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Crime | 
 enlarge | Author: Irvine Welsh
Publisher: Jonathan Cape
Category: Book
List Price: £12.99
Buy New: £6.67
You Save: £6.32 (49%)
New (29) Used (7) from £5.39
Rating:  10 reviews
Sales Rank: 1184
Media: Paperback
Pages: 320
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 5.9 x 1.1
ISBN: 0224080539
EAN: 9780224080538
ASIN: 0224080539
Publication Date: July 3, 2008
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews: Read 5 more reviews...
 Dull and overwritten. September 2, 2008
Al Stubbino
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
I've always believed the thriller/crime novel was beyond the British. This one by Welsh confirms my belief.
Dull! Overwritten! I got up to about page 90 or 100 and tossed it. Why can't the Brits leave it to the Americans and concentrate on TV Soaps and reality shows?
 Surprised at the negativity, to be honest..... August 30, 2008
S. BELL (United Kingdom)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I have to say that I was rather surprised to see the less than complementary reviews about this book. Yes, perhaps it is a departure from his normal writings, but this novel retains enough of Mr Welsh's innovative style and dark humour to leave fans satisfied. I thought it was an excellent novel that shows maturity and hope for more, and quickly. Actually, what I would really like to read is a prequel to "Filth", so if you don't mind....
 Straight Up and Down August 13, 2008
Mr. J. Harvey (UK)
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
I doubt this review will give away much more than you can infer from the others, least I hope it won't.
As a review above says, it's a book I found difficult to put down - at first for the promising start: picking up the story of a previous Welsh acquaintance, and one whose previous description was from a mouth tainted by madness. The setting held much intrigue, also.
But by the end I couldn't put it down for another, far worse reason. Where were the twists? Even mild ones? Get to the end quick to reveal what's been building up then: a Massive twist... Nope. Nothing.
It's pretty well put - I enjoy Welsh's way of telling a story - unfortunately there really wasn't one. He's Good. They're Bad. He Wins. The characters he meets are as they first appear, the situation escalates but doesn't deviate. The three (or so) chapters of subplot were the most intricate, believable part of the book - certainly compared to Ray's 'emotional journey'.
I hope, as mentioned above, Welsh was aiming for pulp-fiction. Cos this is it.
his best work in years! August 4, 2008
K. Mitchell (Essex, UK)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I loved this book. Having read all of Welsh's books he seems to scatter some truly exceptional works (Trainspotting, Marabou Stork Nightmares, Porno & Glue) amongst some fairly-good-but-not-quite-as-good works. Welsh to me sounds the most credible when he's speaking to us through the voice of the Scottish retrobate, I enjoyed every word and thought that came out of Ray's head because of the colourful and honest narratives that Welsh has always impressed us with. I think if he abandoned that premise and Ray Lennox ended up being an American instead of a Scot then we'd be comparing him left-right-and-centre to every thriller writer living and dead. With his Scottish 'voice' Welsh finds his muse, and this is what propels his work forward and gets us hooked. 'Crime' a clever and insightful work which handles the rather dark subject of a pedophile ring without dragging us too far below our comfort zones. The tension doesn't quite build to the point where I was biting my nails, but the story is structured very well and we are slowly given Lennox's story in small pieces so by the end of the book we know what situation has brought him to where he is. We shouldn't keep judging Welsh on Trainspotting or looking for his 'return to form', as to tell the truth a lot of you don't seem to want to believe it, even if he does give you something exceptional like 'Glue'. He can't keep on speaking to us in the voice of Renton his whole career, yes that was him at his most honest but to keep harking back to that will mean that you are missing the point and the probably not appreciating what you've got right here - a extremely enjoyable book that gives us a deeper understanding of human nature and how incidents shape our future actions not just by themselves but by our attitudes and reactions to them.
Writing a thriller is harder than you think.. August 2, 2008
A. Miles (Al Khor, Qatar)
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
Scottish cop recovering from paedophilia case and coke addiction goes on holiday to Florida only to find himself embroiled in yet more coke and paedophilia.
I guess this is Welsh's attempt at a mass market novel, and as such it does its best to bring together his own obsessions - the dark heart of Scotland and all that - and the conventions of the US thriller, i.e the lone outsider taking on a corrupt system.
That's all well and good, but the problem is that whatever it is that Elmore Leonard, Andrew Vachs and George Pelecanos can do, Welsh cannot: It's very difficult to write a good thriller, and whilst Welsh has all the classic elements in place - a revenge-based plot, tension, violence, light relief etc, it all seems laboured and dull: For instance, whereas the authors I've mentioned set their novels on their home turf as a way of authenticising their narratives, Welsh describes Florida as if he's trying to convince you he's been there on holiday.
An attempt by a 'serious' writer trying to take on the pulp fiction big boys and failing, then.
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