(Regardless of what Amazon or any other place says, this is NOT an Alex Morrow mystery!)
Denise Mina has written a fictionalized account of a real life case. No one knows what happened the night that Watt and Manuel spent together, but what this talented writer has imagined certainly fills in the blanks well. Her depiction of the city of Glasgow in the 1950s is stunning. She serves up a vivid portrait of the city and its criminals before "the biggest urban redevelopment project in post-war Europe."
For those of you who like a big dollop of sunshine and smiles in your reading, you're not going to find it here. The Long Drop (think of the hangman) deals almost exclusively with criminals-- people who lie, cheat, steal, rape, and murder. The book can be quite grim, but it is a compelling tale of guilt and innocence. Peter Manuel is chilling. Whether he's a psychopath or a sociopath, it doesn't matter. He's bad news. Working with the trial transcripts, Mina is able to show Manuel's Achilles' heel, and that is the one bright spot in the book. Besides the depiction of Glasgow during this period, watching Manuel conduct his own defense during his murder trial is the best part of the book. I may not have been in the right mood for such a depressing book, but I would not have missed it for the world.
Denise Mina has written a fictionalized account of a real life case. No one knows what happened the night that Watt and Manuel spent together, but what this talented writer has imagined certainly fills in the blanks well. Her depiction of the city of Glasgow in the 1950s is stunning. She serves up a vivid portrait of the city and its criminals before "the biggest urban redevelopment project in post-war Europe."
For those of you who like a big dollop of sunshine and smiles in your reading, you're not going to find it here. The Long Drop (think of the hangman) deals almost exclusively with criminals-- people who lie, cheat, steal, rape, and murder. The book can be quite grim, but it is a compelling tale of guilt and innocence. Peter Manuel is chilling. Whether he's a psychopath or a sociopath, it doesn't matter. He's bad news. Working with the trial transcripts, Mina is able to show Manuel's Achilles' heel, and that is the one bright spot in the book. Besides the depiction of Glasgow during this period, watching Manuel conduct his own defense during his murder trial is the best part of the book. I may not have been in the right mood for such a depressing book, but I would not have missed it for the world.
