- Hardcover: 294 pages
- Publisher: Canongate Books (Feb 10 2003)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 1841953830
- ISBN-13: 978-1841953830
- Product Dimensions: 21.6 x 16.3 x 2.8 cm
- Shipping Weight: 467 g
- Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #1,641,842 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
Yet another talented Scottish author makes a debut with this dark and twisty thriller, boasting a highly unusual hero and a compelling background that shows extensive inside knowledge. The protagonist ("hero" is not quite the word) is Rilke, a promiscuously gay auction dealer working for a struggling Glasgow firm. On an appraisal call one day at the house of Roddy McKindless, a wealthy and recently deceased citizen, he comes across an extensive library of pornography, which includes pictures suggesting a "snuff"-the slaughter of a woman for sexual purposes. Rilke finds himself, to his surprise, engaged in trying to find out who the girl in the picture was, and whether she was really killed. Using his seamy contacts in the city-a pornographer, a girl who poses nude for eager "cameramen," a shady bookseller-he sets out on his peculiar odyssey, pausing from time to time for a quick and wordless sexual encounter, and becoming engaged along the way in a plot with the glamorous and world-weary Rose, who runs his auction house, to abscond with the proceeds of a highly profitable sale. Rilke is hardly a likable character, but as Welsh presents him, he is so witty, self-aware and oddly vulnerable to the occasional decent instinct that he becomes disarming. The Glasgow color is expertly applied; Welsh obviously knows her auction business, and also how to keep an intriguing story moving. She is not good at action, however, and the actual climax, in which the mystery of McKindless's death is solved, is oddly muted and unconvincing. This is one of those books, however, in which the journey is infinitely more beguiling than the destination.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
First-novelist Welsh offers a fresh voice and an arresting plot in this darkly atmospheric portrait of Glasgow's mean streets. Gay auctioneer Rilke agrees to pack up and sell off an enormous quantity of high-quality goods in an inordinately short amount of time, no questions asked. He is a bit blinded by the huge amount of cash and fails to inquire why there's such a rush, an oversight he will soon pay for. While clearing out the attic, he discovers a horrifying packet of snuff pornography. Despite his own proclivities for promiscuous, anonymous sex, he is haunted by the woman portrayed in the photographs and determines to discover whether the events depicted actually happened. His drug-dealing transvestite friend, Les, puts him into contact with an underground pornography ring, and soon Rilke learns more than he wants to about the seamy trade. Welsh offers an immensely appealing cast of characters, from the irreverent yet softhearted Rilke to his business partner, the indefatigable Rose. And Welsh's Glasgow is a desperado's paradise, filled with sodden pubs and seedy sex clubs. Joanne Wilkinson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
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Most helpful customer reviews
3.0 out of 5 stars
Am I wrong?,
By Leslee Young (Florida) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Cutting Room (Hardcover)
Isn't this the same plot as the Nicolas Cage movie, "8mm"? I began reading this book and was enjoying it, but I'm disappointed in the obvious unoriginality, possible plagiarism? Disabuse me, because I was really liking the book and want to finish it without having that nagging "nah-uh-this-was-already-done" feeling.
3.0 out of 5 stars
Warning,
By
This review is from: The Cutting Room (Hardcover)
A fresh and interesting writing style. Two major problems, one this is not a Scottish novel, it is a Glaswegian novel: References to geography are not a major block to someone, but if the reader is unfamiliar with Glaswgow and it's language, there will be tiny dead spots within the story as the words with unfamiliar meanings are used. Also a potential problem, there are a couple of instances where the writer is extremely specific about homosexual encounters. The homosexual hero/main character did not bother me, but to be reading along a mystery and then be bogged down in a page or two of true pornography in order to keep going with the story was not to my taste. The story itself is interesting, the surprise twist appears some 20 pages short of the end of the book, which finishes a little flat. The book reminded me of a Glaswegian version of Arturo Perez-Reverte, but not at his very best. Some of the reviewers mention awaiting her next book with anticipation. It will be interesting to see whether it is in the mystery vain or the almost pornography category. The small photo of her on the inside flap is one of the worst I have ever seen of an author for their book. It is as if the photo purposely was meant to hide more than it reveals.
5.0 out of 5 stars
A surprising good read,
By
This review is from: The Cutting Room (Hardcover)
This mystery has its wonders; artfully drawn scenes, a plot which holds you to the end, a revealing description of the auction business, a flawed but persistent anti-hero and acast characters straight from the demi-monde.
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