Join Amazon Prime and get unlimited Free One-Day Delivery. Already a member? Sign in.
|
Frequently Bought Together
Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought
by Louise Welsh
|
by Thomas Harris
|
by Louise Welsh
|
by Iain Banks
|
The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner (Wordsworth Classics) by James Hogg |
Product details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
Product Description
Review
THE DARK SIDE of Glasgow lies behind this black, erotic thriller. Homosexual antique dealer Rilke is commissioned to sell at auction the entire contents of a deceased old man's estate. What seems a straightforward deal turns suspicious upon the discovery of a hidden collection of erotica, secreted away in a loft. The chance unearthing of a packet of disturbing photographs sets Rilke on a trail through Glasgow's pornography industry in search of answers. Transvestites, rent boys, sadists and the generally sexually perverted all make an appearance, the possibility of snuff activities dangling over the story till the finale. Deceit, double-dealing and degradation fill the pages with the self-effacing, downward spiralling Rilke at the centre, trying to cling to reality and his sanity through a drunken haze induced by the horrors he has found. Homoerotic, this is not a book for the sexually squeamish. Newcomer Louise Welsh writes with unusual candour, succinctly capturing the various sexual persuasions and preferences mankind has always chased. Her easy style ensnares the reader, drawing them down to the dregs of depravity at the same time as tantalisingly teasing the plot along till its climactic ending. - Lucy Watson
Louise Welsh's first novel is a compulsive read from the first page, a book whose pages you can't stop turning even when you dread whatever horror may be in store next. The book is narrated by the middle-aged Rilke, who works for a Glasgow auction house. Rilke is invited by a wealthy old woman to catalogue and sell her late brother's effects. While searching through the dead man's possessions, Rilke comes across a set of pornographic black-and-white photographs - including one of a woman who has apparently been murdered. Rather than go to the police, Rilke pockets the photographs and decides to discover the truth behind them. Is the woman really dead or was the picture posed? The quest takes him deeper and deeper into a Glasgow underworld of crime, pornography and prostitution. But Welsh is far too clever to have produced a standard crime novel: this is a subversive book whose surprises are not just in the twists of the plot. Rilke himself is a brilliant creation: a homosexual who solicits casual sexual encounters, he is both already in touch with the seedier side of Glasgow life (one of his acquaintances is the unsavoury Leslie, a drug pusher and transvestite) and repelled by its darker elements. A troubled and lonely past has left him unsentimental and cynical, his views of sex and sexuality decidedly unromantic. 'Personally, I see many reasons youth should be attracted to old age; all of them can be folded and put in your wallet.' Using Rilke as the narrator and protagonist enables Welsh to look at pornography and female prostitution with a detachment that a male heterosexual or a woman wouldn't have. And that detachment enables him finally to see, with enormous clarity, the depth of the depravity at the heart of the sex industry. As he comes to this realization, he discovers more and more unsavoury facts about the people around him, people he likes and trusts: almost every character in this disturbing book is morally compromised in one way or another. Welsh has created not just a gripping plot, not just a memorable set of characters, not just convincing and fast-moving dialogue, though she has done all of these. She has also created a whole world, the frightening world of a Glasgow that most people never see - and above that, imbued it with a moral force that leaves you shaken. This is a debut of startling brilliance. (Kirkus UK)
A debut crime novel with aspirations, featuring a quintessential flawed hero, a smart and morally ambivalent gay Glaswegian auctioneer. Rilke's fixations are far from noble when he first enters the McKindless place, a gloomy townhouse complete with a sharp-eyed spinster seeking a quick sale of her just-deceased brother's belongings. Rilke's auction house, long-established in Glasgow but a good deal seedier than Sotheby's, hasn't seen quality of the kind he's being offered in a generation, so he swallows his questions and proceeds with business. While going through the brother's private office in the attic, at the spinster's request, Rilke finds an envelope full of pornographic photos featuring the deceased, decades younger, but Rilke's blood congeals at the sight of some of them, since they seem to depict real torture and worse. He opens an investigation of his own-after being picked up in a police raid of a gay hotspot and saved by an old chum on the force, only to help another old chum, now a drug dealer, move his stash to a more secure location after he's been raided. The search takes him to a porno-film producer, then to a would-be actress running a private peepshow; the deeper in Rilke gets, the more repulsed and fascinated. Even after the actress reveals that McKindless had engaged her for a necrophilia photo shoot, and suggested "cutting" her, Rilke still doesn't take what he knows to his friend the policeman. Something keeps him digging until a brush with death, more tangible evidence of McKindless's evil deeds, and action from beyond the grave threaten to bring the unspeakable horrors of the past to life again. Strange amorous encounters underscore the dissolute Rilke's appeal, but the reasons for his dogged sleuthing remain a mystery, making him a shadowy figure as frustrating as he is fascinating to observe. (Kirkus Reviews)
The Times
Astonishingly this is a first novel, catapulting Welsh straight into the superstar league, while establishing Rilke as a classic original.
See all Product Description
THE DARK SIDE of Glasgow lies behind this black, erotic thriller. Homosexual antique dealer Rilke is commissioned to sell at auction the entire contents of a deceased old man's estate. What seems a straightforward deal turns suspicious upon the discovery of a hidden collection of erotica, secreted away in a loft. The chance unearthing of a packet of disturbing photographs sets Rilke on a trail through Glasgow's pornography industry in search of answers. Transvestites, rent boys, sadists and the generally sexually perverted all make an appearance, the possibility of snuff activities dangling over the story till the finale. Deceit, double-dealing and degradation fill the pages with the self-effacing, downward spiralling Rilke at the centre, trying to cling to reality and his sanity through a drunken haze induced by the horrors he has found. Homoerotic, this is not a book for the sexually squeamish. Newcomer Louise Welsh writes with unusual candour, succinctly capturing the various sexual persuasions and preferences mankind has always chased. Her easy style ensnares the reader, drawing them down to the dregs of depravity at the same time as tantalisingly teasing the plot along till its climactic ending. - Lucy Watson
Louise Welsh's first novel is a compulsive read from the first page, a book whose pages you can't stop turning even when you dread whatever horror may be in store next. The book is narrated by the middle-aged Rilke, who works for a Glasgow auction house. Rilke is invited by a wealthy old woman to catalogue and sell her late brother's effects. While searching through the dead man's possessions, Rilke comes across a set of pornographic black-and-white photographs - including one of a woman who has apparently been murdered. Rather than go to the police, Rilke pockets the photographs and decides to discover the truth behind them. Is the woman really dead or was the picture posed? The quest takes him deeper and deeper into a Glasgow underworld of crime, pornography and prostitution. But Welsh is far too clever to have produced a standard crime novel: this is a subversive book whose surprises are not just in the twists of the plot. Rilke himself is a brilliant creation: a homosexual who solicits casual sexual encounters, he is both already in touch with the seedier side of Glasgow life (one of his acquaintances is the unsavoury Leslie, a drug pusher and transvestite) and repelled by its darker elements. A troubled and lonely past has left him unsentimental and cynical, his views of sex and sexuality decidedly unromantic. 'Personally, I see many reasons youth should be attracted to old age; all of them can be folded and put in your wallet.' Using Rilke as the narrator and protagonist enables Welsh to look at pornography and female prostitution with a detachment that a male heterosexual or a woman wouldn't have. And that detachment enables him finally to see, with enormous clarity, the depth of the depravity at the heart of the sex industry. As he comes to this realization, he discovers more and more unsavoury facts about the people around him, people he likes and trusts: almost every character in this disturbing book is morally compromised in one way or another. Welsh has created not just a gripping plot, not just a memorable set of characters, not just convincing and fast-moving dialogue, though she has done all of these. She has also created a whole world, the frightening world of a Glasgow that most people never see - and above that, imbued it with a moral force that leaves you shaken. This is a debut of startling brilliance. (Kirkus UK)
A debut crime novel with aspirations, featuring a quintessential flawed hero, a smart and morally ambivalent gay Glaswegian auctioneer. Rilke's fixations are far from noble when he first enters the McKindless place, a gloomy townhouse complete with a sharp-eyed spinster seeking a quick sale of her just-deceased brother's belongings. Rilke's auction house, long-established in Glasgow but a good deal seedier than Sotheby's, hasn't seen quality of the kind he's being offered in a generation, so he swallows his questions and proceeds with business. While going through the brother's private office in the attic, at the spinster's request, Rilke finds an envelope full of pornographic photos featuring the deceased, decades younger, but Rilke's blood congeals at the sight of some of them, since they seem to depict real torture and worse. He opens an investigation of his own-after being picked up in a police raid of a gay hotspot and saved by an old chum on the force, only to help another old chum, now a drug dealer, move his stash to a more secure location after he's been raided. The search takes him to a porno-film producer, then to a would-be actress running a private peepshow; the deeper in Rilke gets, the more repulsed and fascinated. Even after the actress reveals that McKindless had engaged her for a necrophilia photo shoot, and suggested "cutting" her, Rilke still doesn't take what he knows to his friend the policeman. Something keeps him digging until a brush with death, more tangible evidence of McKindless's evil deeds, and action from beyond the grave threaten to bring the unspeakable horrors of the past to life again. Strange amorous encounters underscore the dissolute Rilke's appeal, but the reasons for his dogged sleuthing remain a mystery, making him a shadowy figure as frustrating as he is fascinating to observe. (Kirkus Reviews)
The Times
Astonishingly this is a first novel, catapulting Welsh straight into the superstar league, while establishing Rilke as a classic original.
See all Product Description
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
Browse and search another edition of this book.
Browse and search another edition of this book.
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?
 |
80% buy the item featured on this page: The Cutting Room £5.99 |
 |
7% buy The Bullet Trick £5.99 |
 |
5% buy Hope and Other Urban Tales £6.99 |
 |
5% buy The Book Thief £3.99 |
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
|||||||||||||||||||
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
|
|
Customer Discussions
Beta (What's this?)|
This product's forum
(0 discussions)
Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight
Active discussions in related forums
|
Related forums
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Listmania!
|
|
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
The Body Shop |
More From Louise Welsh
The Bullet Trick by Louise Welsh Sometimes an author can make a considerable mark with their first...
Read more
|
Up to 50% off Dental Care |
Treat Someone
With an Amazon.co.uk Gift Certificate, you can get them what they want (even if you don't know what that is). |
|||||||
| |||||
Your Recent History
(What's this?)|
You have no recently viewed items or searches.
After viewing product detail pages or search results, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in. Look to the right column to find helpful suggestions for your shopping session. |
Continue Shopping: Top Sellers
| ||||
Amazon Home | |
| International Sites: United States | Germany | France | Japan | Canada | China | |
| Business Programs: Sell on Amazon | Fulfilment by Amazon | Join Associates | Join Advantage | |
| Customer Service | Help | View Basket | Your Account | |
| About Amazon.co.uk | Careers at Amazon | |
| Conditions of Use & Sale | Privacy Notice © 1996-2009, Amazon.com, Inc. and its affiliates |