BookLens — See inside before you read

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What's in this book, at a glance — five things readers want to know before they start.

Violence

Very heavy

Extreme violence throughout — Robertson commits and observes brutal acts without remorse

Language

Very heavy

Extreme profanity throughout — pervasive and characteristic of Welsh's style

Sexual Content

Very heavy

Explicit and degraded sexual content throughout

Substance Use

Very heavy

Extreme drug and alcohol use — the novel's primary register

Emotional Intensity

Very heavy

Extreme psychological content: the narrator's complete moral disintegration and the revelation of what lies beneath it

What this book is about

Detective Sergeant Bruce Robertson of the Edinburgh police is investigating a murder while simultaneously trying to sabotage his colleagues' promotions. He is bigoted, manipulative, drug-addicted, sexually depraved, and the unreliable narrator of his own story — which is also being told by a tapeworm inside his intestines. Irvine Welsh's most extreme novel is a deliberately repulsive experience that satirizes masculinity, corruption, and institutional evil through a protagonist who embodies all three.