MixedThe ScotsmanAll the elements of a classic crime page turner are here. The novel is just waiting to be transferred to the small screen ... Parks’s writing style is to the point. The plot zips along and there are plenty of dummies and feints to keep crime fans entertained. Yet despite two excitable cover quotes likening Parks to the late, great William McIlvanney, there’s little to attract readers without a passion for the polis. While the novel is set in Glasgow it never fully utilises the city’s dramatic strengths ... A further issue is Parks’ decision to travel back in time. I can’t help but feel the plot would have felt more shocking, and the settings more convincing, if was set in the present day. The trouble with writing about the recent past is there are still plenty of people around who lived through it. Modern historical fiction must paint an accurate picture if it’s going to have any sense of reality – a vital component in any crime thriller ... Parks isn’t always on steady ground here ... For all that, McCoy remains a character many will enjoy spending time with.
