A "Tartan Noir" Master

Garnethill by Denise Mina

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Scottish author Denise Mina is a superb writer. She is a master at revealing the raw wounds that Glasgow's poor and powerless suffer, while at the same time creating female central characters who are resilient and resourceful. I loved her moving novel Field of Blood (review coming).

However, this first novel of her "Garnethill" trilogy was weighted down with so much extraneous material - long passages of detailed description, and flatline scenes that were mere set pieces - that by the time I was half-way through I was quickly scanning several pages at a time to skip the padding in search of developments in plot. An astute editor could have reduced this book's length substantially and made it a more gripping read.

Nevertheless, I still admire this wonderful writer and will definitely read more of her novels.



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