I really wasn't sure about this one, but once started couldn't put it down. Sorry I took so long between receiving and reading - but definitely worth a read.

Wasn't to sure about this one but once I started I could not put this down. I haven't read the Quaker but will definitely have to go back and read that one now. An excellent read.

Firstly, I was not aware that this book was part of a series so I read this book before realising there was one before it. Thankfully, I don't think it made a huge difference to the story and I was still able to follow. However I do think I would have felt closer to the main character if I had some more of his back story.

I really liked the setting for this book and I felt transported back to 1970s Scotland; for better or for worse. The dramas and crimes were relevant and fit for the time period and I liked the references to the political and religious issues going on at that time.

I wish I had read the first book in this series as I think it would have altered my perception of The Heretic. I did enjoy it though and it was a great change of pace from other books that I've read recently.

Glasgow gangs wars an more in-between. Complicated relationship inside police forces. The book didn't look very attractive in any stage. It was difficult to finish it. Lots of words and not enough emotional charge.

The heretic by Liam McIlvanney is a dark and gritty Glaswegian crime thriller. Great characters and a dark storyline with an intrepid detective makes for riveting reading. A very clever, well written story. It’s not an easy read and probably better if you know the background and team first but worth persevering Four stars

A tight plot and interesting characters made this a dense and satisfying read. I liked the layers of plot and how well the atmosphere of 1970s Glasgow was described.
This is the second book of a series and the references to the Quaker investigation of the first book were subtly woven into the narrative.

A great read, with interesting characters and a well plotted story. Several murders, gangland crime and a Detective Inspector with a checkered past and a point to prove. It was gritty and exciting with very atmospheric descriptions of life in Glasgow in the mid-70s. I really enjoyed it and will now have to search out the previous book, The Quaker. Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the electronic copy.

The Heretic is an action packed story, with DI McCormack busy dealing with a dead man, a fatal fire in a tenement building and his ongoing attempts to bring an end to the gang warfare plaguing Glasgow’s streets in the 70s.

Liam McIlvanney has created a strong cast of characters, with plenty of action and intrigue to keep the reader interested to the end. I haven’t read the first in the series, but if this book is anything to go by, then The Quaker must be another cracking read.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for approving me for this book.

I felt the writing was done well in this book but there was just something missing for me and I couldn't get into it and enjoy it as much as I hoped I would.

I didn't realise this was the second book in the Duncan McCormack series so hadn't read the first one (The Quaker). The book does refer back to the previous one but in a way that you can follow this latest story without too much problem.

DCI McCormack returns to the Met after 6 years and isn't welcomed back with open arms. Heading up a new unit with Liz Nicole and Iain Shand, he is determined to continue with his attempts to arrest gang leader Maitland - and make those charges stick.

When a body is found on wasteland, he is ordered to drop the investigation into Maitland and concentrate on finding out who the body belongs to and why he was murdered.

His investigations take him back to a fire five years ago where a mother and young girl was killed, and when a bomb explodes outside a local pub that just happens to be owned by Maitlands brother - he soon realises that it may all be linked.

Will he be able to get the man he has been after for years at the same time as solving the murder from both five years ago and recently.

An interesting story thats not particularly faced paced but keeps you interested to the end.

Tense, gripping police drama. Conveys something of the atmosphere of Glasgow in the 1970s and is a compelling novel.

I really enjoyed this book. It's set in Glasgow in the 70's and tells the story of a policeman whose promising career in the Met came to a rather abrupt about turn around when he exposed a corupt senior officer in a case. The book doesn't hide the ramifications of those actions on him. It lays out the back story & the personal cost to our main character, his subsequent return to Glasgow, his supervisor's blatant dislike of him & it also gives him a strength of character you can relate to. The book also deals with the social issues of that era, such as, the way female officers were treated back then then, it covers the main characters sexuality and his pain at having no choice but to return to Glasgow & the devastating effect of leaving his partner because of people's attitude toward same sex relationships, not to mention the Force's outlook on it. Good story, kept me entertained and I recommend it to any crime fiction fan.

Firstly I would like to thank Net Galley for the opportunity to read this,book.

Set in 1970’s Glasgow, DI Duncan McCormick has just returned to Glasgow after a stint down in London. Not everyone is happy to see him back however, as his solving of a previous case “The Quaker” brought down some corrupt police officers. His new boss is one of them.

The book involves a case of arson, where four people are killed, a murdered ex MP, and nasty goings on in a childrens home, and the investigations into these.

The book has been thoroughly researched with a lot of references to the 1970’s, and is also very well written.

Another corker of a read set in 1970s Glasgow. It's got it all from gangsters to dodgy politicians and really puts the reader in the thick of it. Highly recommended.

Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book. It’s part of a series set in Glasgow in the 60s and 70s. Gritty and dark with good characters and writing it is well worth a read.

Six years after putting away notorious serial killer 'The Quaker' and one of the polis who enabled his actions, DI Duncan McCormack leaves the Met and takes up a post in the Serious Crime Squad, back in Glasgow. It's 1975, Glasgow is in the grip of the rubbish strikes, the streets strewn with rotting waste, the vermin thriving.
He's trying to investigate the gangland activities of local character Walter Maitland, who seems to have been behind a fatal tenement fire, but is directed to drop that to investigate the gruesome murder of a once-prominent politician.
Glasgow is a living character in this novel and all of the period detail is rich without intruding on the cracking plot.
McCormack, his colleagues Liz Nicol and Iain Shand, even Haddow his sneering boss, are fully fleshed out, as are all the characters. The ending has a sense of inevitability but was satisfying.

Having loved the Quaker I was delighted to read the 2nd in the series.

DI Duncan McCormack is back in Glasgow after a stint down south. It’s 1975 and there’s an arson attack on a warehouse and the fire spreads to the neighbouring block of flats, killing a mother and her child.

It’s expected to be gang warfare but DI McCormack is not so sure. When the body of a man is found in the back court of a slum building they assume he’s a down-and-out but they soon find out exactly who he is. A bomb rips through a pub packed with people and McCormack and the team begin to suspect that all the cases are connected.

It was also great to find Duncan’s character fleshed out and find out more about the man he is. I highly recommend this book and series.

The Heretic is a competent and complex police procedural set in 1975 Glasgow.

Three seemingly unrelated crimes - a murder-arson in a warehouse, a mutilated itinerant with a masonic ring, and a pub bombing all come together. The obvious solution is sectarian (read anti-Irish racist) gang warfare. T

The Heretic is a sequel to The Abstainer - which I had also read but largely forgotten. The Heretic is littered with references back and at times they get clunky. They slowed down the present narrative without being quite enough to stimulate recall of past events which, all told, were not essential to the plot. The present story is complicated enough as it is without trying to recall the previous novel.

But for all that, the depiction of a decaying Glasgow is enough to carry the work.

The Heretic is a gritty, no nonsense drama set in 1970s Glasgow.
Set in the dark underworld of Glasgow, apparently separate crimes, including a heinous murder, a tenement fire which killed 4 people and a crime lord running the show, are investigated by the Serious Crime Squad, led by a Detective Inspector who has a secret to keep and a reputation to redeem.
This is the crime novel at its best. A gripping read with various strands that draw you in and entangle you in the drama itself.
Fabulous!

McCormack is back in Glasgow and leading a team in the Serious Crimes Unit. His target is the local crime boss but the investigation is at a dead end.

When a body is discovered in the backyard of a Glasgow tenement, McCormack is ordered by his hostile boss to focus on the murder and suspend all other lines of enquiry.

There is nothing particularly innovative in the story which reflects many of the tropes of crime procedural: the conflict between our hero and his superior; the loyal sergeant; the keen young detective; the corrupt politician; and the confrontation with the gang boss.

What makes the story more interesting is the city itself in the 1970s, a time of social change and political conflict. This brings vibrancy to the story and a thrill to readers who lived in Glasgow during that period.

One caveat: surely anyone from Glasgow would understand straightaway the significance of crocodile island?