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Strange Loyalties

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Strange Loyalties

By: William McIlvanney
Narrated by: Mark Bonnar
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Summary
 When his brother dies stepping out in front of a car, Detective Jack Laidlaw is determined to find out what really happened. With corrosive wit, Laidlaw relates an emotional quest through Glasgow's underworld, and into the past. He discovers as much about himself as the loved brother he has lost in a search that leads to a shattering climax. Crime Thrillers Mystery Police Procedural Thriller & Suspense Fiction Crime

Critic Reviews

"Fastest, first and best, Laidlaw is the melancholy heir to Marlowe. Reads like a breathless scalpel cut through the bloody heart of a city" (DENISE MINA)
"It's doubtful I would be a crime writer without the influence of McIlvanney's Laidlaw. Here was a literary novelist turning his hand to the urban, contemporary crime novel and proving that the form could tackle big moral concerns and social issues" (IAN RANKIN)
"A crime trilogy so searing it will burn forever into your memory. McIlvanney is the original Scottish criminal mastermind" (CHRISTOPHER BROOKMYRE)
"Glittering" (VAL McDERMID)
"The Laidlaw books are not just great crime novels, they are important ones" (MARK BILLINGHAM)
"Transfixing"
"Starts on the streets and ends up in the soul"
"Told superlatively well. Laidlaw has . . . become even more heroically moving"
"Immensely readable"
"McIlvanney is the razor king of Scottish crime writing, carving out crackling prose and pounding storylines. His Laidlaw is an enduring hero with the dry wit and insight to make other literary detectives seem two-dimensional" (GORDON FERRIS)
All stars
Most relevant
Found it hard to follow dialogue at times but his wielding of the full force of the English language kept me listening and riveted. I forget actual wording but he described a large apartment block as industrial in which melancholy or despair was manufactured in bulk. Worth listening to the entire work again

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