Crime has spread its tentacles, like a giant octopus, into all facets of local life, so that solving one unremarkable murder will take McCormack and his team full circle and back to their main quarry. Many seemingly unrelated threads are slowly woven together to form a cohesive, yet disturbing outcome.

McIlvanney's narrative is as gritty as the landscape itself: all the violence, social and religious prejudices and sectarianism of the time are to be found here. His characters display all the complexities and foibles of humanity: flawed, corrupt, ambitious, fragile, human..

Word of warning: read The Quaker first. For while there is plenty of background in this novel to compensate for those of us who jumped straight to book two, I felt that my reading experience would have been that little bit better for it.

I thoroughly enjoyed The Quaker but I must say this novel is even better
Although this can be a stand alone I would recommend reading the Quaker first as it gives a good insight into the excellent main character and story telling.
This novel is an excellent police crime thriller set in the 1970's and with examples of a grim city life.
The story has many twists and turns and has that can't put down feeling
Highly recommended

Another brilliantly written DI Duncan McCormack story. Set in mid-seventies Glasgow, this gritty detective is determined to bring down local gang boss, Walter Maitland. However, when the body of a scruffy man is found dumped amid the city’s uncollected rubbish, McCormack is told to focus on finding his killer and forget Maitland. A fire that kills a young mother and child pulls them in yet another direction but are there connections? A lengthy and difficult investigation begins that has many unexpected developments, deaths and deceit. Set during a time without mobile phones, computer data or CCTV, police work had a very different feel and reminds us how difficult it must have been to obtain proof of a crime. The strong, fearless characters enhance this exceptional book and I very much look forward to encountering them again.

The Heretic is the follow to the excellent, The Quaker, and sees the return of Detective McCormack to Glasgow, 7 years after the first book.

This historical thriller is set in 1970s Scotland and Liam McIlvanney transports you to that time in this deeply immersive thriller.

It’s quite simply one of the finest pieces of crime fiction I’ve read in a very long time. Due for release in 2022, so I won’t add it to my 2021 list but it’s truly brilliant,

520 odd pages of a deftly set mystery, that unravels at the perfect pace, full of characters I like, Nicol and Goldie, and of course the fantastic McCormack.

It’s a five star read and I very much doubt I’ll read anything as good on 2022

I absolutely loved Liam McIllvanney’s writing style when I read The Quaker so was delighted to receive an ARC of The Heretic, the next outing for the maverick DI Duncan McCormack who returns to Glasgow and the Serious Crime Department. Since his success in solving The Quaker case, McCormack moved down to London and fell in love. But now he’s back and mired in unpopularity for taking down the corrupt CID head alongside the Quaker. This story is no less absorbing and well plotted though it was a massive challenge to keep on top of the plot and the many characters at times. McIllvanney’s writing style is extraordinary in its detail; the everyday minutiae are described so vividly and the storyline is peppered with Glaswegian vernacular and perfectly captures the mid 70s in which it is set. Prostitution, gangs, drugs, murder, torture and turf wars provide the backdrop for this story and, as the DI’s case isn’t fully resolved, I imagine that we’ll see more of DI McCormack. DC Liz Nicol is a great team addition and I hope she reappears. Thanks to NetGalley and HarperCollins for the ARC.

Gritty thriller with a great cast of characters who work well together. Also the storyline and plot is gripping with plenty twists and turns.

McCormack is back in Glasgow after a few years down south but not everyone is pleased to see him. Some consider him a traitor, as he's the man who put a top cop away for involvement in an earlier crime.

This time, there's a body dumped on waste ground, a warehouse fire that takes out four people in the next door block, and a potential murder victim who needs to get away fast. There are the 'looked-after' kids, now grown up, who don't have happy memories of their time in care, and turf warfare between the Quinns and Walter Maitland.s gang.

Set against a background of sectarianism and 70s Glasgow, all these strands are tightly woven and provide a satisfying read. Great follow-up to The Quaker.

Having very much enjoyed "The Quaker", I have been eagerly awaiting Liam McIlvanney's next offering. "The Heretic" takes us back to the gritty Glasgow of the mid-1970s. The plot is gripping but it's the cast of characters, so intricately explored, that really bring Liam McIlvanney's words to life - from trilby-wearing DI Duncan McCormack of the Serious Crime Squad, to obituary-obsessed DCI Alan Haddow, by way of retired skull-cracker Greg Hislop. The Glaswegian dialogue is steeped in nostalgia, bringing to mind older relatives of mine. I particularly appreciate the history of the city that McIlvanney weaves through the narrative. I love his writing and am looking forward to more in this series. First class crime fiction!

How to describe Liam McIlvanney’s The Heretic? I thought The Quaker was good, but this one just blew it out of the water. It clocks in at over 520 pages, but I sat and read it within a day, too engrossed by the story to do otherwise.

The book takes place 7 years on from The Quaker. Duncan McCormack has returned to Glasgow, leaving London for reasons to which only he is privy (although, it’s not all that hard to figure it out given the clues). In Glasgow, McCormack searches for a way to bring down Walter Maitland, who has stepped into the void that McGlaskan’s death created, only to be hamstrung when his boss (who hates him after the ending to The Quaker) forces him to investigate a body found in a rubbish tip. Only, of course, it’s just a bit more than that.

Firstly, what stood out for me in this book, and in the first, is the mystery itself. They’re both tightly plotted mysteries, ones that leave you guessing the whole time. They’re also very compelling—once you’ve picked the book up, you won’t want to put it down until you reach the end. It’s the kind of book that makes you want to go back and reread as soon as you put it down, just to see if maybe this time the ending won’t creep up on you.

But it’s not just a great mystery, it’s also got some great characters too. Of course, there’s Duncan McCormack himself, probably one of my favourite leads in the mystery-thriller genre. Actually probably at all, but let’s be specific to the genre right now because I can say that for certain. Goldie also returns, a little mellowed than he was in the first book, now on friendlier terms with McCormack, if only slightly. But on top of the familiar faces, you also have a new bunch: Shand and Nicol, who make up the other two members of McCormack’s squad, then Kidd, a low-level member of Maitland’s gang, just looking for his sister, and Victor, who I won’t say much more about, only that I love him. And those new characters were just as compelling as the old ones. Their introduction—or some of them at least—also ties up some loose ends left from the first book.

I could see this series being turned into a TV show to be honest, and I think that comes down to the fact that you feel as though you’re there alongside the characters in Glasgow. McIlvanney so well invokes the city that, even if you haven’t been there, you get a feel for it. And if you have been there, it will feel oh so familiar to you. Really, it’s a confluence of all the best kinds of things: compelling mystery, fascinating characters, and writing that makes you feel there.

This is also a book that leaves you wanting so much more of the setting and the characters. I would genuinely read innumerable books about McCormack’s investigations. I know there’s a third one coming at least (according to the author’s Twitter), so anticipation of that will keep me going for a bit. Perhaps I’ll simply have to reread these ones over and over. After all, I’m not sure I could ever tire of them.

Liam McIlvanney returns us Glasgow, 6 years after DI Duncan McCormack was lauded, making headlines in 1969 as the hero who got the serial killer, The Quaker, who had been terrorising the city, a case that led to a police officer ending up in prison where he committed suicide. McCormack returned to London and the Flying Squad, but has been persuaded to return where he leads the Serious Crime Squad from Temple Police Station, his team consisting of DS Derek Goldie, who had helped on the Quaker inquiry, divorced DC Elizabeth Nicol and the ambitious DS Iain Shand. There are many in the police force who are far from happy at his return, including his boss, DCI Alan Haddow, according to them, you should never rat on fellow police officers, even when they have committed serious crimes.

McCormack and his team have been trying to find any leads that will let them nail slippery crime boss, Walter Maitland, but have so far have come up with nothing, many are protecting him and others are too afraid. There is gang warfare that has led to arson on a warehouse belonging to another crime gang, the fire unfortunately spreading to a tenement killing 4 people, including a mother and her young daughter, a fire that everyone is convinced was ordered by Maitland, but again they have no evidence. When a tortured and murdered body, thought to be a tramp, is found discarded amongst the rubbish in the city, McCormack reluctantly investigates, only to find the victim is a former Tory MP and local councillor, 69 year old Sir Gavin Elliot, a wealthy businessman, bringing intense scrutiny and putting pressure on the police team. In a narrative with numerous threads, including a brother, Chris Kidd, looking to find his sister, Isobel, McCormack begins to make the connections, whilst having to deal with the fallout of a car bombing outside a pub that kills many, including one of McCormack's team.

McIlvanney atmospherically evokes 1970s Glasgow, the poverty, filth, slum landlords, the strikes that have the rubbish piling high, the sectarianism, prostitution, the hard men gangsters and the IRA. The characterisation is excellent, depicting the sexual attitudes, expectations and norms regarding women through the likes of Nicol, and the fears and dangers associated with being exposed as gay in this historical period. We learn more about McCormack, his reasons for leaving London, and his personal life. He is a determined and committed cop, refusing to give up when obstacles appear. This is terrific, dark, complex and gritty Scottish Noir, that will appeal to many crime and mystery readers, and I cannot wait for the next in this series. Highly recommended. Many thanks to the publisher for an ARC.

This is the follow up book to The Quaker and it’s a real belter of a read that is every bit as good as the first book. Set in Glasgow you can really get the feel of the place as Detective Duncan McCormack returns to his old hunting ground from London and the pace just never lets up. It’s a dark and gritty story one that took me by surprise a few times when I thought I had figured out the plot and hell it’s a good plot at that ! Some of the characters are back from book one with a new addition to the team of DC Elizabeth/ Liz Nicol who I really liked she had a cutting sense of humour especially when faced with the references of her being a female police officer.
So this is fabulous read brilliantly crafted and absolutely loads going on and I’m hoping there will be a book three in the future and I can highly recommend this book which can be read as a stand-alone but I do think it’s well worth reading the first book to get a good feel of the characters and setting.
My thanks to NetGalley and Harper Collins UK for giving me the chance to read the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

Liam McIlvanney is a new author for me and having read The Heretic in less than two days I definitely look forward to reading more of his work.
Di Duncan McCormack is not the most popular officer among some of his colleagues but his nonchalant attitude serves him well, after all he has his own private reasons to resolve too.
Set in the mid 70s in Glasgow, Duncan and the rest of the serious crime team are investigating a series of murders seemingly unrelated but as the cases unravel, the investigation starts to head in a different direction. Are the underground gangs involved and if so, why ?
Highly recommend this to all crime lovers.

Well, It's 2021 and the United Nations is in town for the COP 26 talks. However, back in the 60's and 70's a different cop was in town DI Duncan McCormack. Having solved The Quaker case (the previous novel in the series) he went down south to the Smoke for a few years. Is he a soft Southerner now? I don't think so after a scene where he trashes a gangland pub. No, McCormack has settled back in and he has some nasty crimes to solve but half the polis hate his guts for putting away a bent copper. Can he make progress? With a very smart DC Elizabeth Nicol and a begrudging DS Derek Goldie he does. It's hard to remember all the connected threads there are to this novel but here goes....rival gangs in Glasgow, bent coppers, abused children, incest, arson, bombings, Northern Ireland, prostitution, homosexuality, predatory businessmen, illegal letting, alcoholism, I'm sure there's more but my brain has gone numb.
I guess you are wondering what it's like to read? If you like detective thrillers then this is one of the best I've read. It's set a while ago, before Covid and mobile phones, there's no anpr as it hadn't been thought of then. So it relies on solid detective work and no 'get out of jail free' gimmicks used by some writers.. The story is fabulously interwoven without it being overly complex.to understand. From the first page until the very last you will be seriously entertained with no dip in pace or interest. I would thoroughly recommend it and I shall be giving it a five star rating for the quality of writing and plot.

The Heretic by Liam McIlvanney is the sequel to The Quaker based in Glasgow 1975. It starts with an arson attack on a Glasgow warehouse which then kills a woman and child in the next door tenement building. We meet again the main gangsters in Glasgow, the Quinn’s and the Maitlands. The storyline is violent and vicious which you expect when writing about gangsters in the 1970’s.
An exciting storyline with many twists and turns.
Highly recommended

McCormack is back in Glasgow after six years working for The Met in London.
Set in Glasgow and the West of Scotland this is an absolutely cracking read.
Turf wars between Protestants and Catholics in the city, exploitation of women in brothels and a link to events in the past at a childrens home this is a rollercoaster of a read culminating in an explosive conclusion.
The second book by this author featuring Duncan McCormack it certainly didn't disappoint and has left me wishing for more. Here's to number three in the series.

'The Heretic' is the latest compelling novel from Scottish crime writer, Liam McIlvanney. (And yes, he is the son of the genius William McIlvanney, the father of Scottish noir). It is the sequel to 'The Quaker' but works wonderfully as a stand along novel.
Our tale is set in the Glasgow of 1976, DI Duncan McCormack has returned to the city and his return is not at all welcomed by the local police as his previous work lead to the investigation of several corrupt police officers. With little support and a largely distrustful team, McCormack is charged with investigating a fatal fire. While investigating the arson, McCormack picks up a new murder case.
MCormack must find a way to build a relationship with his team as his investigations lead into areas best left alone.
Once again, McIlvanney has crafted a noir crime novel that re-creates Glasgow of the mid-1970s with strong characterization and an intriguing story-line. There is a personal element to the story as McCormack struggles with his investigation. And this likable character creates empathy with the reader.

D.I. Duncan McCormack has moved back to a 1970's Glasgow from the "Met". He takes over a small unit of the Serious Crime .
Before he moved to London he tangled up with Glasgow gangster Walter Maitland and on his return has vowed to "put him away".

Murder ,gangland warfare, bombing, kidnapping, arson and child abuse , all the elements which on the surface are confusing but all related. If you want quality descriptive and atmospheric writing then this is probably not for you ,excitement then this will do you.

A fast moving page turner full of the violence you can imagine in Glasgow underworld in the 1970's. I enjoyed the read the ending not so satisfying. No doubt we will more about D.I. Duncan McCormack and his enterprises .

Another triumph from McIlvanney following on from The Quaker. Set in 1975 DI Duncan McCormack has returned from the Met to the serious crime squad in the newly formed Strathclyde Police. The Heratic sees him and his team investigate a series of murders linked once again to Glasgow's gangs and underworld and Walter Maitland. Beginning with a mutilated corpse dumped in the back courts the team make connections between their victims - which also include one of their own.
Great characters throughout - I'm particularly hoping that DC Nicol will appear in future novels as I'm sure there's more to her story than we've discovered.

In 1975 having a reputation amongst your peers isn't always a good thing as DI Duncan McCormack knows to his cost. Five years previously he'd solved a serial killer case which ended the careers of some high ranking police officer colleagues while derailing his own. Fleeing to London he never imagined returning but here he is, back in Scotland, leading a small team of serious crime officers tasked with preventing an all out gang war on the streets of Glasgow.

His new boss isn't a fan and soon McCormack finds his team sidetracked by the discovery of a body on a local rubbish dump. As clues showing the victim was from a more salubrious part of the city with contacts likely to demand the swift identification of his killer the polis intensify their efforts as the danger they find themselves in increases and things take a surprising but enlightening turn.

It has been a few years since book one in this series, The Quaker, was released but it was definitely worth the wait for book two! I loved all the 70s specific references, from the refuse collectors strike to the  limits of a police investigation back in the day. Duncan McCormack is still a great main protagonist and I was rooting for him and his team from the start while also enjoying the insights into his private life and what makes him tick. Here's hoping I will get the chance to visit with him again.

I was able to read an advanced copy of this book thanks to NetGalley and the publishers but the opinions expressed are my own. This is Scottish Noir at its absolute best and comes highly recommended.

This was very good. I enjoyed the varied and well developed characters and setting of 1970s Glasgow, although I hadn’t read the previous book in this series so It took a few pages to catch up. There were a number of unexpected twists and turns and would recommend this to readers who enjoy detective novels.