Uncompromising 1970s Tartan noir with a damaged & morally conflicted protagonist. Utterly compelling.
After my unexpected enjoyment of Alan Parks’s fascinating debut, Bloody January, I was eagerly awaiting my second visit to the Glasgow of the 1970s that he so vividly captures and another encounter with morally conflicted DS Harry McCoy, whose own demons play havoc with his mental stability and blur the boundaries of his policing. Three weeks after the events of Bloody January, his statutory appointments attended and declared psychologically fit for duty, DS McCoy finds himself at the top of an unfinished tower block looking up at the night sky and looking down on a macabre crime scene. Recognising the victim as a promising Celtic footballer engaged to Elaine Scobie, whose ageing gangster father runs the Northside of the city, the murder has personal written all over it. With a message carved into his chest the obvious theory is that the victim was cheating on Elaine, but this is quickly dispelled by the sinister revelation that Jake Scobie’s hit-man, psychopathic Kevin Connolly, is dangerously obsessed by Elaine.
Finding Connolly is however a far more difficult matter as he leads Murray and McCoy a merry dance and Elaine’s fiancé is just his first victim as he plots a course that seems determined to see off anyone standing in his way, including former boss, Jake Scobie. As the jockeying for position for control of the city with Scobie out of the way gets underway, Stevie Cooper angles himself and his empire into prime position to bring the new wave of drugs to the city. With the city up for grabs, Connolly on the loose and Elaine refusing to go into protective custody, the plot is fast-moving and Parks’s eye for characterisation introduces some memorably depraved figures. As McCoy wrestles with how to shut down Connolly, the chance sighting of a newspaper article reignites the painful trauma of his childhood and sees him deviate from the straight line that he often straddles. But as both separate plots get entangled into one big investigation, McCoy’s transgression risks coming perilously to being revealed and pushing him over the edge with it.
February’s Son plays out from the perspective of troubled McCoy with the exception of brief excerpts which provide snapshots into the seriously disturbed mind of the perpetrator. Watching McCoy work this second case and factor in the opportunity for some retribution of his own combines to make for mesmerising reading. Deeply flawed and inured to the casual violence around him, McCoy has a taste for booze and drugs and his traumatic experiences in a Catholic run boys care home have formed a lasting bond with shady Stevie Cooper, already a major player in the Glasgow underworld. This second instalment continues with the drip feed of McCoy’s history with a revelatory insight into his paternal bond with Murray which adds further depth to his deeply flawed character. Unenviably green junior detective, Wattie, acts as something of a counterbalance with McCoy forced to justify the damage limitation policing that keeps the wheels of huge city mired in problems turning. Characters in the story get what they want through a mixture of violence, blackmail and the threat of reprisals and whilst it might not to be subtle it is very effective and hugely compelling.
The atmosphere is penetrating with a hostile winter underway and the crumbling tenements, casual violence and culture of drink, drugs and seediness painting an unseemly and grim picture of the city of Glasgow. The attitudes, ambiguous morals of the characters and the crude language with every second word a profanity feels entirely appropriate with criminals and cops all rubbing shoulders in order to get what and where they want. The denouement admittedly felt somewhat inordinate but it did not detract one iota from my enjoyment of the novel or a second riveting encounter with the Glasgow underworld. Furthermore I found the evolution of McCoy’s character and a deepening understanding of his integral relationships with both Stevie Cooper and Chief Inspector Murray enlightening. Superior characterisation, authentic dialogue and this second instalments leaves DS Harry McCoy on a knife edge and I cannot wait to see where he goes from here.
With thanks to Readers First who provided me with a free copy of this novel in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion.
Finding Connolly is however a far more difficult matter as he leads Murray and McCoy a merry dance and Elaine’s fiancé is just his first victim as he plots a course that seems determined to see off anyone standing in his way, including former boss, Jake Scobie. As the jockeying for position for control of the city with Scobie out of the way gets underway, Stevie Cooper angles himself and his empire into prime position to bring the new wave of drugs to the city. With the city up for grabs, Connolly on the loose and Elaine refusing to go into protective custody, the plot is fast-moving and Parks’s eye for characterisation introduces some memorably depraved figures. As McCoy wrestles with how to shut down Connolly, the chance sighting of a newspaper article reignites the painful trauma of his childhood and sees him deviate from the straight line that he often straddles. But as both separate plots get entangled into one big investigation, McCoy’s transgression risks coming perilously to being revealed and pushing him over the edge with it.
February’s Son plays out from the perspective of troubled McCoy with the exception of brief excerpts which provide snapshots into the seriously disturbed mind of the perpetrator. Watching McCoy work this second case and factor in the opportunity for some retribution of his own combines to make for mesmerising reading. Deeply flawed and inured to the casual violence around him, McCoy has a taste for booze and drugs and his traumatic experiences in a Catholic run boys care home have formed a lasting bond with shady Stevie Cooper, already a major player in the Glasgow underworld. This second instalment continues with the drip feed of McCoy’s history with a revelatory insight into his paternal bond with Murray which adds further depth to his deeply flawed character. Unenviably green junior detective, Wattie, acts as something of a counterbalance with McCoy forced to justify the damage limitation policing that keeps the wheels of huge city mired in problems turning. Characters in the story get what they want through a mixture of violence, blackmail and the threat of reprisals and whilst it might not to be subtle it is very effective and hugely compelling.
The atmosphere is penetrating with a hostile winter underway and the crumbling tenements, casual violence and culture of drink, drugs and seediness painting an unseemly and grim picture of the city of Glasgow. The attitudes, ambiguous morals of the characters and the crude language with every second word a profanity feels entirely appropriate with criminals and cops all rubbing shoulders in order to get what and where they want. The denouement admittedly felt somewhat inordinate but it did not detract one iota from my enjoyment of the novel or a second riveting encounter with the Glasgow underworld. Furthermore I found the evolution of McCoy’s character and a deepening understanding of his integral relationships with both Stevie Cooper and Chief Inspector Murray enlightening. Superior characterisation, authentic dialogue and this second instalments leaves DS Harry McCoy on a knife edge and I cannot wait to see where he goes from here.
With thanks to Readers First who provided me with a free copy of this novel in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion.