Absolutely fantastic book with brilliant Characters. Ian Rankin has done an amazing job on finishing this Book. William Mc Ilvanney would have been proud.
Read this in two sittings and will definitely be added to my To Be Read Again List. ( )

Jack Laidlaw is a maverick. He believes he works best on his own, and constantly rubs people up the wrong way. The Commander, Robert Frederick of the Glasgow Crime Squad has asked DS Bob Lilley to babysit Laidlaw because he needs careful handling. Laidlaw certainly doesn't like attempts by DI Ernie Milligan to give him orders and dictate how he does things. Milligan and Laidlaw have history. They were DCs together, Milligan rose the ladder, Laidlaw hasn't.

Essentially Milligan and Laidlaw are different as chalk and cheese, and Milligan can't resist any opportunity for a bit of one-up-manship.

Most of the novel is occupied with the cut and thrust between two rival Glasgow gangs. Running in the background is the investigation into lawyer Bobby Carter's death.

Having never read any William McIlvanney before I can't tell how good a job Rankin has done of completing the original manuscript.
Ian Rankin has spent most of lockdown writing a novel – but it isn’t a new Rebus. Instead, the Scottish writer has been putting the finishing touches to a handwritten manuscript left by the late William McIlvanney, the so-called godfather of “tartan noir” and author of the Laidlaw detective books.
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/dec/05/ian-rankin-to-complete-william-mci...
But Rankin said The Dark Remains was unlikely to be the start of a franchise. “It’s just there was that one unfinished book and there was enough material there that meant it could be finished,” he said. “And why wouldn’t you want a new William McIlvanney book out in the world?”

I can't see Rankin writing any more in this "series" despite the comments in the blurb about this being a "scorching crime hookup". For me it was a little disappointing. ( )

The writing and the mystery are good. The story flows compactly. If you are a Laidlaw fan then you may enjoy meeting him before. Or at the early stages. But the rogue detective was never my favorite trope and watching him actively undermine his marriage and whinge about it is an unpleasant bore. ( )

A most lackluster addition to Tartan noir. The book jacket says that William McIlvanney founded Tartan noir. Well, if he did and this was his first entree into the field, Tartan Noir would have died a painful death. Skip this one. ( )

It’s 1972 and a body has been found behind The Parlour, a bar in Glascow, that of Bobby Carter, criminal attorney who worked for gang boss Cam Colvin. The pub is situated on the turf of a rival gang and, to save face, Colvin must find who’s is responsible and retaliate, meaning the Glaswegian cops are bracing for an all-out gang war. The case is in the hands of Detective Sargeant Laidlaw, cynical outsider but with a strong sense of morality, a healthy disrespect for authority, a penchant for quoting philosophy, and a preference for working alone.

After William McIlvanney’s death in 2015, an unfinished novel in his tartan noir Laidlaw series was discovered.and it was only fitting that Ian Rankin, who has continued the tartan noir tradition in his own Rebus books should complete it. The Dark Remains is the result. This is a well-written, smart, and engrossing noir thriller with plenty of red herrings and twists and turns to keep the reader engaged and guessing throughout. But, like Rankin’s Rebus series, it is less action and the mystery and more character study, their relations both on the street and at home, their backstories, and what motivate them to act as they do. A great read for fans of both or either author or intelligent mysteries.

Thanks to Netgalley and Penguin Random House Canada for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review ( )