Filth - Softcover

Welsh, Irvine

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0099583836 ISBN 13: 9780099583837

Publisher: Vintage, 2013

Synopsis

Suitable only for persons of strong constitution.

Contains:
Drug use
Perversion
Murder
Corruption
Sexism
Racism
Law Enforcement

And a tapeworm

About this title

Review:

Irvine Welsh has produced more than his share of revolting characters in his short yet spectacular writing career, but in the creation of Detective Sergeant Bruce Robertson he has surpassed himself. The protagonist of Filth is, both personally and professionally, utterly corrupt; a thief, drug user, misogynist and racist, with standards of appearance and personal hygiene that are simply beyond belief. It goes without saying that his wife and children have left him but, oddly, he still has few drinking mates, and even some of the women he so hideously abuses are still prepared to give him the benefit of the doubt. "The undeniable sexuality which is part and parcel of the complete dominance over another human being", opines the viciously selfish Robertson, is just part of what makes, "poliswork such a satisfying career." But, strangely, as we chart his inevitable decline...from what is admittedly a very low baseline--a solid, almost conventional, underlying morality begins to assert itself. Amid the degradation we come across a hint of reason as Welsh's stunningly direct dialogue and hideously imaginative plot combine in a thrilling, undeniably unsettling novel. --Nick Wroe

Review:

"A peculiar kind of brilliance" (Sunday Telegraph)

"A snarling epic of a book...ugly, devastatingly funny, unremittingly nasty and pulls no punches... Don't dare miss it" (Scotsman)

"Welsh firing on all cylinders... The best thing he has done since Trainspotting" (Sunday Times)

"It is surely a remarkable cultural moment when a reviewer is offered cash in a bar for an advance copy of a literary novel... Filth is a masterpiece...squarely in the classic line of classic scottish writing" (Independent)

"Things are going well for Detective Sergeant Bruce Robertson. Promotion is in the offing, he's got all the booze and drugs he needs, and his various plots aimed at friends and colleagues seem to be working out. Robertson, compulsive and repulsive by turns, has only two problems. One is a case of racially-motivated murder on his patch. The other is that there's a nasty tapeworm in his gut and it seems intent on having its say... A brutally sustained achievement" (Evening Standard)

About this edition

• Publisher: Vintage
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 0099583836
• ISBN 13: 9780099583837
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 416