Bombshell at Glasgow brewery. An explosion in the cathedral. An anonymous call to the police station. An agent who scribbles on a piece of paper what he hears. “we will release Scotland from the pressure of alcohol and the influence of foreign invaders. With our help, Scotland will rise again. Today is the first day of the liberation war.” The number of drunks falling is higher than anywhere else. A property that was sold for a few coins that the British threw into the beggar’s bowl. So I need some fun.”
At the start of ‘Death in April’ (Tusquets, 2023), one of the best crime novels of 2021 for The Times, a great mystery is revealed: a homemade bomb goes off in an apartment in the Woodlans, a slum in Glasgow. Good Friday in April 1974. The body of the person who made the bomb appears in the apartment. McCoy suspects the IRA. It makes you wonder if the city is Belfast for sure. If the first three episodes of the Harry McCoy series have served to explore the personality of a tormented detective and place him in a time, ‘Death in April’ is simply complete a portrait of a city steeped in decadence that spoils everything “My books take place in a certain place and time, Glasgow, early 1970s. I don’t think I could ignore that as I write. They are vital socially and politically for the characters in the story, they provide clues about decisions. Ignoring that weakens the book,” he said. To Alan Parks El Periódico de España.
rough reality
They circulate with ‘Death in April’ alcoholics and broken familiesBritish police “secrets”, prostitutes, gypsies in charge of fairgrounds who are involved in the dirty war against the IRA, an actress who founded a neo-rural commune after succeeding in Hollywood, is “treated like crap” by the police. The presence of Andrew Stewart, a wealthy American who goes to McCoy in search of the son of the sea, pulls the conspiracy together and leads him into the moral crusade of the Sons of the 51 terrorists. They see alcohol as the real opium that calms people down and fails to see the real state of society,” says Alan Parks. The fast-paced thriller wraps up with the appearance of Cavendish, a cocky British secret cop who blackmails McCoy and threatens to associate him with the IRA. Author, IRA He admits that he included the dirty war against the . What the military learned about torture and social control in Malaysia or Kenya was used in Northern Ireland. It causes stress, insomnia, so-called whites.” noise (noise-based torture) etc. All this was happening about forty miles from Glasgow and no one knew or wanted to know“, Parks says during the interview.
As mysterious bombs continue to explode all over the city, Detective McCoy takes refuge in bars called The Stab for his actions. questionable reputation. In defiance of the terrorist monster he faces, McCoy drinks alcohol wildly, despite the doctor’s forbidding him by diagnosing his stomach lining on the first page. McCoy’s body becomes the bodily validation of the so-called ‘Glasgow effect’ that haunts the city like a ghost, reducing the life expectancy of its inhabitants. Alongside McCoy—unhealthy diet, copious amounts of alcohol, drug abuse, traumatic childhood, frustrated fatherhood with loss of young son, violent outbursts, methods that don’t always obey the law— The toughest detectives in world literature look like restrained citizens. McCoy wanders like a zombie between the bar and the drugstore to get his stomach-ache-relieving Pepto-Bismol. He’s vomiting fluids that “look like brown mud with red blood.” Vomit and vomit. Although she has never felt “such pain”, she continues her uncontrolled life.
Good and bad
Parks’ prolific narration paints scattered depictions of McRoy, stubborn and aggressive, affectionate and loyal to his friends, tormented by memories of an alcoholic father and an estranged mother. In ‘Death in April’, Cooper reappears as the criminal with whom he maintains a historic friendship. McCoy goes to pick up his friend from prison. It doesn’t take long to regret. Unable to do anything about it, Cooper intervenes in the Sons of ’51 bombings and disrupts the investigation. The fact that the detective is an ‘alter ego’ in the criminal world is one of the series’ greatest narrative achievements.. Cooper is in some ways the most important figure in McCoy’s life. They have known each other since childhood. Cooper has always treasured McCoy, but demands loyalty in return; Cooper is the person McCoy turns to when he gets into trouble, because he’s more of a friend than a thief or gangster,” writes the author. According to Parks himself, McCoy shares “humor, phobias, and feelings” with Cooper. Those who watch and subvert law-abiding are, deep down, accomplices at the epicenter of the ‘Glasgow effect’. icy corner United Kingdom fueled by unemployment and heroin.
Many of the author’s great influences influence the Harry McCoy saga: James Ellroy’s ‘noir’ landscaping against Los Angeles, Scottish ‘thriller’ Philip Kerr’s historical profession, Don Delillo’s exciting atmospheres, his handling of Stephen King’s. from their intrigues. When Alan Parks is asked about the role fiction plays in defining reality, he has no doubts: “It can illuminate the time and place where it was written, making it more vivid and understandable. In fiction, the author shapes reality to tell a better story and an intriguing one that makes readers want to dig deeper.” Get them interested in a time and place with a story.”