Crime

A Scottish cop fights Miami crime in Irvine Welsh's Crime

Like many readers my age, I've already read Trainspotting, Welsh's iconic novel on heroin, but I  haven't read any of his other works. This book is a spin-off of another novel, Filth. In Crime (W.W. Norton, 2008), cop, ex-alcoholic, and rough-around-the-edges anti-hero Ray Lennox has just been prescribed a Miami Beach vacation by his boss after nabbing a disturbingly efficient pedophile and murderer back in Scotland. Despite catching the killer, Lennox is guilt-stricken that he was unable to save the last victim, a young girl named Britney who disappeared on her way to school. Depressed and full of self-regret, the world through Lennox's eyes is ugly–his plane sure to plummet, his fiancee, Trudi, an ugly caricature of a wedding-obsessed bitch, and Miami is a sleaze pit. Pre-trip, Lennox decided to only take a few anti-depressants with him, a decision he's now regretting as Britney's death takes over his mind. His anxiety leads to a fight with his fiancee, and sends him sliding into a drinking and cocaine binge with the nightmarish and drugged women he meets, Robyn and Starry. Through his cocaine haze (done off of the cover of Trudi's copy of Perfect Bride!) he manages to save Tianna, Robyn's daughter, from being raped at the party. Tianna becomes a way to succeed where he tragically failed with Britney, and his quest to save her draws him into a disturbing and seedy crime ring.

Crime is a hard book to get into. At first Lennox's depression and anger tints everything, and the thought of reading almost 350 pages about what seem to be truly despicable (and, at first, uninteresting) people seems daunting and frankly, not worth the trouble. I never read Filth, so I have no previous attachment to Ray Lennox, and he seemed to be nothing more than a depressing stereotype: Hardened cop who's seen too much. With the introduction of Tianna, the first person Welsh allows Ray to sympathize for and the true heart of the novel, the other characters begin to soften as well. But, I still found myself almost halfway through the book before I began to really root for Lennox. The ending, when you get there, is a satisfying conclusion to this gritty story of redemption, if not the most surprising.

This book isn't quite new–it came out in 2008–so it's already out in paperback. You can get it here.

You can also check out the book trailer for Crime here.

Pace, Part One: COMPLETE

Okay, so I might have slacked off with the whole “writing thing” for a while. But I’m back! So let’s forget this whole thing even happened, okay?

I just finished up my first year as in Pace University’s M.S. in Publishing program and I’m happy to report it’s been amazing, even if some classes (I’m looking at you, Financial Aspects of Publishing) made me want to give up and pursue something easier, like bricklaying or becoming a surrogate mom. I basically took courses on things like marketing, production, and editing, but what really had me excited were things like guest speakers (some super neat examples—the editor who first published Hitchhiker’s Guide, Susan Katz, publisher of HarperCollins Children's Books, and Michael Healy, who is heading up the Google Book project).

I’ve also made a whole bunch of clever friends who were nice enough to listen to me whine and to not make fun of me for bringing a suitcase to class.

But I’ve really noticed that these classes have really inspired me to put what I’m learning to use right away either by creating something new at work (like a newsletter) or by researching a topic and keeping up with the industry news on my own time, which I’m sure I would never be motivated enough to do otherwise. Oh, and they inspired me to write this. So there’s something!

Annnyway, I’m super excited because I get to go to the Book Expo this year! Free books, I will CONSUME YOU.