White Rage

Lou Perlman #2

by Campbell Armstrong

Detective Lou Perlman returns to Glasgow's dark underbelly in the atmospheric new crime thriller from the acclaimed author of The Bad Fire and The Last Darkness. When a young Asian entrepreneur dies in a suspicious fall from his high-rise apartment and an Indian kindergarten teacher is gunned down in front of her class it's clear to Detective Sergeant Lou Perlman that he is dealing with racially motivated murder. The emergence of a group called White Rage and a growing sense of fear across the city of Glasgow mean that Perlman needs some answers quickly. At the same time, he needs to make sense of a crime that is closer to home -- the mysterious shooting of his own brother Colin. Lou's conviction that the killing is connected to the underworld boss Leo Kilroy nags at his mind almost as much as his unspoken love for Colin's widow Miriam. And when Lou Perlman looks beneath the glittering new surface of the city in which he was born, he finds all sorts of ancient connections, some of them painful, some of them shocking, many of them disturbing.

Genres: Fiction

384 pages, Paperback

First published February 2, 2004

About the author

aka Thomas Altman, Campbell Black, Jeffrey Campbell (with Jeffrey Caine), Thomas Weldon

Born in Glasgow, Scotland, Campbell Armstrong got a degree in philosophy before taking a position teaching creating writing. After his excellent series about counterterrorism expert Frank Pagan, Mr. Armstrong has written several compelling novels of crime and life in his native Glasgow.

Reviews

[beyond_blue_reads · Rating 1 out of 5]

I thought I was ordering 'White Rage' by Carol Anderson, a book about racial divide. Instead I got this, a detective thriller set in Glasgow. It's also about racism - a secret sect that calls themselves White Rage go on a killing spree, targeting non-white people in the city - but it's definitely not what I was looking for.

I'm sure the author wrote it thinking he was being an ally, but the effect is the opposite. Rant incoming.

Firstly, all the nonwhite characters serve no purpose in the book except to be brutally murdered. We barely get to know them, they are given no agency or depth of character. The white characters are up front and centre.

Secondly, it's pretty horrific to use the murder of nonwhite people as entertainment for a presumed all-white readership.

Thirdly, the book demonstrates absolutely zero awareness of what racism is and how it manifests. He chooses only to focus on the violent extremes and ignores the systemic, cultural, and social forms of racism that are just as damaging, even if less visible.

This is why it's never a good idea for a white man writing books about white characters for white readers, to think they can write a book about racism. Just - don't. No. Books like this contribute to the problem.

[Bronwyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not sure what exactly happened at the end there.

[Stephen Lewis · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book is 20 years old and still topical. There was a bit too much Perlman for me. Nowadays I find that the troubles of troubled policemen get boring rather quickly.

[henrys-axe · Rating 4 out of 5]

White Rage, number two in the series, picks up about four months after the conclusion of the first novel. Feisty Lou Perlman is confronted with racism, hate groups, and of course, murder. He knows how to antagonize his superior officers, knows how to appreciate the affectations of his sister-in-law Miriam, and discovers the misery of extreme pain. An overall very good read.

[Theweebarrell · Rating 5 out of 5]

loved this book as much as the first one, as it is based in Glasgow and enjoyed recognising streets lol

[Zarina]

This is my latest pick up from the library. The first page is quite riveting and this should make a good read.

[Richard Marshall · Rating 4 out of 5]

A well crafted police thriller with a likeable but flawed protagonist.