Alan Parks - February's Son

Rating: 5/5

Review:
Another very good thriller from Parks

February’s Son is another very good, very dark thriller from Alan Parks.

Be warned, this is about as Noir as it gets; it’s cold, wet and dark all the time, there is some horrible violence and some very unpleasant characters, plus liberal (although entirely realistic) use of the f- and c-words. Parks is a good enough writer to forge this into a convincing and gripping novel.

It is February 1973 in Glasgow, just a few weeks after the events of Bloody January (which I would recommend you read first). DI McCoy’s shady relationship with Stevie Cooper continues as their joint childhood history comes back with a bang, and there’s a deranged gangland hit-man on a killing spree. A tangled (but comprehensible) plot develops involving the manhunt, struggles for power in the criminal underworld and historical child abuse. The latter is a terribly over-used trope in crime fiction nowadays, but again, Parks handles it with real skill so that it never seems like a lazy device but is a genuine part of the story. The prose and dialogue are excellent, painting very realistic portraits of both the setting and the characters and he paces and structures the story very well.

I have to say that the climax did get a bit silly and over-the-top, but it didn’t spoil my enjoyment. I thought this was very good and this is shaping up to be a very fine series. Recommended.

(My thanks to Canongate for an ARC via NetGalley.)