Squeaky Clean
BY CALLUM MCSORLEY PUSHKIN PRESS
£9.99 ★★★★1/2
This debut novel from young Glasgow-based author Callum McSorley won the McIlvanney Prize for the Scottish crime novel of the year, and it’s easy to see why.
Gritty, bloody and oozing with the brutal menace of the underworld whose criminal violence has long blighted the Dear Green Place, McSorley has crafted an accomplished novel that is already being hailed as a classic of the Tartan Noir genre.
The main characters are a wellworn trio which comprises a cruel, brooding gangster Mr Big called Paul McGuinn, hapless waster and car wash employee Davey Burnet, and deeply flawed detective Alison (Ally) McCoist, whose lives collide with each other in a slow-motion car crash.
So far so routine, but McSorley’s novel cracks along at a rare pace, and combines an easy writing style, an ear for dialogue and a nice line in dry wit. There’s also a large supporting cast which helps spread the narrative load and ensures that a well-worn format doesn’t descend into cliché.
All of the above combines to create the sort of page-turner which ensures that once you’ve started, you’ll keep going until the final, gripping denouement.
As first novels go, McSorley’s debut is impressive, but he is clearly not one to let the grass grow – his second novel, another tale built around the dysfunctional McCoist and called Paperboy, is out later this year. On this showing, if Tartan Noir is your literary tipple of choice, its arrival will be a day to look forward to. (RB)