Twenty years on from her ground-breaking debut The Cutting Room, which became a stone-cold modern classic of Scottish literature, Louise Welsh revisits cadaverous auctioneer Rilke and the grimy underbelly of contemporary Glasgow.
Technology has changed life for us all in the intervening decades, and even Rilke, who spends his time surrounded by antiques and mementos from the past, has succumbed in some ways. In The Second Cut he now utilises Grindr for his anonymous sex with local men, though he’s still partial to an old-fashioned furtive hook-up in a darkened park too.
Business has slowed at Bowery Auctions, so when old acquaintance Jojo is acting the drunken fool at a gay wedding then offers a tip about a profitable house clearance, Rilke is intrigued, even as he spurns Jojo’s offer to join a drug-fuelled mid-afternoon party. The next day, JoJo is dead. A middle-aged man counted among Glasgow’s dying homeless, even if Jojo hadn’t quite fallen that far, yet. Does anyone care?
Meanwhile Rilke and his boss, Rose, strike several surprises among the clearance of the crumbling country estate. Welsh spins an atmospheric, immersive tale that tears along while providing plenty of layers with characters and setting.
You may not be able to step into the same river twice, but Welsh masterfully revisits old haunts. A triumph.
Reviewed by Craig Sisterson
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