Glaswegian..

It took me a little while to work out it was set in the early 70's-this was because there was a lack of mobile phones, and a David Essex reference confirmed it..
Great accents, good story...if you like tough, and maverick detectives with a touch of strong Glaswegian thrown in..take a chance on this.

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My 2nd time. Probably not my last.

It’s the depth of characters. Feel like I’m there among them and their cigarette smoke

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gave up boring narrator!

Oh dear story has potential even if set in 1977. But oh dear the narrator sounded like he was struggling with false teeth. Monotone and boring.

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4 people found this helpful

tedious

Is there anything you would change about this book?

I found this book very slow and did not really move along.

Who was your favorite character and why?

I could not find a character that I could form an opinion of.

What did you like about the performance? What did you dislike?

This book might have been better with a different narrator. The author/narrator had a very strong accent, which I was unable to tune into and found it very hard at times to understand, though he tried to give characters different accents, this failed and again made it difficult for me to follow the story.

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1 person found this helpful

Must read, didn’t set it down, so too speak, until finished

My new found author, I love him, he’s so down to earth and very very funny even though I am not sure he’s trying too be. The story line is brilliant and not one of those that try too baffle you with lots of different red herrings and false leads. Just a great story line and great characters. I can’t wait for the next audiobooks. I’m putting him with my other fave’s. JD Kirk, Stuart Macbride. n Dalgleish. Lol , bet I’ve spelt at least one name wrong off top of my head. Get this book it’s a must in Scottish Thriller’s. Love to all readers out there. Stay safe. Patricia Margaret Welsh xxxxx

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1 person found this helpful

Difficult to listen to

It’s a Scottish classic, superb in its turn of phrase and flavour of 1970’s Glasgow. There’s no doubt William McIlvanney was a giant of an author. But his narration is very hard to listen to, with advanced age running words and phrases together, often negating the dynamism of the written word. Several decades spanned the writing and narration of this book, and the author would have done better to leave the latter to someone else.

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Terrible narration…..

I didn’t even get to the end of Chapter 1 and had to give up - I just couldn’t understand what the narrator was saying. What a pity, I should imagine it might have been a god listen

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Great story, poor narration

The story builds to a dramatic finish, but I almost didn't get there because the narration was off putting. I'm glad I persevered, because it was worth it, and I'm looking forward to listening to the other Laidlaw books. Thankfully those are read by someone other than the author, and this could do with being re-recorded. McIlvanney is a great author but his monotonous reading made it had to follow the story at times, in particular any rapid dialogue.

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I really like this book, well written...

...full of characters who demand your respect in a city that exudes edginess.

However, narrating it yourself isn't the best move. It's read like a diatribe, just one loooonnnngggg sentence. I've had to go back a few times and rewind - a pause, a breath, maybe a slightly different voice, some punctuation would really help. I guess that's why there's so many professional narrators.

The story's great though, so worth persevering...

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6 people found this helpful

Great 70s Scottish crime

Set in 70s Glasgow this tough look at policing then must have seemed very brutal at the time. Now we have so many examples of crime horror, but what brings this story to life is the dour Glaswegian voice of the narrator. Once you get into the rhythm and the dialect it seems like you're there, taking buses to interview witnesses and charging around a terrifying city full of "hard men".

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1 person found this helpful