The Dark Remains by William McIlvanney and Ian Rankin
If the truth's in the shadows, get out of the light . . .
Lawyer Bobby Carter did a lot of work for the wrong type of people. Now he's dead and it was no accident. He's left behind his share of enemies, but who dealt the fatal blow?
DC Jack Laidlaw's reputation precedes him. He's not a team player, but he's got a sixth sense for what's happening on the streets. As two Glasgow gangs go to war, Laidlaw needs to find out who got Carter before the whole city explodes.
Two crime-writing legends join forces for the first ever case of DI Laidlaw: the original gritty Glasgow detective who inspired an entire genre.
William McIlvanney’s Laidlaw trilogy changed the face of crime fiction in the 1970s and 1980s, inspiring an entire generation of crime writers including Mark Billiangham, Val McDermid, Denise Mina, Chris Brookmyre – and Ian Rankin.
When McIlvanney died in 2015, he left half a handwritten manuscript of Laidlaw’s first case – his first new novel in 25 years. Now, Ian Rankin is back to finish what McIlvanney started.
In The Dark Remains, these two iconic authors bring to life the criminal world of 1970s Glasgow, and therelentless quest for truth.
About the authors
William McIlvanney is the author of the award-winning Laidlaw trilogy, featuring Glasgow’s original maverick detective. He died in December 2015.
Both Laidlaw and The Papers of Tony Veitch gained Silver Daggers from the Crime Writers’ Association, while the third in the series, Strange Loyalties, won the Herald’s People’s Prize.
Ian Rankin is the number one bestselling author of the Inspector Rebus series. The Rebus books have been translated into thirty-six languages and are bestsellers worldwide.
He is the recipient of four Crime Writers’ Association Dagger Awards, including the prestigious Diamond Dagger, and in 2002 he received an OBE for services to literature. He lives in Edinburgh.
Review
The Laidlaw trilogy is the pinnacle of Scottish crime fiction and Sir Ian Rankin had large shoes to fill indeed when he took up the mantle of Laidlaw’s story. But he does it with aplomb and any superlative words you can think of belonging here. Canongate definitely picked the right author for this task. I had the pleasure of seeing Ian last year at Bloody Scotland talking about this book and how it came about, the process behind it and how people were receiving it. But the main takeaway for me was when he said that William McIlvanney’s wife stated that he had given her husband back for a short time. I don't think there is higher praise than that.
It is a shame that William’s books were not more well known before his death because for me they are what all authors should be aiming for. Yes it's crime fiction but its a level above, they are a social commentary on Glasgow, the justice system and just life in general. But they are also literary books, books that make you stop and think, ponder what you have just read and move on in a more enlightened state. Ian gets this and ‘The Dark Remains’ reflects this utterly and completely from the first paragraph to the last line. It is extremely hard to separate which parts have come from William and those from Ian and that is the magic of this book, as both authors ring true but you soon realise that their voices must be eerily similar for it to be so symbiotic. It truly is a triumph.
As a huge Laidlaw fan I loved being able to see the start of his story in the Glasgow police, getting to see his relationship with Jan develop and being able to return to this world in general. It shows Glasgow at its most brutal, the gangland wars ripping the city apart. It delves deep into the miasma of violence that permeates this period and doesn't back off from the horrendous futility of it all. Glasgow at this time was a dangerous place to be and Laidlaw is smack bang in the middle of it. But how does a philosophical loving detective make his way through all this? Laidlaw isn’t particularly likeable but I love him all the same.
I'm just hoping that when Ian said there might have been enough material for two books from William’s notes that this is indeed the case as this one was a triumph!
