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Aug 21, 2017susanchyn rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
I liked this book, Scottish noir based on real incidents, but it took real effort for me to piece together the pieces. By the end, it was (for the most part) clear what had happened in 1950s Glasgow, but the first one hundred pages required patience and faith in Ms. Mina... Who are Watt and Manuel? What are they playing at? Why is everyone so scared of Dandy McKay? And what is “the long drop,” anyway? Even the meaning of the title is kept from readers till the very end. What kept me going was Mina’s uncanny recreation of the ethos of crime-ridden streets, the seedy pubs, the descriptions of the drunken stupors and psyches driving the Glaswegian crews. The dynamic between Watt and Mull is captured particularly well; but again, there is a lot of murkiness in this noir (ha hah), and all is not revealed until very late in the game. So maybe this is one of those books you have to read a couple times, to fully appreciate its meaning and craft.