Dead Men's Trousers (Mark Renton, 5)

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A spectacular return of the wild, dissolute gang from Trainspotting, from the author the New York Times called “Blisteringly funny…. ” Welsh makes these amoral misadventures so propulsive, so joyfully awful, that you have to go with the flow…this roues’ romp is about as much fun as you can have between two book covers.”— The Times Which is when things start to go horribly wrong. The four men, driven by their personal histories and addictions, circle each other, confused, angry, and desperate. One of these four will not survive . . . Which one is wearing Dead Men’s Trousers? Global commercialism has compelled the Scots tae pretend tae like Christmas, but we're genetically programmed tae rebel against it.

But everyone other than Spud is comparatively rich – most especially the Miami-based Welsh himself – and they all spend their time in pursuit of the “more” that will finally fill their empty spaces. Other than for the tying up of some old loose ends, Dead Men's Trousers is a fairly pointless read. Even so, every now and then, Welsh throws in an old school passage that made me smile: Another entry in the Trainspotting saga had my hopes high that Welsh might have returned to form after the slew of forgettable books he's churned out in the past decade or so. I was disappointed. If it wasn't for Skagboys, I might well be considering the idea that Trainspotting was indeed ghostwritten by Spud Murphy. Hell, maybe this is Welsh trying to tell us something? Unfortunately, this also has me questioning whether the other books are as good as I remember them being - a question which I'm sure will answer itself in due course.

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It is funny, unflinchingly abrasive, authentic, and inventive, unerringly on-and off-the pulse. It is a true cult, the kind of novel you press on perfect strangers. It validates a world fiction hasn’t recognized before.”– Time Out

You can always tell the status of a Welsh character by the blondness and waist measurement of his girlfriend Irvine Welsh writes with style, imagination, wit, and force, and in a voice which those alienated by much current fiction clearly want to hear.”– Times Literary Supplement I loved Dead Men’s Trousers the first time around and after rereading Trainspotting just before rereading DMT, I loved it even more this time. Not to mention, this new novel also directly takes place after the solo Begbie novel Blade Artist which feels like required reading now. Then there's that novel Glue, featuring characters such as the perverted Juice Terry and DJ N-Sign--who have also been in more novels.The parts with Begbie are also a huge improvement from the disappointing The Blade Artist. I respect Welsh for pulling off Begbie's transformation from a psychotic force of nature to a well known artist, loyal teetotaler husband and responsible father of two kids. He is still a psycho to people who try to mess with his family. I guess Welsh was trying to make the point that truly great artists are not what they seem to be on the surface.