Alan Parks has left his Glasgow detective Harry McCoy at his lowest point midway through the series in To Die in June. He's in a really bad place, the cumulative effects of his profession, the declining state of Glasgow to gangsters, drug dealers and all kinds of social problems in the 1970s. Combined with an alcohol problem, family and personal difficulties, it's not looking too good for Parks' detective. But while we wait for McCoy to pull himself out of a very dark hole, the author turns the clock back and turns his attention to Glasgow in an earlier period during the WWII bombing raids on the city and its shipyards where, frankly, it wasn't exactly a paradise then either.
Nor is Joe Gunner in any better state than McCoy. Just returned from Dunkirk, partly shell shocked, leg and face ripped apart by shrapnel, he is met at St. Enoch train station by his old chief Drummond. Nether of them should be police officers, but due to the war Drummond has been pulled out of retirement and Gunner is the only person he can rely on to help with a dead body found in the rubble of Kilmun Street after a German bombing raid on the city and the Clydebank shipyards the previous night. There are a lot of dead bodies in Kilmun Street and elsewhere across the city, but this one has been badly beaten about the head and face, with fingers removed, making identification - clearly intentionally - difficult.

Gunner has seen some sights recently, but even this is a bit much. Not having much alternative however, he agrees to help investigate. It's a different Glasgow from the one he left behind to go and fight in France, the war now coming to his home city. His brother Victor, a conscientious objector (a "conchie"), is on the run, prison camps have been set up to hold ordinary foreign nationals from hostile nations who have lived there for years as well as suspected Nazi spies. Indeed, there is the worrying suspicion that the unidentified and unidentifiable body they have found might well be a German national, something that is undoubtedly going to bring Gunner and Drummond a lot of unwanted attention from high up in the military command in Westminster.

There's no getting around the fact that Gunner is in many respects just an alternative period Harry McCoy. Drummond is not that far removed from Chief Inspector Murray and Special Auxiliary Fraser Lockhart looks very much like the equivalent for Wattie; young and enthusiastic, willing to learn, willing to bring a fresh outlook on old ways of investigation. Similar maybe, but there are significant differences. As for Gunner, he also has a lot of McCoy’s characteristics. Self-medicating because of his war wounds, he has plenty of experience and contacts in the ‘polis’ and in the crime underworld, and is in trouble with one of the local gangsters he got locked up who is now out of prison. Gunner uses similar methods of policing, sometimes uses a little extra force to right injustices in places where the law won't go, often pushes his luck poking his nose into things he should leave well alone. He does seems to get even more severe beatings over the course of this one novel than McCoy typically does.

There is nothing that is radically new here and I'm not sure I’d want anything else from Alan Parks (except maybe a Harry McCoy thriller with 'July' in the title), so personally I find this a wonderful 'side extension' of that series, almost like a prequel with a historical cast from another district lying behind the 1970s world of Alan Parks' main body of work. It adds depth to the Glasgow he depicts in the McCoy series (and that in itself sheds some light on the Glasgow of the present day, or at least the more recent past), but even in its own right, what is most familiar and welcome about Gunner is the writing. It simply flows and carries you along, inviting you to read as much as you can in one sitting, with realistic characters, authentic dialogue, very real dangers, a compelling police crime mystery thriller that highlights and fills in the reality of the world and the context of how social inequality is a breeding ground for crime, not just in Glasgow but in the UK and no doubt elsewhere.

For all the similarities with McCoy and their associated strengths in Parks writing, there is another surprising real life historical wartime mystery to Gunner that sets this apart and brings another terrific edge and character to this one-off(?) book. Plenty of surprises, absolutely not a moment of downtime, no place to set the book down, this is just fantastic thriller writing.

Its March 1941 and Joe Gunner has returned from France after being wounded. Before he joined up he was a detective and is less than pleased that it is his old boss, DI Drummond, who meets him at the station. He has arrived back in Glasgow at a time when the Germans were mounting regular bombing raids and there's substantial damage to parts of the city. Drummond wants Gunner's help with a body found in some ruins that turns out to be a German who may well have been murdered and whose injuries seem calculated to prevent identification of the body. Very reluctantly Gunner agrees to help.

In practice Gunner is wounded in mind and body and may well be a heroin addict from trying to keep the pain under control. It also looks like Drummond has agendas that may lead him and Gunner into trouble. Throw in the fact that Gunner is trying to locate his brother who is a conscientious objector and missing with the chaos caused by war and things are anything but straightforward! The Blitz atmosphere in Glasgow was well used to me. There was also an interesting contrast on life in the war, home and away. The story is well paced and twists and turns nicely. The dynamics of the story are developed nicely at intervals.

Those who are familiar with the author's Harry McCoy series will not be surprised to hear that this tale is dark and violent at times. I liked Gunner as a character; he worked well for me. Other characters were good too and it's one of those books where it's quite hard to know who the "enemy" is! Allow the darkness and violence and this is good story telling to me. The writing (as with the McCoy series) is very good. Definitely an enjoyable read if you are after Tartan Noir.

‘Gunner’, by Alan Parks,the author responsible for the excellent Detective Harry McCoy books ,opens a new series.Happily on first impressions the high standards are maintained.
Although similarly set in Glasgow and its surrounding regions ,on this occasion we are taken back in time to the World War Two era.Instantly it feels like being immersed in the setting with the palpable sense of dread as the luftwaffe continue to blitz the area.There is tragically many civilian lives lost and much devastation of many properties.
Gunner is barely off the train,after being wounded and sent home,when his dodgy old Police boss,Drummond ropes him into a murder investigation of a mutilated corpse left among the massive casualties to be found at the Kelvin Hall.From there the case escalates in many directions for Gunner…
This crime novel dazzles with a mixed bunch of entertaining new characters as well as a gripping storyline based in a setting that feels authentically true to the 1940s.

Thank you to NetGalley and John Murray Press for an Advance Readers Copy.

Very readable story that is a good mix of WW2 story, police drama and spy thriller all set in Glasgow! I was intrigued by the characters (though I didn't always like them), and found myself caught up in the story. It is violent, and was a bit gory and gruesome in places for me but I know others will enjoy that side of things! I'd read another anyway, as I'm intrigued to see what happens to Gunner next.

Great read. A mix between a police crime and spy/ espionage thriller., which I really enjoy. Interesting setting of WW2 Glasgow which was very interesting as it gave the story and setting another dimension. I was glad of a different location to London as the city setting. Gunner is a likeable if gruff character, a sort of anti hero/ hero and I hope to read more books featuring him.

A new author for me, and I am glad I read his suspenseful new novel, part of a new series! I enjoyed all the action interwoven with events of the Second World War in Scotland. I liked Joe, the wounded soldier who did not choose to be a policeman again but ended up investigating intriguing murders anyway. The convincing and scary plot held my attention all through. Really good! I will definitely read his earlier novels!
I loved it!
I received a digital copy of this novel from NetGalley and I have voluntarily written an honest review.

The Harry McCoy series by Alan Parks is an outstanding body of work so I was intrigued to read the first in what I hope will be a long lived series featuring Gunner, newly returned to his native Glasgow after being invalided out of the army owing to his injuries incurred at Dunkirk.

He is inveigled back into a police investigation by his shady former boss and it all kicks off from there with nothing and nobody being quite what they seem.

What is fascinating is the depiction of Glasgow in the 1940s and the descriptions of the people and places. The action is nonstop with lots of twists and turns linked to what was for me a fairly preposterous link to Rudolf Hess.

An excellent start which is highly recommended..

As a long term fan of Park's Harry McCoy novels I was really interested to read this, set in different time and different world from McCoy in Gunner Park's manages to stay true to his Glasgow roots and writes a brilliantly crafted novel in a time that is not often written about. I loved reading about the city at that time and I thought Gunner was deep interesting character that I hope will develop over time as did McCoy. As usual plot is well thought out believable if not a bit disturbing, it captures your interest along with engaging Gunner. I hope this is first of many books featuring Gunner...But please do the next months of McCoy along with it