February’s Son

By Alan Parks https://www.alanparks.co.uk/

Narrated by Andrew McIntosh

Published by Canongate (WF Howes) https://canongate.co.uk/

336 pages ISBN 9781528853712

I listened to this novel as an audiobook on the RB Digital app which is supported by Hull Libraries.  During the Covid lockdown the library service has been doing sterling work trying to keep us informed and entertained, be it by click-and-collect services or by electronic means.  As well as RB Digital, BorrowBox is also supported locally providing e-books and audiobooks to registered library users.

From the blurb

Bodies are piling up with grisly messages carved into their chests. Rival gangs are competing for control of Glasgow’s underworld and it seems that Cooper, McCoy’s oldest friend, is caught up in it all.

Detective Harry McCoy’s first day back at work couldn’t have gone worse.

Synopsis

It’s a month since Harry’s run in with the Dunlops and after three weeks sick leave and assessment he is pronounced ready to return to work.  He is immediately called in to investigate the brutal murder of a young Glasgow Celtic player, who has a message carved into his chest.  A high profile killing but as he is the fiancé of the daughter of a figure from the underworld complications are going to follow.

Heroin is on the streets of Glasgow and rival underworld gangs are competing for control of the City’s drugs take.  Stevie Cooper is central to this battle and McCoy’s long-term friendship with him is going to test loyalties and come under scrutiny.

Demons from their youth also resurface to haunt them.  Vengeance may be just but could come a too high a price.  Cooper and McCoy, however, are not known for their restraint.

My thoughts

A swift return to the mean streets of 1970s Glasgow and the exploits of Harry McCoy.  I would normally wait a bit longer between instalments of a series, but this is a series I can quickly catch up on, I enjoyed the first and I wanted to hear how it fared on audiobook it seemed appropriate to get stuck in.  I do a lot of dog walking so I listen to a lot of audiobooks; spring sunrises, a couple of hours with the mutt and a good crime novel, a great start to the day. 

The narrator of this story, Andrew McIntosh, did a great job, clearly Scottish but also perfectly intelligible.  As someone who goes to Scottish football matches, I know it can take a while to ‘get your ear in’ with some speakers, but this was fine and thankfully there was no reverting to silly voices like the English luvvy actors trying to do a Scottish accent.  Can’t recall hearing Andrew before, but there’s plenty of Scottish crime writers around so I’m sure he’ll find more jobs.

I was curious to see how Alan approached the ‘difficult second album’ and can say he did fine.  The story is set just a month following the previous outing, rather than the more usual year, and I can see that the next two novels have ‘March’ and ‘April’ in their titles so 1973 could be a remarkably busy and painful year for Harry McCoy.

The plot is focused and centres on the struggle for supremacy in gangland Glasgow with Harry’s long-time pal Stevie Cooper central to it.  The barbaric and discredited practice of lobotomy is introduced and whilst being a key component to the plot it isn’t over played, and it doesn’t derail it by over researched detail.  There are still enough twists to keep the readers interest and at least for me it didn’t quite play out as expected.   1970s Glasgow is a great setting for Noir and Parks uses it skilfully, its grotty and violent but it remains the backdrop and never takes over.

The relationship of Harry and Stevie is clearly going to be a central theme of the series and provides great opportunities to highlight the corruption and police practises of the time as well as some scrapes for them to get into.  Whilst a great strength now, over reliance may stretch credibility in the future for the sake of entertainment, which would be a shame.

The relationship of Harry with his police colleagues is further developed and whilst never going to be a team player it prevents him being the cliché of just another maverick cop.  At the end of the novel important aspects of his life are revealed and we see the importance of family, in the wider sense of the word, to him.  Once again the feeling is that McCoy is trying to be a good man even though at times he struggles to do the right thing.

Once again incidents from Harry’s and Stevie’s shared childhood resurface in the form of an abuser who is confronted.  The dealing with physical, sexual, and psychological abuse is pertinent to our current times and the failure to deal with, and indeed at times covering up, in the past is being addressed.  The question of what appropriate punishment for historic abuse and the morality of victims is trying to extract retribution is a perplexing one for a civilised society.  Whilst vigilantism is bad, I suspect that many would turn a blind eye where a victim of abuse can gain revenge, even though these actions may diminish the original victim who may then regret their actions.  This aspect and the subsequent dichotomy of feelings is dealt with deftly by the author.

Another entertaining read in a series which I can see becoming very popular and I for one will be reading book 3 before the year is finished.