a young girl who disappeared after going to the disco one evening. Her family and friends are questioned by the "polis.". Several Glasgow hard men are suspects, as well, and the reader is introduced them and their machinations. (Be aware that there is a certain amount of vividly described violence here.) 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. I’m not sure it’s such a good idea for the work of one famous writer to be finished by another famous one, especially when the former was the inspiration for the latter. This was really great! Ian Rankin finished a previously unfound manuscript of McIlvanney's and immersed himself in the world of Laidlaw to bring us this gem, The Dark Remains. This was a fantastic Scottish mob crime story with excellent characters. Thanks to Netgalley and Europa Editions, I was able to read this one, and started it the moment I received the approval. Glad I did!William McIlvanney is credited with being the founder the Tartan Noir movement that includes authors such as Denise Mina, Ian Banks, Val McDermid, all of whom cite him as an influence an and inspiration. The Laidlaw trilogy "changed the face of Scottish fiction." His Docherty won the Whitbread Award for Fiction. Laidlaw and The Papers of Tony Veitch both gained Silver Daggers from the Crime Writers' Association. Strange Loyalties won the Glasgow Herald's People's Prize. That's really all you need to know about the plot. Cops, thugs, snitches & families.....just some of the peripheral characters you'll meet along the way. It's a master class in misdirection as Laidlaw drags the long suffering Lilley around Glasgow's less respectable streets. The bonus is the gritty, poetic prose. From descriptions of Glasgow & its citizens to Laidlaw's dryly sardonic dialogue, this was such a pleasure to read.