Skagboys, By Irvine Welsh

Welsh's prequel to Trainspotting (1993) may not have the same generation defining iconoclasm and innovation but then again, its was always going to be derivative, by definition.

The real question is whether we really needed a return to the old drug-addled crew – Renton/Rent Boy, Simon/Sick Boy, Frank/Begbie, Tommy et al, given we've also had a sequel (Porno).

While Skagboys ends up giving us more of the same, it never sounds tired of itself: visceral, tragic and comic, with Welsh's schlock-shock appeal.