"Porno", by Irvine Welsh (2002)

This is the sequel to "Trainspotting", and is a very welcome second outing for Renton, Sick Boy, Spud and, most infamously, Begbie. The novel is set a decade after the events in Trainspotting: having scarpered with his friends' cash, Mark Renton is now keeping a low profile but doing pretty well for himself managing a night club in Amsterdam. His erstwhile best mate, Simon "Sick Boy" Williamson, has been living in London where he has progressed in his career as pimp, con artist, and self-styled business man. North of the border, psychotic hardman Frank Begbie is fresh out of jail and keen to get back to his belligerent ways. Danny "Spud" Murphy, meanwhile, seems to be pretty much where we left him ten years ago: still struggling to stay off the hard drugs and basically being a total waster; however, he does have a young son to think about now.

The plot revolves around Sick Boy's harebrained scheme to make a low budget porno film (but with lofty production values), starring a rag-tag cast of local associates. As with Trainspotting, the story is told as a pastiche of first-person monologues, from each of Sick Boy, Spud, Renton, Begbie -- as well as Sick Boy's new muse and soon-to-be movie starlet Nikki Fuller-Smith. However, unlike Trainspotting, which read as a collection of short stories with recurring characters, there is a single main plot line running through the length of the novel.

I found it a very enjoyable and at times hilarious read, though the subject matter can be a little heavy going at times (the passage with Spud and Chizzie "The Beast" was particularly unpleasant reading). For the chapters told through the eyes Spud and Begbie, Welsh renders their thick Scottish slang phonetically; this adds an undoubted authenticity, but it does make those chapters a little slow going at times.

As with Trainspotting, I found Begbie to be the standout character. To describe him as belligerent, aggressive, self-righteous and ultra-paranoid just wouldn't do him justice. A great scene which had me laughing out loud was when he was walking down the high street with Spud (as told by Spud):

...Franco gits a text message oan his mobile. Eh stands lookin at it in disbelief. -- What's up Franco, man?

-- SOME CUNT'S TRYIN TAE GIT FUCKIN WIDE! eh shrieks, n two lassies wi pushchairs passin us jist aboot shit thir thirsels.

As we already from a previous chapter, the text message in question had been sent by Sick Boy (from Renton's mobile), and reads:

HI DOLLFACE. CAN'T WAIT 2 GET LOOSE ON YOUR PRETTY ASS AGAIN. HOPE PRISON HASN'T SLACKENED IT 2 MUCH. IT'LL BE MINE AGAIN SOON. YOUR OLD CHUM.

BOTTOM LINE: excellent follow-up and well worth a read for anyone who enjoyed Trainspotting. I hope they get around to making the movie.

I've also heard from a reliable weedgie that "Glue" is worth a read as well, so I'll be looking out for that.