![]() ![]() The main storyline is very seedy indeed, involving as it does drugs, exploitation and abuse, which Parks determinedly lays before us warts and all. This is a city down on its uppers, with only occasional glimmers of the city that Glasgow was to become, and Parks’ colourful and inventive use of the Glaswegian vernacular brings a heightened level of enjoyment to the book too. The book is peppered with cultural and political references familiar to those of us born nearer that era- ahem- as well painting a grimly real backdrop for readers less familiar with the period. Gritty, unflinching, perfectly non- politically correct, and with echoes of the grandmasters of black-hearted noir, Lewis, McIlvanney, Raymond, Bruen et al, this was an absolute corker.įrom the outset I was heartily entertained by the exploits of Detective Harry McCoy, with his nefarious relationships and more hands-on methods, and his wet-behind-the-ears sidekick, Wattie as we find ourselves firmly rooted in 1970’s Glasgow. It’s dark, it’s violent and it’s hard hitting in every way. His boss Murray seems to have it in for McCoy but there was also a real sense of some level of mutual respect and understanding going on.Ĭleverly written the author it provides a bleak but realistic social commentary of the era sucking you in. McCoy is not best pleased being paired with someone who is his polar opposite but yet a friendship and understanding develops between the two men. He is paired up with Wattie, a wet behind the ears recruit from Greenock who has been seconded to work with him for the next six months. I loved his character, totally relatable and engaging I am eager to read more! There is a story to McCoy and some of it is told but leaving enough for the reader to want more, which is just as well as there is a new book out very soon. He is more at home on the streets than he is in the station. McCoy is not afraid of the lives of those he seeks to arrest. This was written so vividly it was impossible not to see, hear and smell the sights coming from the pages. There is one part in the novel where McCoy is taken to an area where even the police and Salvation Army refused to go, the end of the road for anyone who was homeless. The plot is intriguing and covers prostitution, homelessness, drug abuse and mental health and explores the deep rooted poverty that turned so many to dangerous routes in their lives. Throughout the storyline we get to find out a lot more about McCoy and he is a man with a past and indeed a man who is currently dipping his sticky fingers into a number of areas and situations that would be questionable for a police officer nowadays but remember we are set in a time where many blind eyes were turned to what was going on. Despite the violence it is not added in a gratuitous manner, it only adds to the authenticity of the reading experience.ĭetective Harry McCoy has been tasked with solving the brutal murder of a young girl shot dead in Glasgow, they know the who but have no idea of the why. ![]() An era where it most definitely earned its reputation as one of the most violent cities in the UK. Sadly this is a true representation of our city in that era. Bloody January is brutally violent and dark at times throughout. I felt as though I had stepped back in time reading it. Being a child of the 70s I could remember this Glasgow and the colourful language. There is a brutal sense of honesty about it. ![]() #Bloody harry boss 2 Pc#Those who shudder at anything non PC may have a bit of a turn reading this as the language is most definitely set in the 70s and for me this is exactly why the book works and works so damn well. Set in Glasgow in the 1970s it’s sense of time and place is completely authentic. ![]()
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