Rilke’s return is a treat: a dark, complex literary crime novel bursting with life. Louise Welsh’s band of outsiders and misfits are lovingly drawn, her Glasgow vibrant and gritty, the crimes she depicts terrifying and tragic
The raw, tight prose of this novel delivers an edgy glimpse into the underbelly of 21st century Glasgow . . . a witty and sometimes sordid tale of a rank outsider
McIlvanney Prize Shortlist Bloody Scotland
A tale of antiques dealers, gangsters and chemsex parties set in the sleazy side of Glasgow. A terrific bit of crime storytelling, written with panache and wit
2022 Highlights The Times
Twenty years is a long time to wait for a “sequel” but Louise Welsh has made the wait completely worthwhile. In Welsh’s writing, Rilke’s world remains recognisably queer – not sanitised, not tidied, not safe before the watershed – and all the better for it . . . (Please can the next one come a little sooner?)
I doubt I'll read a better book this year. Dark, funny and humane, Louise Welsh tells the stories that nobody else dares
Worth the wait
Brilliant
Plunges the reader straight into Glasgow's underbelly. This is hard-boiled Scottish crime writing at its best
Stylish, witty
Books of the Month Independent
★ 03/27/2023
This excellent sequel to 2002’s The Cutting Room , which won the British Crime Writers Association award for best first novel, is set in post-Covid Glasgow after the now middle-aged Rilke has become head auctioneer at Bowery Auctions. He’s grappling with the effects of getting older and changes to Glasgow’s LGBTQ community when Jojo, an old acquaintance now down on his luck, offers him a potentially lucrative lead on a client with a country house full of antiques. The following day, Jojo is found dead. Rilke takes it on himself to investigate, and Welsh braids his investigation with a dizzying number of other plot threads—the gruesome death of a dog, a fatal car crash, the disappearance of an elderly pianist, a cache of drugs, an artist chronicling the dark side of Glasgow’s gay scene, a ruthless gangster rising through the criminal ranks—and leaves readers to gradually draw connections between them. This offers the same nuanced characterizations and evocative, visceral prose that launched Welsh’s debut to cult classic status. The result is an unputdownable mystery that will make readers feel safe in the hands of a master. Agent: Sam Copeland, RCW Literary. (May)
If writing a sequel to a bona fide Scottish classic weighed heavily on Louise Welsh you'd never know. The Second Cut grips from the very opening pages. The Glasgow it portrays is seamy but humane, its cast of characters flawed but endearing. The whole thing is compelling, immersive and brimming with life. A great achievement
Superbly drawn and exquisitely written, the story moves at an exceptional pace: this is modern Glasgow at its most compelling with a contradictory
A remarkable first novel
Praise for The Cutting Room : One of the most intriguing, assured and unputdownable debuts to come out of Scotland in recent years . . . A stunning work of fiction
The Cutting Room fixes itself among a formidable modern pantheon that includes the novels of Ian McEwan and A.L. Kennedy
Bleak, witty, unfailingly compassionate and beautifully written all at the same time . . . a lightly fictionalised love letter to Glasgow
Getting another look behind the curtain at Rilke's world was a squalid thrill. Louise Welsh reclaims her crown as the queen of Glasgow's grubby glamour
One of the most enjoyable mysteries I've read this year, The Second Cut had me from the word go. Rilke's world feels rife with possibilities for dark doings - and Welsh's writing is fresh, funny, fearless and fun
Complex and very atmospheric, with plenty of sardonic humour and sharp observations about injustice, like its predecessor this is a hardboiled gem.
Well-wrought . . . The specificity and style of Welsh's prose - peppered with such fine Scottish words as 'bawface', 'coorie' and 'shoogly' - the depth of her characterisation and depiction of place, her gallows humour and her compassion all make The Second Cut a superb piece of work
Richly layered, gloriously carnal, bursting with patter and irresistibly seductive
Welsh upturns tropes and adds depth, seedy detail and Gothic lyricism to the page-turner framework
The Second Cut is as blackly comic as it is squalid and Welsh balances all the storylines with ease
I doubt I'll read a better book this year. Dark, funny and humane, Louise Welsh tells the stories that nobody else dares
