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kh2912's review
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
andrew61's review
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
It is a rare book in the crime genre to which I will give 5* but the third in the Laidlaw trilogy combined a brilliant plot with wonderful writing that explored the fragility of the human experience and the flawed hero.
Laidlaw is struggling in his personal and professional life, so when his brother inexplicably appears to have killed himself, he takes leave to explore why the death has occurred. As he peers under the stone of the community where his brother lived secrets and lives emerge.
Laidlaw is struggling in his personal and professional life, so when his brother inexplicably appears to have killed himself, he takes leave to explore why the death has occurred. As he peers under the stone of the community where his brother lived secrets and lives emerge.
notbenhoy's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
laurapf's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
jimmypat's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
The best of the Laidlaw novels. This book reminded me of Charles Willeford’s Hoke Moseley novels, especially the last two. The familiarity isn’t in the writing or the characters, but the situation of a detective grappling with stark, poignant issues with the crime solving being almost an after thought. I read this at the right time….. a sucker punch to the gut, but I really needed it. I only pray that I can overcome my own problems and not get trapped like Laidlaw.
scoutandlyra's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
4.0
fictionfan's review against another edition
5.0
Moving the stars to pity…
In the third and, to date, last outing for Jack Laidlaw, he is grieving for the death of his brother, Scott. Although Scott’s death was accidental – he was knocked down by a car – Laidlaw believes that his brother’s state of mind played a major part in his death. And so as the story begins, he has taken some time off work to try to find out what had led Scott into the depression and heavy drinking that marred his final months. As he talks to the people who knew Scott best, Laidlaw finds there were things he never knew about his brother and begins to realise that the answers he is seeking may lie far back in Scott’s past…
The first book in the trilogy, [b:Laidlaw|17620813|Laidlaw|William McIlvanney|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1363518656s/17620813.jpg|937081], would certainly be in contention on any list I might draw up of best crime novels, possibly even best novels overall. The second, [b:The Papers of Tony Veitch|16686095|The Papers of Tony Veitch|William McIlvanney|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1372967760s/16686095.jpg|1558640], came very close to matching it in quality. So for me, this one had a couple of hard acts to follow, and it was with some trepidation that I began to read. And, although this is undoubtedly an excellent novel in its own right, in truth it didn’t reach quite the same heights for me, though only by a small margin.
There are a couple of reasons for this, one of which is very much a matter of personal preference. The Laidlaw brothers grew up in Ayrshire so, unlike the previous books which were very firmly set in the Glasgow of my youth, this one takes place mainly away from the city. McIlvanney himself was an Ayrshire lad so for him the emotional connections are just as strong, perhaps stronger, but for me, there wasn’t the same resonance as in the other two. It also meant there was very little of McIlvanney’s wonderful use of Glasgow dialect which so enhanced the earlier books for me. The other reason is that this one is written in the first person from Laidlaw’s perspective, whilst the first two were third person. I found Laidlaw a more believable character seeing him from the outside, as it were. Being told his philosophical thoughts in his own voice meant I found that, just occasionally, he came over as a little pretentious.
However, slightly less good from McIlvanney is still about a zillion times better than excellent from most authors, so I certainly wouldn’t want either of these quibbles to put anyone off reading this one. McIlvanney’s prose is wonderful – there is a poetic edge to it that makes the reading of it an intensely pleasurable and often emotional experience. I don’t usually use such longs quotes as this but I feel this gives a true flavour of the deep understanding and love of – pity for – humanity that pervades these books:
His characterisation is superb – each person flawed but believably so, and he writes them with a sympathy that makes it hard for the reader to condemn. He is very much of the school that believes criminals are made, not born, and for his characters there is always the possibility of redemption. Some of the most moving scenes in this book are of a petty criminal back in Ayrshire to look after his dying mother in her last weeks. No McIlvanney character is black or white – they are all multi-shaded and multi-layered, and Laidlaw has the empathy to see them in the round. And it is Laidlaw’s empathy and understanding that makes these books special, because through him the reader is also brought to feel a sorrow and a pity for the way the world is.
One of my favourite quotes is Flaubert’s “Human language is a cracked kettle on which we beat out tunes for bears to dance to, while all the time we long to move the stars to pity." In this trilogy, McIlvanney’s writing surely moves the stars.
www.fictionfanblog.wordpress.com
In the third and, to date, last outing for Jack Laidlaw, he is grieving for the death of his brother, Scott. Although Scott’s death was accidental – he was knocked down by a car – Laidlaw believes that his brother’s state of mind played a major part in his death. And so as the story begins, he has taken some time off work to try to find out what had led Scott into the depression and heavy drinking that marred his final months. As he talks to the people who knew Scott best, Laidlaw finds there were things he never knew about his brother and begins to realise that the answers he is seeking may lie far back in Scott’s past…
Nobody had said ‘crime’. But that dying seemed to me as unjust, as indicative of meaninglessness as any I had known. And I had known many. For he had been so rich in potential, so much alive, so undeserving – aren’t we all? – of a meaningless death. I knew.
I should know. He was my brother.
The first book in the trilogy, [b:Laidlaw|17620813|Laidlaw|William McIlvanney|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1363518656s/17620813.jpg|937081], would certainly be in contention on any list I might draw up of best crime novels, possibly even best novels overall. The second, [b:The Papers of Tony Veitch|16686095|The Papers of Tony Veitch|William McIlvanney|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1372967760s/16686095.jpg|1558640], came very close to matching it in quality. So for me, this one had a couple of hard acts to follow, and it was with some trepidation that I began to read. And, although this is undoubtedly an excellent novel in its own right, in truth it didn’t reach quite the same heights for me, though only by a small margin.
There are a couple of reasons for this, one of which is very much a matter of personal preference. The Laidlaw brothers grew up in Ayrshire so, unlike the previous books which were very firmly set in the Glasgow of my youth, this one takes place mainly away from the city. McIlvanney himself was an Ayrshire lad so for him the emotional connections are just as strong, perhaps stronger, but for me, there wasn’t the same resonance as in the other two. It also meant there was very little of McIlvanney’s wonderful use of Glasgow dialect which so enhanced the earlier books for me. The other reason is that this one is written in the first person from Laidlaw’s perspective, whilst the first two were third person. I found Laidlaw a more believable character seeing him from the outside, as it were. Being told his philosophical thoughts in his own voice meant I found that, just occasionally, he came over as a little pretentious.
However, slightly less good from McIlvanney is still about a zillion times better than excellent from most authors, so I certainly wouldn’t want either of these quibbles to put anyone off reading this one. McIlvanney’s prose is wonderful – there is a poetic edge to it that makes the reading of it an intensely pleasurable and often emotional experience. I don’t usually use such longs quotes as this but I feel this gives a true flavour of the deep understanding and love of – pity for – humanity that pervades these books:
But, imagining Scott’s nights here, I populated the emptiness. This had been one of his places and some small part of his spirit had been left here. Holding my own brief séance for my brother, I conjured vivid faces and loud nights. I saw that smile of his, sudden as a sunray, when he loved what you were saying. I saw the strained expression when he felt you must agree with him and couldn’t get you to see that. I caught the way the laughter would light up his eyes when he was trying to suppress it. I heard the laughing when it broke. He must have had some nights here. He had lived with such intensity. The thought was my funeral for him. Who needed possessions and career and official achievements? Life was only in the living of it. How you act and what you are and what you do and how you be were the only substance. They didn’t last either. But while you were here, they made what light there was – the wick that threads the candle-grease of time. His light was out but here I felt I could almost smell the smoke still drifting from its snuffing.
His characterisation is superb – each person flawed but believably so, and he writes them with a sympathy that makes it hard for the reader to condemn. He is very much of the school that believes criminals are made, not born, and for his characters there is always the possibility of redemption. Some of the most moving scenes in this book are of a petty criminal back in Ayrshire to look after his dying mother in her last weeks. No McIlvanney character is black or white – they are all multi-shaded and multi-layered, and Laidlaw has the empathy to see them in the round. And it is Laidlaw’s empathy and understanding that makes these books special, because through him the reader is also brought to feel a sorrow and a pity for the way the world is.
One of my favourite quotes is Flaubert’s “Human language is a cracked kettle on which we beat out tunes for bears to dance to, while all the time we long to move the stars to pity." In this trilogy, McIlvanney’s writing surely moves the stars.
www.fictionfanblog.wordpress.com
arrianne's review against another edition
5.0
I really loved this series; a detective series not like others. This time Laidlaw is investigating the accidental death of his brother which turns out to be entangled with various other lives both past and current.
It’s not a “look at the dazzling science of how we captured a criminal”, it’s much more about the why of the crime and the motivations and how really very uncomfortable Laidlaw is with being a police officer at all.
He is obviously the stereotypically wedded to his job maverick detective who drinks too much but gets the job done, but he’s also much more than that too.
It’s not a “look at the dazzling science of how we captured a criminal”, it’s much more about the why of the crime and the motivations and how really very uncomfortable Laidlaw is with being a police officer at all.
He is obviously the stereotypically wedded to his job maverick detective who drinks too much but gets the job done, but he’s also much more than that too.
zog_the_frog's review against another edition
3.0
I'd read "The papers of Tony Veitch" and "Laidlaw" many years ago and really enjoyed them. This I didn't enjoy so much. It's a very introspective book allegedly about the detective investigating his brother's death, but is more about the detective, Laidlaw investigating his own life. For me there were far too many characters in the book who were either not fleshed out enough or were merely background wallpaper for McIlvanney's writing. A lot of the writing I enjoyed although at time it became just too wordy. For literary content and pithy comments it gets 5 stars. For pure content as a story it gets 1 star. Average 3 stars
jw1949's review
4.0
I really like McIlvanney as a writer - the subject matter was not great but as I'm from Glasgow, the locations and the atmosphere were very familiar and friendly indeed.