I enjoyed The Second Cut. It haven’t read its predecessor, The Cutting Room, (although I soon will) but it works fine as a stand-alone book.
Rilke is a middle-aged auctioneer, active on Glasgow’s gay scene. His job sometimes brings him into contact with characters from the darker side of Glasgow’s underworld, and his sexual activities can be risky, too – although he is cautious by the standards of some other characters. When an old acquaintance from the scene gives him a tip about a valuable house clearance and is then found dead on a doorstep, apparently from an overdose in an already abused body, Rilke finds himself dealing with some very dodgy characters indeed. A fairly complex but comprehensible plot develops involving vicious drug empires, modern slavery and other skulduggery.
It’s readable, involving and quite exciting in places. Its main feature, though, is the background of Glasgow, its violent underworld and the current gay scene – not all of which is comfortable reading. The degree to which homophobia persists is disturbing, although Louise Welsh makes it clear how far attitudes and laws have progressed in twenty years. I also found the auction house side of the book very interesting and could actually have done with rather more of it.
I thought the first half of the book was exceptionally good; it is well written, thoughtful and involving, with Rilke’s relationships with different characters especially well done. It did tail off a little for me later on as some standard implausibilities in the plot began to emerge, like the extremely unlikely but convenient overhearing of a conversation, or the now horribly familiar decision not to call the police but to investigate alone, and so on.
In spite of these minor flaws, I still think this is a very readable, involving book with some important things to say. Recommended.
(My thanks to Canongate for an ARC via NetGalley.)
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