Book Review: The Quaker by Liam McIlvanney - Winner of Bloody Scotland's McIlvanney Prize 2018

Available here

The Quaker is one of those novels that, if you're a Scot of a certain age, immdiately transports you back to your childhood. Based on the factual tale of Glasgow serial Killer Bible John, McIlvanney encapsulates the dread and the shock that permeated Scottish society at that time. The regular identikit photo's embalazoned across the frnt page of The Daily Record, the whispered conversations and speculations that occurred at the school gates, in the shops and in pubs. Bible John was Scotland's Bogeyman of the sixties and the very name is still enough to instil a shiver of fear in even the most hardened of crime reader.

McIlvaney also, in what I found to be an enticing parallel mirrored the frustrations of the Bible John investigative team who stumbled against dead end after dead end with the later investiagtion to find the more prolific killer, The Yorkshire Ripper.

It was this very human element that made the novel great for me. McILvanney's acute awareness of human frailty, emotions and resentments brought the characters to life. McCormack's 'double life' as a newcomer to the investigation was intriguing and the voice of the victims was refrreshing. Too often in serial killer novels we forget the voice of the victims. In The Quaker we were not allowed to do this as McIlvanney gives voice to them at regular intervals - spotlighting lives lost and the consequences of this loss on their families and communities.
A great red that was a slow boiler to begin with but  by a third of the way through, picked up pace and delivered a crescendo of an ending.

Here's the Blurb 

His name fills the streets with fear…

In the chilling new crime novel from award-winning author Liam McIlvanney, a serial killer stalks the streets of Glasgow and DI McCormack follows a trail of secrets to uncover the truth…

Winner of the 2018 McIlvanney Prize for Scottish Crime Novel of the Year

A city torn apart.
Glasgow, 1969. In the grip of the worst winter for years, the city is brought to its knees by a killer whose name fills the streets with fear: the Quaker. He takes his next victim – the third woman from the same nightclub – and dumps her in the street like rubbish.

A detective with everything to prove.
The police are left chasing a ghost, with no new leads and no hope of catching their prey. DI McCormack, a talented young detective from the Highlands, is ordered to join the investigation. But his arrival is met with anger from a group of officers on the brink of despair. Soon he learns just how difficult life can be for an outsider.

A killer who hunts in the shadows.
When another woman is found murdered in a tenement flat, it’s clear the case is by no means over. From ruined backstreets to the dark heart of Glasgow, McCormack follows a trail of secrets that will change the city – and his life – forever…