Product Description

With the festive season almost upon him, Detective Sergeant Bruce Robertson is winding down at work and gearing up socially - kicking off Christmas with a week of sex and drugs in Amsterdam. There are irritating flies in the ointment, though, including a missing wife, a nagging cocaine habit, a dramatic deterioration in his genital health, a string of increasingly demanding extra-marital affairs. The last thing he needs is a messy murder to solve.Still it will mean plenty of overtime, a chance to stitch up some colleagues and finally clinch the promotion he craves. But as Bruce spirals through the lower reaches of degradation and evil, he encounters opposition - in the form of truth and ethical conscience - from the most unexpected quarter of all: his anus. In Bruce Robertson, Welsh has created one of the most corrupt, misanthropic characters in contemporary fiction , and has written a dark, disturbing and very funny novel about sleaze, power, and the abuse of everything. At last, a novel that lives up to its name.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #14138 in Books
• Published on: 1999-06-05
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 393 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
Irvine Welsh has produced more than his share of revolting characters in his short yet spectacular writing career, but in the creation of Detective Sergeant Bruce Robertson he has surpassed himself. The protagonist of Filth is, both personally and professionally, utterly corrupt; a thief, drug user, misogynist and racist, with standards of appearance and personal hygiene that are simply beyond belief. It goes without saying that his wife and children have left him but, oddly, he still has few drinking mates, and even some of the women he so hideously abuses are still prepared to give him the benefit of the doubt. "The undeniable sexuality which is part and parcel of the complete dominance over another human being", opines the viciously selfish Robertson, is just part of what makes, "poliswork such a satisfying career." But, strangely, as we chart his inevitable decline...from what is admittedly a very low baseline--a solid, almost conventional, underlying morality begins to assert itself. Amid the degradation we come across a hint of reason as Welsh's stunningly direct dialogue and hideously imaginative plot combine in a thrilling, undeniably unsettling novel. --Nick Wroe

Customer Reviews

Really filthy
This was my first Irvine Welch book and once I'd got used to the Edinburgh dialect I soon got into the swing of it and the whole sorry tale of Bruce, the rancid, corrupt, loathsome, sexist, racist, homophobic beast who masquerades as an officer of the law. They say no man is above the law, but Bruce is a law unto himself and he exploits his position to cheat, swindle and seduce all the way through the story... all the way to getting his comeuppance.

This is not a nice story but as you would expect from Mr Welsh, it's a darkly comic tale of one man's descent into madness and enduring crapulence. At times it made me laugh out loud, at others it churned my stomach and I think that is what Welsh intended. Bruce is never so bad that you can't hate him completely, but on the rare occasions when he does something right you still can't quite warm to him.

The book is easy to get into and has sufficient twists to keep you guessing, but the use of the tapeworm as a plot device just gets annoying after a while.

Dare top read this book and you'll be giving yourself a treat if you can stomach it. If buying for a friend, make sure he/she is very broaded-minded. Not for the squeamish.

Worms
Filth is the odious depiction of one man's antipathy towards his fellow human beings, whether they be colleagues, supposed friends, or complete strangers who happen to have been born into one of the many groups he surreptitiously discriminates against. In the 'games' he plays as an escapism from his daily, worm-ridden existence, no one is exempt, not the public he has been assigned to protect, nor his beleaguered best friend, Bladesey. As DC Bruce Robertson puts it, 'Same rules apply.'
We follow our anti hero from the beginnings of a race related murder which Bruce intends to use as a springboard to a well deserved promotion, through the ups and downs of 'polis work', across the waves for a week of drugs and decadent debauchery in Amsterdam, finally steaming towards a conclusion which reveals our narrator for what he really is.
Perhaps the most disturbing thing about this book is that Robertson, despite his vile antics and personal hygeine, establishes and retains a warmth in the readers heart. Or perhaps it is that he is not an individual, that there are others like him with a simular aversion that we rely on to protect and maintain us in our daily lives.
Welsh succeeds in creating a monster, and it is also by his hand and insight into modern society that he slays this monster, reducing him to the pathetic, shadow of a human that he really is. An outstanding achievement.

Absolutely amazing - Irvine Welsh has done it again
After the relative disppointments of Acid House and Ecstasy, Irvine Welsh has written a book that is almost as exhilarating, hilarious, enjoyable and expertly structured as Trainspotting. The book initially appears to be a cheap stab at the police by portraying an officer in such a derogitary manner. As you read further you realise this is not the intention at all as Welsh sucks you into Bruce Robinson's conciousness and you actually find youself admiring him in a very twisted and screwed up way. I normally read Welsh novels the day they come out but I have just completed an English Literature degree and thus have been unable to read anything but module texts for the last three years. This could not have been a better welcome into the real world. My love of Trainspotting has remained with me since its publication and I keep a copy by my toilet to pick up and read little bits whenever nature calls. One of the best essays I wrote for my degree was about Irvine Welsh's use of heteroglossia in the said novel. Filth matches up to the genius of his first novel and I implore anyone out there reading this to get your hands on a copy as soon as possible.