Crime

Ray Lennox #1

by Irvine Welsh

Some things are easier to forget than others...

Detective Inspector Ray Lennox has fled to Miami to escape the aftermath of a mental breakdown induced by occupational stress and cocaine abuse, and a harrowing child-sex murder case back in Edinburgh. But his fiancée Trudi is only interested in planning their wedding, leaving Lennox cast adrift, alone in Florida.

A coke-fuelled binge brings him into contact with another victim of sexual predation, ten-year-old Tianna, and Lennox flees across the state with his terrified charge, determined to protect her at any cost.

Can Lennox trust his own instincts?
And can he handle Tianna, while still trying to get to grips with the Edinburgh murder?

'A triumph' Observer
'Welsh is one of our most interesting writers' Sunday Telegraph
'A disturbing but vital read' Harper's Bazaar

*DISCOVER THE SECOND NOVEL IN IRVINE WELSH'S CRIME SERIES, THE LONG KNIVES, NOW*

Genres: Fiction, Crime, Thriller, Mystery, Scotland, Contemporary, Dark

341 pages, Paperback

First published July 3, 2008

About the author

Probably most famous for his gritty depiction of a gang of Scottish Heroin addicts, Trainspotting (1993), Welsh focuses on the darker side of human nature and drug use. All of his novels are set in his native Scotland and filled with anti-heroes, small time crooks and hooligans. Welsh manages, however to imbue these characters with a sad humanity that makes them likable despite their obvious scumbaggerry. Irvine Welsh is also known for writing in his native Edinburgh Scots dialect, making his prose challenging for the average reader unfamiliar with this style.

Reviews

[Reading · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a dark read because it raises a lot of disturbing issues.

He weaves a good, gripping story though and it held my interest all the way to the end.

Irvine Welsh never disappoints.

I heard this was also adapted into a TV series, which I might check out at some point.

[Greg Woodland · Rating 4 out of 5]

Crime by Irvine Welsh

I used to love Irvine Welsh’s books. But after Filth, Porno and Skagboys I’d given up trying to find a character I could identify with, like or even care about enough to make me want to finish the thing. He went through a period where everything seemed self-consciously cool and clever-dick, and lacking in heart. But driving home from this Christmas in Brisbane I came upon ‘Crime’ in an Airbnb bookshelf (sorry folks), thought I’d try the first chapter, and found I was so hooked by confused, addicted, traumatized, lost but ultimately decent and funny, and yeah, courageous Detective Ray Lennox that I had to “borrow it” and will pay the favour on. Here was a character desperately in need of saving, yet blundering along a path, awkward and foolhardy, towards saving someone else: a little girl being traded around by pedophiles. There are two main timelines interwoven through most of the story. The first is a week in Florida with his bride-to-be, for relaxing and planning his imminent wedding, when he goes AWOL on an all-night coke binge with a couple of ‘lively ladies’, and winds up defending the ten year old daughter from two hovering middle-aged predators, one of which turns out to be a highly-respected Florida cop. The second is the recent past, a month or so in Edinburgh where as a detective in the Serious Crimes unit of Lothian and Borders Police he is tracking an elusive and mocking serial killer in a shocking child sex-murder where because of his own misogyny, he takes a fatally wrong track, and is deeply disturbed by it. Haunted by images of the dead child, he can’t relax in the Florida sun with gorgeous, frustrated Trudi, but instead is driven to a lost weekend of booze and coke then a last-ditch attempt to save a vulnerable child that ends up being the saving of Ray Lennox. In the third act, a third storyline emerges, that of a shocking day from his own childhood that ended abruptly for him and his best pal with a deadly encounter with three rapists. The protagonist, as used to be the case in Welsh’s books, is deeply flawed and wounded, but authentic in his pain and courage. Welsh is a master of cracking dialogue, with his trademark acid Scottish humour running through the dialogue of Ray and all the other Scottish characters. Welsh’s skill is showing the character warts and all, peeling back his layers, like a surgeon exposing his ugliness and his weakness then digging out his fundamental decency, his humanity and ultimately his heroism. There’s a streak of uncharacteristic sentimentality a mile wide at the end that you might have hated in Rentboy, but it somehow sits well on Ray Lennox. A dark, violent, disturbing and deeply moving book by a writer well worth finding again. Four and a half stars.

[Emily Miller · Rating 4 out of 5]

Welsh cu acest roman te capteaza ,purtindu-te intr-o lume care exista si azi.Excelent.

[Nood-Lesse · Rating 2 out of 5]

Chievo-Verona

Welsh a quanto ho letto adesso vive a Miami ed è qui che ambienta Crime.. beh, un attimo: se facciamo il conto dei ricordi d’infanzia e di quelli di lavoro, ad Edimburgo sono dedicate almeno la metà delle pagine del libro. Sì perché Ray Lennox lavora nella squadra “Reati gravi” e a Miami in teoria dovrebbe essere in vacanza per cercare di smaltire lo stress accumulato con il caso di una minorenne torturata e uccisa. Ve lo immaginate un Van Damme in ferie? Uno Stallone in congedo? Lennox è un ex collega di Robbo Robertson, “Il lercio”, a differenza del suo mentore ritiene di avere una missione; un missionario non è mai in vacanza, specie se è il protagonista designato. Questa volta è più difficile del solito parlare del libro evitando di parlare della trama, essa è particolarmente variegata comprende le aspettative matrimoniali di una donna che ha il nome di un pupazzo, la risposta maschile alla noia della pianificazione di quelle nozze (sex and drug) e soprattutto un’organizzazione internazionale di pedofili (o pedo, come vengono chiamati in questo e in altri libri di Welsh). I pedofili sono il chiodo fisso di Lennox, talvolta si nutre il dubbio che li combatta perché li trovi affini a qualche sua inclinazione intollerabile. Ray non è Humbert Humbert e un intero romanzo sul crinale della pedofilia ad aspettare chi metterà il piede in fallo scivolando tra i reietti (o spurghi, come vengono chiamati in questo e in altri libri di Welsh) non è appagante. Non si ride come in “Morto che cammina”, non c’è la violenza catartica de L’artista del coltello, questa è una violenza diversa, da action movie. Sulla trama incombono flash back sempre più fitti che arrivano fino all’infanzia di Ray. Welsh è un tifoso degli Hibs, in “Crime” inserisce numerosi intermezzi Hearts (Heart of Midlothian è l’altra squadra di Edimburgo) che credo possano avere un qualche interesse solo per chi vive là (È un po’ come se uno scrittore italiano tradotto in Scozia mettesse giù la rivalità fra Chievo e Verona)
La parte finale che esibisce i collettori che uniscono i tubi della trama riesce ad essere più noiosa di ciò che si è letto fino a quel momento. È un libro che non decolla mai e di cui non credo leggerò il seguito (I lunghi coltelli uscito nel 2022)

Colonna sonora
KC & The Sunshine Band - Please don't go
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-l5F...


Tina Turner - What's Love Got To Do With It
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oGpFc...

[Muthulakshmi · Rating 4 out of 5]

I can't write an honest review for this book without mentioning that this is by far the most disturbing work of literature I've ever read. Seriously, I read Guts by Palahniuk and didn't give a fuck.

Lolita explores pedophilia through the eyes of a man impossibly in love with a young girl. It talks volumes about love and how it can render you helpless to a point of self-destruction. But Crime is different. Crime is the one part of human nature that we all refuse to talk about. The part that is buried deep within layers of civility, manners, morality and such imposed upon us by the society. When you strip it all away, we are what we truly are - apex predators who understand our own power and will wield it ruthlessly, if necessary. That is why we inflict mindless cruelty towards others - simply because it is fucking possible.

Crime follows fallen from grace cop Ray Lennox as he tries to escape his demons in Scotland through a Florida vacation with his fiancee Trudi. He sees redemption in the form of a 12 year old abuse victim, Tianna and does everything under his power to make things right.

The characters are solid and three-dimensional, their goodness and flaws very convincing. The writing is beautiful, narrative is gripping. Every minute of spare time I got, I'd reach for the book. That good.

The transformation of Ray Lennox seems a little far-fetched. Tianna also finds temporary sanctuary at a random nice couple's house, which is b.s - Child Services, procedures, hello? But I am going to let these things pass.

Because any book that etches itself in my head to this extent deserves a few passes.

[Prakriti · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was going through a breakup (which I had initiated) when I picked this book up. There was a lot of guilt inside me, a lot of anger at the girl, a continuous feeling of nausea, and an inability to understand why am I feeling like this.

Welsh's protagonist, Detective Inspector Ray Lennox showcases this extreme claustrophobia in a crazed stream of consciousness narrative. Sometimes like Marv (from Sin City). It does take some getting used to, but while I was reading it (I savored it for well over a month), Ray Lennox was my best friend.

It affected me a hell of a lot. I loved the book without question. But I was run over with weird rushes of blood to the head while reading this. I haven't read any other book of Welsh, (Edit: Subsequently, I have read quite a few) so I am not sure if this is what the author wants to do.

I'm not sure if I would recommend this book to anyone else though. It affected me. I sincerely do not know if it would affect you the same way. (Edit 3 years later: Heartily recommended)

I wrote some passages off the book while reading it, (these were at the very beginning, reproducing a few below)


(They are sitting in an airplane)

She nudges him, then sulks – You do still fancy me, Ray? And she does that thing with her breasts again.
–Course ah do. Lennox feels a constricting of the muscles around his chest and throat. His windpipe has become a straw. He is trapped; hemmed in beside the window, far too small to offer escape into the oblivion of the sky. He looks at his crippled, bandaged right hand, a bag of broken knuckles, phalanxes, and metacarpals. How many more would go, how long would it take for both fists to be pulped trying to punch a hole through this plane?


(Waking up next to her)
It’s mid afternoon when they wake up. They’re both ravenous. Lennox feels like his brain is expanding and contracting in his skull, fraying its outer edges against rough, unyielding bone.
They get ready to head outside, into the heat. Trudi wears a short, white pleated skirt. Her legs are long and brown. A pink vesty top. Her arms also tan, her hair tied back. Shades. Outside, his arm goes to her waist as they walk in silence. It’s the first time she’s worn that skirt without him getting an erection. Unforeseen fear grips him again.


(The thought, why is she doing that thing?)
The problem in acquiescing to the idea that he’s depressed, or even it’s more benign bedfellow, ‘under stress’, is that it intrinsically means the ceding of his moral assurances. The potential existed for every comment he made to be viewed as a symptom of the disease. And he senses that Trudi’s management of his supposed condition is about control (hers) and disenfranchisement (his). Her logic is that his thoughts will take him back to the trauma of his work, therefore all independent deliberation by him is inherently bad. She will replace this with her projects, with nice things to think about, like the wedding, the new place to live, the furniture, the future children, the next house, that limiting narrative unto death that so terrifies him.


Wrote up a post, sort of , on the blog as well.

The Demise of a Relationship in Irvine Welsh's Crime

[JK · Rating 4 out of 5]

This Welsh novel is just as gritty and harrowing as the rest of them, but doesn’t pack the same punch for me. It's extremely dark, at times a lot darker than Welsh's other novels, and also very obviously well-researched, focusing on the difficult issue of child abuse, which is the one of the darkest themes any author could tackle.

Maybe it’s the setting - this is one of the first Welsh novels to be set across the pond, with our comfort zone usually being the underbellies of Edinburgh. This time, he takes us over to Miami, Florida, and unravels his story in the Californian sunshine - a setting this pale Scottish girl struggles to equate with Welsh’s usual offerings. For this reason, the timeline and location flicks are a gorgeous contrast, as we see Lennox’s descent into a breakdown laid alongside his almost futile attempts to heal.

The characters are strikingly realistic, and Welsh shifts between narratives and tenses in such a complex way that it's extremely effective. We’ve got our usual grotesque genius, violence, mental struggles, and bams getting jabbed, but Welsh takes care to explain Lennox’s past traumas and his total inability to let them go. There’s real heartbreak here, as we lift the stone and see the maggots scurrying underneath.

It’s an excellent exploration of the male psyche; the suppression of anguish, the damaging impact of silence, and the small breakthroughs we can have when faced with impossible situations. The clear answer is to head to Miami and boot fuck out of some paedos.

[Chris Orme · Rating 5 out of 5]

14/130 (2019 Reading Challenge)

A great book from one of my favourite authors. Even if it deals with a dark subject. A lot of his work does but in a different tone to this one. But it’s still great & compelling reading. It was my second read but I had largely forgot most of it given my crappy memory. It’s probably not as re-readable as some of his work. I’m never going to get tired of trainspotting/porno/scagboys/glue...etc. But it’s still a powerful read & a great work from an author I am easily biased towards.

[J.T. McAndrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

a good book really enjoyed it, one of my favourite writers ever, I've never read a bad or even mediocre Welsh book, they all come at you like a pitbull.

[João Carlos · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mark Todd (The New York Times)


A narrativa de “Crime” começa num voo para Miami com o detective escocês Ray Lennox a viajar com a sua namorada Trudi, em busca de uma férias retemperadoras na Flórida e a planear a festa do seu casamento.
Ray Lennox é um detective em “fuga” para tentar recuperar de um colapso mental induzido pelo stress, pelo consumo de cocaína e pelo abuso do álcool, fomentado por um caso de assassinato de crianças em Edimburgo.
Mas o sofrimento de Ray é ampliado pela luminosidade e pelo calor impiedoso de Miami, subjugado pelos demónios que o atormentam, perante o insucesso no desfecho da sua anterior investigação criminal; envolve-se casualmente num incidente, que revela – novamente - uma poderosa “teia”, uma rede organizada de pedófilos, implacável e obsessiva, que o faz, igualmente, regressar à sua juventude, com recurso ao flashback, relembrando acontecimentos dramáticos, que acentuam, inadvertidamente, os seus fracassos e as suas angústias.
O escocês Irvine Welsh (n. 1958) escreve de uma forma intensa, sobre uma temática cruel – a pedofilia - os “papa-anjinhos” - num enredo realista e credível, em que as palavras e as frases representam a vida de personagens que são “empurradas” como marionetas, manipuladas por homens e mulheres, para eventos indescritíveis, verdadeiramente devastadores, sem moralidade ou condescendência, pela enormidade de actos criminosos, deploráveis e hediondos.

”A experiência já te ensinara que o único infortúnio pior do que assassinarem-nos um ser amado era que este desaparecesse sem o seu destino alguma vez ser esclarecido. O tormento da incerteza, em que o coração se sobressaltava sempre que soava o telefone ou a campainha da porta e os olhos desesperados e famintos devoravam cada rosto em cada multidão. A inevitabilidade da morte da pessoa amada podia compreender-se mentalmente, mas era difícil abafar o grito da alma, bradando em desafio que ela continuava viva. Mas voltaria para casa ou teria partido para sempre? Após se passar algum tempo nesse limbo infernal, qualquer notícia, por mais dilacerante que fosse, era bem recebida por vir interromper a espera e a busca intermináveis.” (Pág. 29)

[Ian Mapp · Rating 4 out of 5]

Does Welsh ever disappoint. I think the worst reviews I saw for him were for Filth (which I loved) and this is a follow on of sorts with Ray Lennox given a much bigger role in this, which is an attempt at genre fiction.

The thing that stands this book above other UK crime novels (and I include Rankin, Robinson, Harvey, James and Booth in this list) is the excellent characterisation.

Lennox is a man barely hanging it together. Unlike other leading crime fighters - the effects of dealing with a horrific case such as child sex murder - brings the man to his knees... and Lennox breaks down in a completely believable way - with one remark in a pub from a stranger bringing him down.

He is advised to take leave - and heads to Florida with his fiance to plan their wedding. This allows for a bit of Welsh's gallows humour to come to the fore as the strain plays on their relationship and he runs out of anti depressants and goes for self medication by going out on a drink and drugs bender.

One problem I have with lots of (crime) fiction is coincidences and this suffers the same. His night out bender results in him coming into contact with Peadophile ring and he meets, and takes custody of Trianna - an abused child who is at the home of a couple of girls he meets in a bar who invite him home.

He has to protect her from the paedo's, one of whom is a cop, and deliver to a safe house (or boat) looked after by chet.

True to his cocaine come down, paranoia follows his every turn and he thinks the world is out to get them.

Welsh uses a variety of style brilliantly. Everything is slowly revealed.... the case that sent him over the edge through the use of the first person.... Lennox's history and back story - both in terms of some abuse he suffered and his relationship with his family - is truthfully and brilliantly revealed.

All of this could be a bit heavy if it wasn't for the humour and characterisation that welsh uses.

With the exception of the major coincidence, which is discussed in the acknowldgements - this book has a real ring of truth about it - and a leading character who you can emphasis with.

One of the best Crime books I have read.

[Mickey Tompkins · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was my 1st Welsh book, there were some bad reviews about this book.....not sure why, I enjoyed his writing style. Though this is kind of a hard book to read due to the subject matter (no spoilers) I really connected with the main characters and the story itself. If you can handle the subject I recommend it.

[Beatrijs · Rating 4 out of 5]

It took me some time to be grabbed by this book, it wasn't as funny as Filth was and I couldn't help comparing the two. Yet, after a while it became exciting and I really wanted to know who was who and what was going on. As a result I couldn't put it down anymore.

[Demetrelli · Rating 4 out of 5]

So this was a change from the type of books I normally read and I can't say I regret it.
Initially I thought it'd be the typical cop-goes-on-holidays-and-stumbles-onto-horrible-crime and I might say I was rather disappointed since the main character, Ray Lenox, seemed follow the tormented lonely cop stereotype. As the story evolves though, it really delves into the deeper darker corners of the human (adult and childrens' alike) psyche, showing you surprising -and perhaps for some readers disturbing- truths. For me it's a book about sexuality, the many ways it can be perversed as a combined result of insticts and culture, the ways it can define you, shape your childhood and ways you can face and come to terms with it. It really made me think on how we view and shape children as sexual beings.

The writing has a nice steady pace, including relevant flashbacks from Ray's past life events and also occasional changes in pov where they are exactly needed.

[Juan Araizaga · Rating 3 out of 5]

8 días y +5000 scrolleadas en el Kindle. El octavo (creo) libro que leo del autor. Y uno de los que menos me ha gustado, por el simple hecho que Lennox no es ni Begbie ni Robbo, ni Renton, ni Sickboy, ni siquiera es un spud. Es un personaje sin nada de chispa, y creo que pude comprender todo el viaje (introspectivo), todos los motivantes y todas las desgracias... Pero simplemente falta algo. Creo que los libros de Welsh no son tan maravillosos cuando toman lugar en Estados Unidos y no en Europa.

No estoy seguro que sea un libro que pueda volver a releer, y espero que no haya nada más de Lennox. Una pieza del rompecabezas de Welsh que sale sobrando. Lo que más me emocionó es cuando hablaban de Robbo.

El final es lo más salvable, y te hace pensar en lo torcido que podemos estar. Sin embargo no fue suficiente para salvarlo.

No habrá reseña

[Jaslo · Rating 1 out of 5]

What a disappointment.
Seriously, I am upset.

It's not just the American setting...and the cynical, cruel, unfriendly gaze on American culture (which I could understand.) It's a claustrophobia in the story-- that makes me itch to escape and throw away the book. I felt like the writer wasn't having fun and I certaintly wasn't. I LOVE Irvine but this was not pleasant. It felt systematic, unfeeling and WEIRD.
His craft was in jumbles and tumbles. He switches point of view without cause- confusing me. He doesn't write a believable ten year old girl and oh nonononono I'm sad that I am critcising him. I must stop. I love you Irvine but go back to Edinburgh and junkies. Leave the paedos for...uh, who writes about paedos?

[Tom Kenis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ripped right through it. Perhaps a tad less innovative than Filth, say, but solid and well-researched.

[Dane Cobain · Rating 5 out of 5]

Crime is another one of those not-so-rare Irvine Welsh books that’s just an excellent read, despite his unorthodox approach to spelling, grammar and punctuation. Welsh is never exactly easy to read, but I think that here, he’s at his most lucid, and the story line is easy for anyone to follow. Put simply, Detective Inspector Ray Lennox is on holiday in Florida, trying to take a rest and recouperation break from a child abuse case which threatened to derail his sanity. Unfortunately, things are never that simple in an Irvine Welsh book, and he ends up getting himself mixed up with a bunch of paedophiles, who he quite rightly wants to bring to rights.

Irvine Welsh is considered by many to be a writer of ‘drug books‘, but that’s not necessarily true here – fair enough, drugs are mentioned, and used by several of the characters, but it’s not a central part of the story line. No, that’s reserved for organised crime, and paedophilia rings in particular.

Detective Inspector Lennox is probably one of my favourite Irvine Welsh protagonists, particularly after this novel, and all of the characters that he uses are well thought out and well developed. In fact, I’d say that he’s at the top of his game here, and that this is a pretty good place to start if you’re new to his work, or a good pick for a second book if you’ve read Trainspotting.

Overall, then, Crime is a cracking hybrid thriller with some typical Welsh-isms thrown in, and it’s well worthy of the 9/10 that I gave it. I only didn’t give it a 10/10 because there were times when I was reading it that I kind of hoped for it to hurry up, or for me to get through the pages quicker. It’s also a challenging read, and it’s definitely not for everyone – that said, if you do like it, you’ll love it. Welsh is a bit like Marmite, for some people. But not me!

[Iain · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a brave book, genuinely brave to tackle the subject matter it does in the way it does. Paedophilia is never an easy subject to handle but Welsh tackles it head on in a way which never feels exploitative. He's not doing it to titilate but to hit you in your chest with the weight of the pain inflicted. I loved the early parts of the book in which Ray and Trudi's relationship is on the rocks and how both of them deal with it internally. Flashback sequences to Ray trying to solve a gruesome murder/rape of a school child are an interesting break away and are narrated in the infrequently seen 2nd person narrative voice. This is a brilliantly written book, Ray's despair will be familiar to anyone who had suffered from depression, his relationship with Tianna and what that symbolises is also a highlight. Like Filth we are shown Ray's origin which although really well done I must admit felt thrown together to fit the books theme. Over all brilliantly written but the ending left me wanting more, which I suppose isn't a bad thing. This is one I'll be thinking about for a while after reading it. Given recent news the theme and location of the book feel almost prescient. Docked a star for the convienent third act, not poorly written just couldnt suspend disbelief for how easily it wrapped itself up.

[Stephan van der Linde · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ray Lennox, a character in one of my favourite novels 'Filth' is starring in Crime. Lennox is a cop, and is heading off to Miami to prepare his wedding.

Tired with his nagging-too posh girl, cold turkey from the booze, Ray is already bored in the plane.

Ray on antidepressiva, is soon starting to arguing with his to-be wife. He visits a friend to get some distraction. This friend asks him to visit a friend of his.

But here starts the trouble. "That friend" is an addict-prostitue with a 10 year old daughter, who is a target of a network of pedophiles.

After a brutal attack to capture this girl, Ray can barely protect her, and runs off to hide.

Through violence, corrupt cops, new contacts, Ray keeps on the run and develops a frienship with the girl.

Every now and then Ray stops by a internet-café, for visiting the Hibernian-fansite to discharge torrents and cursing to a Heart Of Midlothian fan in a disagreement. :D

[James Barker · Rating 2 out of 5]

Clearly 'Crime' was a bad choice as my first dip into Irvine Welsh's work. Characters, plot, writing style... all are poor. And he really needs to stay away from similes. His use of them was the crime that affected me the most.

[Nigeyb · Rating 4 out of 5]

That rare thing, a book by Irvine Welsh that I hadn't already read. With the third book in the Ray Lennox series (Resolution) published in 2024 I wanted to read/reread the previous two books before reading the third one. I had already read the second book (The Long Knives (2022)) so it was instructive to catch up on this the debut.

The protagonist, DI Ray Lennox, is a very troubled and traumatised cop who struggles with his personal demons. The dual narratives work well however the dark content is pretty disturbing and not for everyone.

Crime (2008) comes complete with Welsh's trademark gritty realism and dark humour. Not up there with his very best work this is still well worth a read if Irvine Welsh is to your taste.

4/5


Some things are easier to forget than others...

Detective Inspector Ray Lennox has fled to Miami to escape the aftermath of a mental breakdown induced by occupational stress and cocaine abuse, and a harrowing child-sex murder case back in Edinburgh. But his fiancée Trudi is only interested in planning their wedding, leaving Lennox cast adrift, alone in Florida.

A coke-fuelled binge brings him into contact with another victim of sexual predation, ten-year-old Tianna, and Lennox flees across the state with his terrified charge, determined to protect her at any cost.

Can Lennox trust his own instincts?
And can he handle Tianna, while still trying to get to grips with the Edinburgh murder?

'A triumph' Observer
'Welsh is one of our most interesting writers' Sunday Telegraph
'A disturbing but vital read' Harper's Bazaar

[Meem Arafat Manab · Rating 2 out of 5]

ভালো বই না। আমি কাউরেই সুপারিশ করবো না।
বিষয়বস্তু খারাপ না, স্বীকার করতে বাঁধা নাই। স্কটিশ এক কোকেনখোর পুলিশ আমেরিকার রাস্তায় এক মেয়েকে বাঁচানোর চেষ্টা করে যাচ্ছে এক দঙ্গল পেডোফাইলের হাত থেকে। সমস্যার সূত্রপাত কোথায় তাহলে? হয়ত স্কটিশ আর কোকেন, এই দুই প্রসঙ্গ বাদ দিলে এই ধরনের লেখালেখি আরভিন ওয়েলশের হাতে ভালো আসে না, আমি এর আগে তাঁর ট্রেইনস্পটিং পড়ছিলাম, সিনেমাটা দেখছিলাম, আর দেখছিলাম ঐ ফিলথ সিনেমাটা। নেশাগ্রস্ত বর্ণনা তাঁর হাতে যেভাবে খেলে, থ্রিলার, বা মোরাল প্লে তার হাতে সেভাবে জমে উঠতে দেখা গেলো না। একজন মোটামুটি গড়নের শত্রু, আর কতগুলি বোকাসোকা মতন তার সাঙ্গপাঙ্গ, বেশি কিছু ঘটেও না, শেষে গুলি ঘটনাচক্রে উল্টা দিকে ঘুরে যায়, লঞ্চে একটা কিম্ভূত লড়াই, এক গাধার বাচ্চা গাধারে সেই আমিও তোমাদের একজন বলে ধাপ্পা দেয়া, নাহ্‌, মানা গেলো না। কেবল সেই অংশগুলিই ভালো হয়ে উঠতে নেয়, যখন কোনো চরিত্র খেই হারায় কোকেনের বল্গায়। সেইসবও ঘটে অল্প সময়ের জন্য। গল্পটা ভেতরে খারাপ ছিলো না, ওয়েলশ সাহেব যেই ক্রমে মূল চরিত্র রে লেনক্সের ভেতরের কথা ফাঁস করেছেন, সেই ক্রমটা ভালো, কিন্তু এই মাত্র তিন ঘন্টার রোড ট্রিপ আর তেইশ পাতার আনন্দময় উপসংহার, সেই গল্প আর সেই ক্রমেরে বৈধতা দিতে পারে নাই।

আমি খুবই দুঃখিত আরভিন ওয়েলশ, আপনি আমার একজন পছন্দের লেখক, এবং আমিও পেডোফিলিয়া পছন্দ করি না। কিন্তু এই বইটা ভালো হয় নাই। এই ধরনের দুর্বল সব চরিত্র নিয়ে হাওয়াবৎ উপন্যাসরে ভালো বলা যাচ্ছে না, আমি দুঃখিত।

[Marcia Chocinsky · Rating 4 out of 5]

Couldn’t decide between a 3 and a 4. This book was excellently written with fully realized characters and settings no matter if they were the main characters or lesser ones, like Lennox’s friend Les and his family. I think I hesitate to give it a 4 because of the subject matter although that shouldn’t count. As Walsh did a great job of revealing the details of the crime as well as the main character’s childhood experiences which motivate him now. Layer after layer is peeled back like an onion. On second thought I’m changing my rating to a 4. As I write this I realize it is well deserved perhaps my squeamishness at the topic at hand has more to do with a Polaroid that fell out of the book (bought at Goodwill) featuring a man sticking his head through a photoboard showing him as a mobster holding a tommygun (phallic symbol anyone?) and a young girl sweetly sticking her face through the cutout of the gangsters moll reclining in a revealing dress. Plus there is the hastily drawn ink sketch on one of the empty back pages, featuring what appears to be a naked (female?) reclining with one hand sort of making its way to its groin. I was halfway through the book when the photo fell out and I discovered the drawing later. What was the person thinking who left these there? On second thought I don’t want to know.

[Gerald · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hard hitting gritty drama. The story revolves around a Scottish detective who became too deeply involved in a child abduction/abuse crime which leads to him having a nervous breakdown then going on holiday to recuperate with his long suffering bride to be only to stumble by complete accident into a paedophile ring in Miami.

As the story unfolds, so do accounts of an abusive incident from his past which turns out to be one of his drivers but also his obsession.

Well written, fast moving and disturbing. Not the easiest read as the lead character is often riddled with drink and drugs so the narrative sometimes appears unreliable.

Not for the faint hearted.

[John Sikes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really, really good book. I've been a fan of Irvine Welsh for a while. This one is a deep, dark, story like the rest but it is easy to follow and stay engaged with.

[David · Rating 2 out of 5]

Irvine Welsh, known best for his druggy humour, scatological bent and the gruff Scots vernacular of his characters, plays it amazingly straight and close to the vest here. So close and earnest, in fact, that you can hardly believe you’re reading Welsh.

Divested of his gnarled brogue and cleaving to genre boilerplate, however, Welsh can also be stultifyingly bland.

Police officer Ray Lennox (a character who makes an appearance in earlier novel Filth) is on mental health leave in Miami with his fiancée, Trudy. Ray is a tattered bundle of police procedural clichés: a booze- and drug- scarred police officer haunted by his last case, the particularly cold-blooded sexual murder of a young girl.

His gym-toned fiancée is a vain officer’s wife unable to see him for the psychological ash heap he is, perfunctorily scanning a copy of Perfect Bride magazine and planning their wedding while silently resenting Lennox for his womanizing past.

The tension of their unspoken resentments leads Lennox to storm off on a bender, where he runs into two cocaine-huffing Miami women and follows them home.

Readers persistent to this point are finally rewarded with some genuine momentum when Lennox gets embroiled in a new nightmare. The 10-year-old daughter of one of the women has been the victim of a vicious pedophile who’s also a Miami cop.

Haunted by flashbacks from his last case and enraged by his wounded sense of policeman’s honour, Lennox attempts to drive the girl to safety across the state – Welsh’s best writing centres on the relationship between the two as they drive – and on the way discovers a vile child abuse ring.

Welsh does a decent job of building a compelling and predictable tale of lost innocence, evil and redemption. The adrenaline pumps in places, and you’ll want to read to the bitter end. For inventive crime drama set in Florida, however, Elmore Leonard wins hands down.

[Jim · Rating 1 out of 5]

Truly dreadful! If you're expecting the brilliance of Trainspotting, forget it. It was more like a really bad parody of Ian Rankin.

DI Ray Lennox from Edinburgh goes on holiday to Miami with his fiancee Trudi. Lennox is emotionally shredded by his failure to save a young girl from a paedophile and, like most of Welsh's characters, Lennox is on the booze and drugs. Lennox fights with Trudi, who is intent on marriage. Eventually he gets involved with a young girl being menaced by paedophiles and has to negotiate through dangers both physical and emotional.

I've long felt that Welsh hasn't written a really good book since Filth, and this book seemed to confirm that. Reading this, I wondered whether Welsh can write a character who's compelling, nuanced and sober. The character of Trudi would argue no; she is a stereotype of a weak, clinging woman, a cliche really.

This book is long on cliches and short on suspense. (I figured out the "big secret" of Lennox's past about fifty pages before Welsh revealed it.) The rest of it - the pre-fab phoniness of modern America, the corruption of the police, the detective with the inner demons - it all felt like it had been done before (and better).

I took this on vacation and was stuck with it until I could get to a bookstore. I kept hoping it would get better, but it didn't. I found myself thinking evil thoughts about Irving Welsh, wondering how many better books were displaced on bookshop shelves by this dreck.

[A.M. Steiner · Rating 4 out of 5]

A semi-literary crime thriller, in which a troubled Scots policeman vacationing in Miami protects a young girl from a gang of dangerous pedos.

At a meta level, Crime is a surprisingly by-the-numbers genre caper. The device of an older fish-out-of-water man protecting a "wanted" but innocent youth though a gauntlet of omnipresent and evil enemies is about as close to Trope Central, Hollywood as you can park - and I've no doubt Welsh had both eyes set on securing a film adaptation as he was writing.

This approach leads to some negatives. The plot is predictable in places, contrived in others, and there's a tacked on coda which attempts to drag the novel kicking and screaming into literary land, which feels completely out of place. And in a painfully transparent attempt to maintain literary credibility, some of the chapters are written in the second person, for absolutely no apparent reason.

But what sets it apart is the intensely believable characters, the subtly delivered yet powerful social and psychological commentary which runs throughout and excellently evocative writing, which makes you sweat in sympathy with the protagonists substance abuse issues, the Florida heat and the suspense all at the same time.

Taken as what it is, a straightforward cinematic thriller, it's a top read.

[Deniz · Rating 5 out of 5]

First novel by Welsh (the author of Trainspotting and Acid House which were made into movies) set in the USA. He groks people from the inside out and has an amazing ear for dialogue. And unlike many of his other works, this one ends on a hopeful note.