The Dark Remains

William Mcilvanney & Ian Rankin, £20.00 Hardback CANONGATE

Picking up another writer’s half-finished manuscript after their death is never an easy task. It’s especially difficult when that work belongs to someone as celebrated as William Mcilvanney, the legendary author who started the Scottish crime writing movement back in 1977.

Mcilvanney’s Laidlaw novels, filled with gritty observation and stunning characterisation, brought the mean streets of

Glasgow to life and inspired a whole generation of Scottish crime writers, including Denise Mina, Val Mcdermid and Ian Rankin himself, to turn their hand to Tartan Noir.

With such a strong voice of his own, I was worried that Rankin’s iconic style might bleed on to the page, but from page one The Dark Remains looks and feels like Mcilvanney.

Set in 1972, this prequel to the Laidlaw trilogy opens with the grisly discovery of a body behind The Parlour bar. The brutal murder of Bobby Carter sends shockwaves through Glasgow and starts a war between two rival gangs. Commander Robert Frederick hopes to put it down to run-of-the-mill gang rivalry, but Jack Laidlaw’s sixth sense tells him that there is much more to this crime.

The mystery is gripping, and so is watching this younger version of Jack Laidlaw grow and develop. Rankin has done an impeccable job of bringing Mcilvanney’s straight-talking loner detective to life, and it is a delight to see Laidlaw’s droll delivery and witty one-liners back on the page.

This is the perfect introduction to Mcilvanney’s works, for anyone who has not already had the pleasure.

The Dark Remains is a page turning triumph which will have both Mcilvanney and Rankin fans completely hooked.

“Laidlaw’s droll delivery and witty one-liners are back