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The keenly anticipated third Rilke thriller exploring the dark underbelly of contemporary Glasgow, from the Award-winning author of the cult classic The Cutting Room
It's hard to be good when living is expensive. And times are tough on the streets these days. Luckily for Rilke at Bowery Auctions the demand for no-questions-asked cash is at an all-time high, and business is booming.
When Rilke hears his old acquaintance Les is fresh out of prison, his inclination is to stay well out of his way. Letting sleeping dogs lie is one thing - but when one of Bowery's customers winds up dead on their tarmac, Rilke needs a bit of help from his friends to tidy things up. If only his friends didn't have such a habit of making things worse.
With a central character who feels like an old friend, The Cut Up is as sharply observed, humane and beautifully written as its two superb predecessors - Guardian
A phantasmagorically realised Glasgow - Financial Times
Rilke is a brilliant creation: as raddled, queer and resilient as Glasgow itself - ALAN CUMMING
Welsh cares as much about style as story. Her gripping tale of greed and depravity is peppered with Scots vernacular . . . There are felicities on almost every page . . . Ultimately, however, it is Rilke's progress through another maze of mistrust and misinformation that keeps you hanging on to Welsh's every word - Times
As gritty as it is compelling, The Cut Up is a thrilling tale of murder, reset and Glasgow's dark and dirty past. No detail slips Welsh's eye for an undercurrent. Wonderful - DENISE MINA
Rambunctiously, relentlessly and rewardingly entertaining. The most irresistible white-knuckle ride of a novel you will read this year - CHRIS BROOKMYRE
A much-needed tonic. Rilke is a unique creation in Scottish crime fiction and his latest journey in Glasgow's dark streets is an excellent addition to his series. Two thumbs up - JAMES OSWALD
Welsh has created a unique character in Rilke and her marvellous writing brings his world to life. The Cut Up is a great addition to the Cutting Room series - ALEX GRAY
Louise Welsh is a writer of the finest calibre, and The Cut Up is terrific - razor sharp, super smart and full of heart - DOUG JOHNSTONE
Louise Welsh's crime-solving auctioneer returns in The Cut Up. This charismatic follow up to earlier Rilke novels blends an intriguing murder mystery with a viciously dry observational satire turned upon the mean streets of Glasgow. One of the most grimly fun crime novels I've read this year - VASEEM KHAN
What a great book . . . Rilke, as a character, is a creation of Welsh's genius, flawed and at times dubious, but never less than charismatic and engaging - CARO RAMSAY
Anyone who loves a bit of genre-busting black-as-night crime fiction will be delighted to accompany Rilke and co through Glasgow's soft underbelly - The List
A sharp and fast-paced read that blends murder mystery with a compelling setting and a cast of interesting but almost universally morally ambiguous characters . . . An engaging and stylish crime novel that grips from early on - Scottish Field
Rilke is one of the great characters of contemporary Scottish fiction and Welsh brings him to enjoyably vivid, three-dimensional life. I was hooked - The Scotsman
A welcome return to the world of Glasgow auctioneer Rilke and his unfortunate knack of landing himself in the middle of a murder investigation - Mail on Sunday
A welcome return for an endearing and complicated character with a great, sardonic repartee and a full immersion into a shifty and comic world of crime by one of the undisputed if unprolific queens of Tartan Noir - Crime Time
This gritty, thrilling tale of murder, set in Glasgow's dark and dirty past, serves up a compelling and unique protagonist. Rilke is flawed, occasionally dubious, but eternally charismatic. You won't want to put this down - Platinum Magazine
He may be unconventional but in all other respects [Rilke] fulfils Raymond Chandler's requirements to the letter as someone who is solitary, uncorrupted and courageous "who walks down mean streets but is not himself mean" - DAVID ROBINSON, Books from Scotland
The Cut Up works perfectly. Welsh delivers a thriller that honours character over contrivance, that understands queerness as texture rather than plot device, that knows chosen family means presence during precisely the moments things fall spectacularly apart - GScene
Welsh brings Rilke to enjoy�ably vivid, three-d�i�men�sional life. I was hooked, not just by the murder but by her por�trait of his rather rack�ety pro�fes�sion and the occa�sion�ally comic and some�times deadly city in which he lives - Yorkshire Post
Praise for Louise Welsh's CUTTING ROOM books: 'Rilke's return is a treat' - PAULA HAWKINS
Intriguing, assured and unputdownable - Sunday Times
Astonishing . . . Rilke is a true original - The Times
I doubt I'll read a better book this year. Dark, funny and humane - VAL McDERMID
Compelling, immersive and brimming with life - GRAEME MACRAE BURNET
Richly layered, gloriously carnal, bursting with patter and irresistibly seductive - CHRIS BROOKMYRE
Rilke's world feels rife with possibilities . . . and Welsh's writing is fresh, funny, fearless and fun - JOSEPH KNOX
Louise Welsh is an award-winning author of ten novels. The Cutting Room, her debut novel, won the Crime Writers' Association John Creasey (New Blood) Dagger Award and the Saltire First Book of The Year Award. In 2018, she was named the Most Inspiring Saltire First Book Award winner by public vote. She is a Professor of Creative Writing at the University of Glasgow. In 2022 she published The Second Cut, which was shortlisted for the Bloody Scotland McIlvanney Prize for Crime Book of the Year and named by The Times as their Crime Book of the Year.
@louisewelsh00