May God Forgive is the fifth book in the Harry McCoy series by British author, Alan Parks. May 1974, and DS Harry McCoy returns to work after a month is hospital that did little for his perforated ulcer but bored him intensely. He happens to be watching as a truck ploughs into the prison van carrying three teenaged boys. Their arson attack at a hair salon had mortally injured three women and two children.

The mob at the court house had been ready to string them up, but now a car swiftly takes them away, and the police assume it’s done to avoid them standing trial. McCoy’s CI, Hector Murray assigns him two tasks: he’s to help DS Doug Watson progress his cases and, on the quiet, to check with his informants what the word on the salon fire is.

When an old acquaintance, Paddy’s Market porn retailer Dirty Ally, commits suicide, a quiet chat with a roommate has McCoy wondering exactly what Ally was so afraid of that he would jump off a roof; the suicide doesn’t bear official investigation, but Harry can’t help wanting to take a look.

Wattie’s problem case, an unidentified fifteen-year-old, dressed for a night out, found strangled in a cemetery, is not yielding to his logic, and also has McCoy guessing, until they focus on a strip of booth photos in her purse.

When one of the arsonists’ bodies, clearly tortured, is deposited, with a biblical reference and a sickening cassette tape, in front of the burnt-out salon, it begins to look like a vigilante action. But then ownership of the salon points to possible aggression between rival gangs.

Parks easily conveys his setting, and that largely being mid-seventies underworld Glasgow, it necessitates quite a lot of graphic descriptions of violence, liberal use of expletives, hard drinking, and drug use, in some of which Harry indulges, despite medical advice. Both evidence uncovered in his investigations, and an encounter with his estranged father, take Harry reluctantly back to an unfortunate, neglected youth.

Most of the story takes place over ten days, with Harry doggedly pursuing every lead in an effort to prevent further vigilantism. This involves plenty of red herrings and enough twists to recommend pre-booking a chiropractic appointment. Once again, excellent gritty Glasgow noir and it will be interesting to see what Parks has in store for Harry in the “June” title.
This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley and Canongate.