“McIlvanney's gift for evoking the bruised humanity in Glasgow's underclass will remind readers not only of Rankin and his Scottish contemporaries, but also of Englishman John Harvey and, across the pond, Michael Connelly. And, certainly, you can find something of Laidlaw in Rankin's John Rebus, Connelly's Harry Bosch, and countless other hard-bitten coppers who would surely agree with Laidlaw, who, after being accused of being a bastard by a weaselly lowlife, retorts, ‘At least I'm a bastard with a glimmer of self-awareness.’"
Read the full review in Booklist.
