It's good to be brought back to Welsh's original hellfire

The stories combine sly humour with the tang of lived experience. It makes for a terrific collection, showcasing a writer who...has blossomed into one of the most distinctive, and distinguished, observers of British life

A total hoot to read. The first thing that strikes you about much of the material here is the amazing energy of Welsh's writing

Welsh's work remains at once moving, repellent and worryingly funny

Full of fun, frenzy and filth

Brilliantly ghastly

An enjoyable Welsh outing, by turns brutish and funny

His customary strengths are in place. The stories are very funny in their black, often cartoonish way. There's also a degree of zest to the storytelling

Customary wit, flair and energy

All the elements of Welsh's best work remain in tact here: the brilliant imagination, the phonetically-transcribed Scots dialect, the humour, the gritty realism

What's striking about these early stories is that the thicker Welsh was steeped in the primordial goo of his Edinburgh Scots phonetics, the better the storytelling got

As you would expect, the stories in this collection involve a certain amount of cultural tourism to the lower depths, undertaken with black humour... Welsh's relish for degradation covers up a strong sentimental streak

Welsh's transcription of Scots dialect is brilliant... Welsh also has a fabulous sense of the absurd... The overall vibe of these stories is dark and grim. And fierily, fiercely funny

A sparkling and adventurous writer