Gunner by Alan Parks

Alan Parks is best known for his Tartan Noir crime series featuring police detective Harry McCoy and set in Glasgow in the 1970s. That series (currently six books starting with Bloody January) is gritty and dark, gives a great sense of place, and brings in big events of the time. With Gunner, Parks starts what feels like a new series, also set in Glasgow but this time in the middle of World War 2. And once again, Parks has crafted a darkly evocative picture of the time and its major events through the eyes of a damaged protagonist.

Gunner opens in 1941 with former policeman (“polis”) Joe Gunner having been sent home from the Western front after being injured in an explosion. He has damaged one eye so wears an eye patch and has trouble walking due to the amount of shrapnel damage to his leg. As soon as he steps off the train in his native Glasgow, Gunner is picked up by his old commander Drummond and asked to help investigate the death of what looks like a German escapee. Complicating matters are the two secret service agents that Gunner has been billeted with, a local gang war with Gunner caught in the middle and the fact that his brother Victor is a conscientious objector who has fled from the farm where he is supposed to be working.

Parks once again does a great job of bringing the streets of Glasgow to life. Particularly the dark side of the tracks of organised crime and bent police. At the same time he shines a light on the German bombing of Glasgow during the Second World War, an event overshadowed by the attacks on London at the time. And, of course, as readers have come to expect, there is also a political angle as the investigation connects to a some very well known historical events.

Parks does this all through the eyes of Joe Gunner – injured but still able to take a beating, a little bit addicted to morphine and compromised. But Gunner is still a crack investigator and, when he can be, on the side of the angels.

Gunner is another great piece of historical crime fiction from Parks and clearly the start of what looks like another must read Tartan noir series.

Gunner by Alan Parks

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9.0/10