The Dark Remains

A Laidlaw Investigation

By: William McIlvanney, Ian Rankin

Narrated by: Brian Cox

In this scorching crime prequel, New York Times best-selling author Ian Rankin and Scottish crime-writing legend William McIlvanney join forces for the first ever case of D.I. Laidlaw, Glasgow’s original gritty detective

Listeners will relish the return to McIlvanney’s Glasgow, with its gangs, organized crime bosses, crooked politics, corrupt police, hard men, and innocent battlers caught in the crossfire. In the midst of this melee stands D.I. Jack Laidlaw, as memorable a noir character as has ever been created.

Good but not great

The story was good, as was the performance but there were a few aspects I didn’t like as much as say the Rebus novels.
First, the story is simpler and darker. Some will like that but it’s not for me.
Second, at times, the performance and story felt like it was a Glaswegian version of anDick Tracy book. Again, not to my taste.

The only one

The original, and the only one of the classic Laidlaw trilogy available as an audio download. The only audio version of the trilogy read by the author. Don’t expect a performance, this is more like the author reading at a bookstore. The language is astonishing and fresh. He knows the meaning of every phrase intimately, having done work to shape each one into something special. He delivers the distinctive shades of Glasgow speech with the authority and enjoyment of a Mark Twain reading Huck Finn. It’s tragic that there isn’t more, but wonderful that we have this much. What a discovery!

I have listened to the recently published postmortem pastiche coauthored by Ian Ranken and read by Brian Cox. It doesn’t stink, but it doesn’t come close to this one.

4

Ha! I need the old Cliff Notes summary and explanation of this treasure of a mystery. I'm roo embarrassed to tell you fellow mystery lovers how many times I replayed the last part of the book. And now i'm going to it replay it from the beginning to hunt down and savor the quiet moments the authors slipped in - like the interview with a young woman in a shop.
It went from ho hum to masterful in the first few sentences. I darn near missed it.
Not a fan of this midcentury hard boiled cop shop gangster mystery style ....but it is way more than that. Loved it!

Poor narration made a mess of the story

Poor narration made a mess of this story. It was very difficult to distinguish one character from another because the narrator didn’t distinguish at all between the voices. In the previous three novels a Scottish brogue added definition and enjoyment to the book. Not so in this one. I wish I’d purchased the Kindle version instead.
Ian Rankin did a good job of completing McIlvanney’s story.

Not for me

Oh my word. This was a book club pick and a dud. I could not follow the story. At all. Nothing was absorbing. So many names. So many boring things happening. The narrator was monotone and made me sleepy. I was worried it was just me and I was being too hard on the book, but no. Everyone who listened agreed this was not worth the read.